Watch: Subbuteo is 70 and still finger-flicking good in Scotland - but can it still survive

But as Subbuteo celebrates its 70th anniversary one of the big questions for diehards in Scotland is where are the youngsters that will help to keep the 'flick to kick' table soccer game alive.

There are two Scottish clubs who take part in organised matches with just one youngster between them - 17-year-old Fraser McKenzie from the Glasgow Table Soccer Association.

And even he struggles to take part in the matches as he is finishing exams.

Tom Burns of the Glasgow Table Soccer Association said: "Most of the guys that play it played it thirty or forty years ago. There's not many youngsters playing the game and that's the problem."

"What you get with Subbuteo is the face-to-face thing. Instead of just looking at a screen and when you get fed up or you're getting beaten, you just click a button and start again, with Subbuteo you have to keep playing. That's what puts the youngsters off."

But there was a time when the lo-tech game in Scotland was something that parents kept in their loft.

In 1992, the Glasgow club folded due to lack of numbers and there was a 16-year period when, as Mr Burns puts it "the game died out".

Ten years later a survey revealed that 90 per cent of fathers over the age of 30 owned a Subbuteo set.

Now, eight years after having reformed clubs in 2008, there are nearly 30 competitive players in Dundee and Glasgow.

And on April 8 and 9 Scotland will host champion finger-flickers from around Europe top play in a major international tournament, to coincide with the game's anniversary.

It may be small-scale, with around 50 expected to compete but they are big on talent.

Top teams and players from Belgium, Italy, Malta, Greece and Spain are all expected for the Scottish Grand Prix at the Normandy Hotel in Renfrew.

They include Daniel Scheen, the number one ranked veteran player in the international table football federation rankings.

Daniel Scheen in action

Subbuteo first appeared in 1947, courtesy of Englishman Peter Adolph whose venture was a refinement of a 1920s game called NewFooty.

Adolph originally intended to name his creation The Hobby, but the patents office would not allow such a title, so he was forced to rethink.

Being a keen ornithologist, Adolph turned for inspiration to the English Hobby Falcon, whose Latin name is Falco Subbuteo. The falcon insignia has appeared on all Subbuteo products ever since.

The first Subbuteo sets contained two teams which consisted of small plastic bases and press-out flat cardboard player figures which had to be inserted into the bases.

The goalkeepers had metal rods for control and the goals were metal with paper netting and the ball was made of celluloid. And there was no pitch.

Customers were instructed to mark out a pitch in chalk on 'an old army blanket'.

The first sets were sold by mail order or at games exhibitions and the self-balancing player figures made them a huge success.

Through the 1960s and 70s, various design modifications were made, the familar green felt pitch was introduced, and along came the now famous weighted plastic men - who you could even get in your favourite teams' colours, giving rise to the cult of Subbuteo team collecting.

By the 1970s more than 300 football team strips were available, as were corner-kickers, throw-in figures, goalkeepers on springs for a realistic 'save effect', managers complete with sheepskin coats and hats and stadiums.

The game's popularity led to more moulded figures such as streakers, fans, TV commentators, TV towers, floodlights and ballboys.

At its peak, more than 300,000 miniature teams were sold each year.

And the first Subbuteo World Cup was held in 1987, the same year in which Justin Finch, a 16-year-old Brit who was then ranked fifth in the world at Subbuteo, made the front pages of the papers after insuring his right hand for £160,000.

By the mid-90s, though, sales had declined dramatically and in 2000, the game's owners Hasbro announced it was ceasing production in the UK, blaming "the huge number of football related games" that had "flooded the market."

But at the London Toy Fair five year ago, manufacturer Paul Lamond Games revealed it was relaunching the table-top game under licence from Hasbro - and it still continues to produce sets.

But in 2017, it is no longer a pocket money game. The older competitors, who would have paid a couple of pounds for team forty years ago, now pay between £60 and £70 for a team. "Nowadays you don't get many breakages though and the figures are stronger, " said Mr Burns.

If you fancy an early Subbuteo Scotland team, it can set you back a fair few quid.

"The older game is a slower game, the newer game is faster, because the bases are flatter, and they don't fall down all the time, so you can play continuously. Your concentration level has to be higher, and you have to think quicker," he said.

"It has probably endured because of the people you meet. I have life-long friends through the game and have been playing it now 40 years.

"The benefit of being an adult is when you play you can have a beer as well, as a kid you couldn't do that, so there is a social side to it now."

And with over 2000 competitive ranking players in the international federation, there is no signs of the game dying soon.