Firstly, let’s be clear, this isn’t trying to push any unofficial Arsenal related products onto you.
It isn’t an article loaded with Amazon links or anything like that. Instead, it is a look at what you might investigate the next time the Arsenal fan in your life has a birthday or Christmas. Let’s be honest; those times can be tough, can they not? The price of a football shirt is rising, and you can’t buy match tickets anymore. What can you buy the Gooner in your life when they celebrate a special day? Maybe, one of these products will suffice.
Football fans tend to enjoy competitions and games of chance. It’s almost in their nature; the concept of football is competition, and not just hoping for a win on the field. Can the fans out-sing little Lincoln City in the FA Cup? Can Arteta make a bigger bid for Ryan Bertrand than a Premier League rival? It’s all about competition, winning and losing, being better than the next man, the next team or set of fans. Some you win, some you lose, but whatever the outcome, a football fan knows there’s always next week, another game and more players to try and buy.
That’s why we’ve selected four great gaming-related products that should be of interest to the Arsenal fan in your life, whether they like cards, board games or video games.
Arsenal Monopoly
The game of Monopoly has multiple editions, seemingly as many different versions as Arsenal have had players. If you can locate one, there’s an Arsenal edition released a couple of years ago, which is great for fans. Instead of buying properties, you buy footballers, with Sead Kolasinac acting as Old Kent Road, round to Mayfair, aka Alexis Sanchez. Each of the six unique tokens represents an Arsenal legend, and even the money is decorated with the Gunners’ badge. It won’t stop a moody loser throwing the game across the room at Christmas, but at least Don Robbie and Troopz won’t turn up lamenting your every move when you’re behind.
Arsenal Club Football 2005
Video game fans might be happy taking charge of the Gunners on FIFA or PES, but the real hardcore fan should be delighted with a copy of Arsenal Club Football from 2005. Considering it is 16 years old, the graphics don’t look bad at all, but there is a catch: you’ll probably need to buy your Gooner a PlayStation 2 as well. They’re bordering on becoming vintage rather than out of date, so best move quickly!
Arsenal Poker
There are not many games as globally popular as poker. Millions of people play poker around the globe, with growing numbers during the pandemic as people were confined to their homes. However, it can take a while to get set up, downloading software and the like. Now restrictions have been eased, the Gooner in your life might choose to simply have a friendly game with friends, which is much easier to organise, but how would they go about tailoring it to their love of Arsenal? Simple, you could buy them a set of poker chips. There are plenty of sets on offer, from rather bog-standard ones to special editions. One, released in 2006/07, celebrated the opening of the Emirates, and if you can find a set, it’s likely to set you back several hundreds of pounds. They’re very collectable though, but still not as expensive as
Mesut Ozil – they’d probably get used a bit more, too.
Arsenal Top Trumps
Top Trumps might not be the most complicated of games, but it is a great Christmas stocking filler or low-cost gift for a Gooner’s birthday. The official set boasts current players such as Lacazette and Aubameyang and the likes of Kim Little from the women’s team. Some older sets feature stars like Robert Pires, and the facts can be quite spurious, such as how much do the players weigh. There are lots of sets on offer, and it is worth eyeing eBay for some older ones.
