How to Play Shuffleboard

Table "Shuffleboard" is a fun and popular game found in many bars around America. The game is played on a long, smooth wooden table, typically around 20 inches wide and up to 22 feet long. The table surface is sprinkled with "Shuffleboard Wax" which looks like grains of sand and is made of silicon rather than actual wax. The wax acts like tiny ball bearings allowing players to slide Shuffleboard "weights" or "pucks" down the full length of the table with only a very light push. The weights are made of solid metal making them quite heavy relative to their size, and each has a coloured plastic cap to show which player it belongs to. The idea of the game is to slide your weights further down the table than your opponent's without them dropping off the end into the gutter. It's a little bit like the sport of Curling without you having to suffer the indignity of running after your puck and polishing the ice with a funny looking brush.

Game Play

In a two player game, one player is assigned four blue weights and the other player is given four red weights. Both players stand at the same end of the table and take alternate turns shuffling one weight at a time down the table to the scoring end. They will either try to out distance their opponent, knock a scoring weight off the table or block their own weights from being knocked off the table. A weight must pass the "foul line" nearest to the players otherwise it is removed from play. Once all eight weights have been shuffled, the person whose weight is closest to the end of the table is awarded points for each weight that is ahead of their opponent's furthest shot. The losing player doesn't score any points for the round. The players then switch ends and play another round with the winner of the previous round shuffling first. This continues until a player reaches a set score, usually 15 or 21 points. They are then declared the winner and the loser gets the beers in.

Scoring Examples

In this example, red has two weights in front of blue's furthest weight; one in the 3 zone and one in the 2 zone for a total of 5 points. Blue scores nothing this round.
A weight must be completely over the line for it to be counted in the higher scoring zone. In this example, red scores two weights in the 2 zones for a total of 4 points.
Here, red only has one weight in front of blue's furthest weight and so scores a single 3 pointer.
A stationary weight that hangs off the end of the table in the 3 point zone is called a "hanger" and scores an extra point. Here, blue wins the round and scores 4 points.

Strategy

The player who shoots last weight, also know as "the hammer", is considered to have the advantage in that round. The player shooting first should try to aim their weight into one of the corners as far down the table as possible. If the weight is far enough down the table then their opponent will be forced to try to knock it off the table with their shot rather than out drawing it. If the opponent fails to knock the first weight off the table then the second weight should be aimed for the opposite corner to create a similar situation to a "split" in 10 pin bowling, making it very difficult for their opponent to knock both weights off the table with a single shot. Once weights have been placed in high scoring positions, they can be protected by shuffling a weight shorter up the table and blocking the opponent from hitting the higher scoring weight. Don't land the weight too close to the one it's blocking though as they might both be cleared off the table with one well placed shot. If you're shooting the hammer and you're an excellent draw player (one who can place weights far down the table) then you can usually count on your last shot to out draw your opponent's best weight. However, if your opponent is winning then the safest play is to hit their weight head on, knocking it off the table while your final weight stops dead, taking the winning position and stealing the points.