Horsecollar – A Fun Game to Play on Your Shuffleboard

Horsecollar (or Horse Collar) is another way to play shuffleboard and is both complicated and highly competitive. With this game, teams can be formed of 1 (singles), 2 (doubles), 4 or 8 (teams). This is a great way to play for a large gathering of people as the teams are larger and, because it is played in frames, there is no limit to the number of teams that can be formed. Below is an in-depth guide on how to play Horsecollar.

 

How to Play

1. Teams need to be formed in either singles, doubles, or teams of 4 or 8

2. Team 1 then distributes all eight pucks evenly amongst their team

3. Each player then shoots their pucks toward the other end of the board

4. Once each player from Team 1 has shot their pucks, they tally their score and pass the pucks to the next team.

5. Once each team has played, the frame is over and it is back to Team 1’s turn  

6. Once a team reaches the score limit, the teams that remain in the frame have a chance to score and beat them.

• For example, if playing with four teams and Team 3 reaches the score limit, Team 4 has the chance to obtain a higher score and be declared the victor. Team 1 and Team 2 are unable to score additional points as they already played their turn for that frame.

 

 

Scoring In Horsecollar 

The score limit for a Horsecollar game is 51 total points. Once a team reaches this score, they are declared the victor unless they pass their score before the end of the frame.

Scoring is as follows:

0 points – puck falls into the gutter, falls off the end of the board, or fails to pass the foul line

1 point – puck lays between the foul line and the deuce line (the line just before the “2” from the players perspective)

2 points – puck lays between the deuce line and the trey line (line after the deuce line)

3 points – puck lays between the trey line and the end of the table but not hanging off the end

13 points – pucks that hang off the back end of the table past the trey line (known as “13 point hangers”)

26 points – pucks that hand off the corners of the table past the trey line (known as “26 point hangers)

Note that for a puck to obtain 2 or 3 points, they must fully clear the deuce line and trey line respectively