Shuffleboard is a common bar game that is popular in the United States, designed for two or four people (doubles) to play. Shuffleboard rules are pretty easy to The object of the game is to push round metal weights across a wooden board to earn points at the opposite end. Points can be obtained by knocking off your opponent’s disc or propelling your disc into the point spaces marked on the wood table. Slide your way to victory with these shuffleboard rules.
Learning Shuffleboard Rules
To start a common shuffleboard game, toss a coin to see which player will take his turn first. In a singles game, the two players will be on opposite ends of the shuffleboard table. In a doubles game, a player from each team will be on both ends of the table. Make sure there is a handful of shuffleboard powder scattered across the table to allow the weights to glide smoothly. A total of four weights, marked to differentiate teams, should be used. Players on one end of the table will start the activity, alternating turns to push their two weights down the shuffleboard table. The foul line, usually a bold red line towards the middle of each half of the table, must be crossed on a turn. If the disc does not cross the foul line, it is removed from that turn.
How Do I Score?
A traditional classic shuffleboard (go here for our classic shuffleboard table description) has scoring of 1, 2, and 3 in that order when standing at the opposite end of the table. If a weight lands on the line of the greater score, that number of points will be applied. This rule also relates to a weight that is not near any line but is over the foul line: one point would be given in that case. If a weight flies off of the table during play, no points are awarded for that turn.
Points are scored based on the farthest position of a player’s weighted disc. Below are five simple examples to help paint an image for point calculation.
- If team A had a disc in the score slot of 3 and team B had one in point section 2, team A would get three points and team B would receive zero.
- Alternatively, if team B had knocked off team A’s disc from section 3, team A would not obtain points for its turn.
- If team A had weights in sections 3 and 2 and team B only had weights in sections 2 and 1, team A would receive points from each of its discs in front of the furthest team B disc, giving them a score of three points. Team A would only receive three points because team B’s disc was also on section 2. Team B would not receive points.
- Discs that hang over the edge on point section 3 but stay on the table are usually awarded 4 points.
- If there is a tie in a play, neither team collects points.
There is much discussion on what score finishes the game. Generally, if playing for fun, the team that scores exactly 21 points first wins. According to the National Shuffleboard Association, National doubles games should be played best two out of three 75 point games, although the point system on these competitive tables differs.