How to Play Table Shuffleboard

Shuffleboard is a great game to play with a big group of friends or family. It’s aimed at the social aspect of playing games, but it can also turn into a very challenging and competitive game. The great thing about table shuffleboard is that there are so many variations – you can play it on small scale in a game room, or you can take it outside!

According to Wikipedia, the earliest form of shuffleboard was played in the 1500s by King Henry VIII of England. He didn’t allow commoners to play this game, so I guess you can say only the royal are allowed to play. However, he didn’t always win in shuffleboard games – this might explain his murderous streak when it came to his wives.

If you haven’t played shuffleboard, don’t worry! We’ll be teaching you the basic shuffleboard rules on small scale. You will be able to show off your skills in the game room as if you shuffle every day, all day.

Table Shuffleboard Requirements

You will need a shuffle board as well as the disks that usually come with it. You will also need to gather a group of people so that you’ll be divided into teams of two. You will also need to have the shuffleboard scorer next to you to tally up the points.

How to Play Table Shuffleboard

1. Decide which team goes first by flipping a coin or deciding on your own.
2. The team who goes first chooses a player who is then handed a disk. This player will then attempt to push the disk into one of the marked sections. Only the team whose disk is ahead of their opponents will be able to score. The goal is thus for you to try and beat the other team by staying ahead of them all the time.
3. These marked sections are for scoring purposes and they work as follow:
   • If a disk hangs over the far end of the table that team will receive 4 points.
   • If a disk crosses the far line without hanging over the team scores 3 points
   • If a disk crosses the nearer scoring line the team will receive 2 points.
   • If it crosses the foul line but no other lines the team will receive 1 point.
   • If a disk should cross or touch any of the scoring lines it will receive the value as score in the lower numeral area. WikiHow explains this by saying that if a disk should cross the 3-point line, but it still touching the line, the team will only receive 2 points.
4. Teams may shoot their opponents’ disks off of the table so that they start again, and individuals may also use their disks to shoot their team member’s disk into a certain scoring block.
5. Once you have reached the end of the table pick it up and start again. The first player to reach 21 points will be the winner.

Table Shuffleboard Game Variations

You can also play individually with a friend if you’re not in the mood for a team game. The rules will still be the same, except you will be playing towards 15 points.

Table Shuffleboard Video Tutorial