The Rules of Shuffleboard

Montcalm Royal London House homes the bustling Burdock bar, known for its delicious menu, alcoholic-free gin and Shuffleboard stations. Now, we know that Shuffleboard isn’t as popular as football, cricket and tennis, so we have created our Rules of Play to help you come out on top of your next game. Good luck!

Toss a coin

Traditional to any game, the players toss a coin to decide who plays first – remember, it is advantageous to play second. After the first ‘end’ (which we will come to explain in a moment), the winner of the previous end plays first.

The play

The aim of the game is for the players to slide their four weights, one each at a time alternatively, attempting to get them as near as possible to the end of the board… without falling off.

If a weight does not completely pass the foul line, that weight is immediately removed from play.

Like Boules, a player can deliberately knock already played weights in such a way that the opponent’s weights might fall out of play. This puts the other player in an advantageous position.

One all weights have been pushed down the table, the player whose weight is nearer the far end of the board wins that ‘end’ and scores points. Almost a daredevil game, who can get closest! The other player scores no points.

Scoring

In order to score a weight must; (a) be on the table; (b) have fully crossed the foul line and (c) be nearer to the end than the opponent’s best weight.

Any weight that is overhanging the far edge automatically scores four points. Any other qualifying weight that lands in the first, second or third area scores, 1, 2, 3 points.

Winner

For a two-player game, the player who score 11 points first wins. For doubles (the rules do not change) the team that scores 21 points first wins.

Share your winning score with us by tagging @montcalm_rlh and following the @montcalm_rlh account. We cannot wait to hear how you get on!