Standard rules:

• Before the game starts, you must first decide who throws the last one, called The Hammer.
• To decide who gets The Hammer, each player throws a disk. The puck that is furthest away gets The Hammer.
• Each player has 4 pucks to throw during a round. Usually 2 or 4 player games are played. During a 2-player game, both players shoot from the same end of the board, in alternating order. The player with The Hammer will throw second, so they have the last throw of the round. Once the round is complete, both players rotate to the other end of the board for the next round. The object of the game is to score as many points as possible during each round.
• This can be done by hitting your own pucks into favorable positions or by hitting your opponent’s pucks off the board.
• The player who reaches 15 points first is the winner.
• In a 4-player game, teammates stand at opposite ends of the board and players never rotate to the other end.
• The team that reaches 21 points first is the winner.

Punctuation:

• Only one player (team) can score during a round. The player (team) with the furthest puck receives points. Points are awarded according to the numbered sections of the table.
• The scoring team receives points for each puck that is farther than the furthest puck of the opponent.
• If a puck does not reach the free throw line during play, it must be retired immediately.
• If a puck hangs off the end of the board, it is called A Hanger and is worth 5 points.
• The loser of a round always receives The Hammer during the next round, regardless of the total score (ie the winner of the round shoots first during the next round)
• Games must be won by 2 or more points. In a 2-player game, if the score is 15-14, additional rounds continue until one team wins by two or more and is declared the winner.
• If you cannot determine which team disk is furthest away, then no points are awarded. In very close situations, it is typical to use an outside judge to make the call.
• It is acceptable to walk around the board and check the positions of the pucks during a round.
• It is acceptable to use shuffleboard powder/wax/sand… between rounds only.
• See the diagram for an example of punctuation.

Alternative games:

petanque
• Game very similar to Curling, except that you can choose any place on the table, beyond the free throw line.
• Choose a spot on the table that is easily recognizable and does not move when hit (painted numbers)
• Players alternate throws, and the player with the puck closest to the spot wins. If the closest player has multiple closest discs, then they get one point for each one.
• The other big difference with curling is that the first team to reach 9 points wins. In curling a fixed number of rounds are played.

tap and draw
• In this game, you never want to knock another puck off the board. The goal is still to have the puck farthest from the board to score points. If you hit one of your own disks, it is lost.
• If you knock an opponent’s puck off the board, your puck is removed and your opponent’s puck is put back on the board in its original position. If this situation occurs and you also hit one of your other pucks in the farthest position, this puck must be returned to the original positions.
• The advantage is throwing first in this game. If a player wins a round, the opponent gets the first throw in the next round.

horse necklace
• The opponents are at opposite ends of the board. During a round, one player shoots all eight pucks and receives points for all pucks in scoring positions.
• The opponent then throws all eight discs and receives points for all in scoring position.
• This continues until one player reaches 51 points.
• Each opponent must play the same number of rounds. So if the first player to roll reaches 51, the opponent gets their round to try and top 51.
• In 4-player games, teammates are on the same side of the board and alternate throwing discs.

Baseball
• All rules are consistent with normal shuffleboard, except that a fixed number of rounds are played rather than played to a point total.
• The player/team with the highest point total after 9 “innings” wins. If the game is tied, additional rounds are played until one player/team wins by 1 point or more.