Meeting. Shuffleboard

How good will you be? 🙂

Shuffleboard (Shovillaborde) existed in England over 500 years ago. It is an exciting variant of Shov-Ha’Penny. Henry VIII was very fond of the game. The Royal Expenses for 1532 show a payment from the Privy Purse of nine pounds:

”Paided to my lord Wylliam for that he wanne of the Kinges grace at shovillaborde”

The game was made illegal as early as 1542. Played in taverns it was feared that it might keep the proletariat from work!

Attempts to ban the game were never completely effective. It was simply too popular. Even after Cromwell came to power, when it was listed with other diversions as immoral, the game continued to thrive.

During the early part of the twentieth century ‘Sjoelbak’ a Dutch variation of the game emerged. A standard specification for the board and discs was introduced in 1966 in response to the growth of club and tournament play.

Today shuffleboard (sjoelbak) is played across the UK.