Any Good Game Gets
Banned
In its formative years the game went through
several names and a few modifications. The
groat was replaced with a silver penny and
the game was called shove penny or shove-ha’penny.
Royalty and other upper class citizens had
beautiful tables made for the game. A more
elaborate system of scoring was developed.
Markings on the table determined the points
that were awarded to coins that came to
rest in certain areas.
The English had a habit of outlawing any game that distracted military men from training. So it was with shovel board. (We’re not sure exactly when the modern name shuffleboard came into use.) In the 1500s Henry VIII banned the sliding of the weight so that soldiers could concentrate on archery and peasants wouldn’t be distracted from work. Like most of these sporting bans, it was largely ineffective.
Even without Henry’s help, the game began to lose popularity in England. By the 1600s it was found in more taverns than parlors. The British upper classes were moving on to billiards.
Across the Pond
Shuffleboard immigrated to the United States
with the English settlers. The game was
mentioned (in a not so favorable light)
in the 1692 play “The Crucible.”
By 1848, the morality of the game was being
argued in the courtroom. In a Pennsylvania
case, a judge ruled that shuffleboard was
a game of skill, not a game of chance. This
was good news for the tavern owner who had
been charged with running a public gaming
table, and for all those who enjoyed the
game.
During the second half of the 19th century, shuffleboard was popular up and down the Eastern seaboard. In New York, wealthy families were buying custom game tables from furniture makers like Duncan Phyfe. Shuffleboard merited ink on the sports pages and fans followed their favorite players to tournaments in New York and New Jersey. In 1904, shuffleboard moved to the other coast when a table was installed in a California pub.
Prohibition put a damper on the game during the 1920s. When taverns were shut down, so were many shuffleboard tables. During the Great Depression, many restaurants and even taverns replaced dining tables with shuffleboard tables to attract customers. People didn’t have the money to eat out, but they would come down to the bar or café for a game of shuffleboard. Many shuffleboard leagues formed during the Depression years.
Shuffleboard made another surge in popularity during World War II. Troops passed through East coast seaports by the hundreds of thousands. These men played shuffleboard in the taverns and USO clubs. After the war, they took the game home with them to all parts of the country.
