From
Tabletop to the Deck
In the 1840s, shuffleboard made the leap
from tavern tables to cruise liner decks.
The Peninsular and Oriental Line challenged
its recreation directors to come up with
games that passengers could enjoy while
onboard the ship. An innovative P &
O employee developed a shuffleboard court.
Coins were replaced with disks and long
sticks were used to slide these weights.
Scoring was determined by markings on the
court.
The first on-shore shuffleboard courts were built at a Daytona Beach, Florida resort in 1913. This sparked the outdoor shuffleboard fad. Courts sprang up at resorts and retirement villages across the country. The most elaborate courts were built by the St. Petersburg, Florida, Shuffleboard Club. The club had 5,000 members who played on 110 courts (See photo). Spectators could watch the action from covered grandstands. Today, the club has 65 courts.
St. Petersburg became the center of the shuffleboard world. In 1924, the St. Petersburg Club established the rules that would become the standards of the game. The St. Petersburg Club was also the impetus behind the formation of the National Shuffleboard Association in 1929. Just two years later in 1931, the first national tournament was held. The first national shuffleboard tournament for women took place in 1932.
Shuffleboard courts spread across the country during the 1930s and 40s. The Works Projects Administration (WPA) built several shuffleboard courts on playgrounds.
The Heyday
The 1950s proved to be the heyday of shuffleboard.
More than 100 companies were manufacturing
shuffleboard equipment, and many of those
companies sponsored tournaments for either
tabletop or court shuffleboard. One tournament
attracted 576 teams from all parts of the
country.
