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.
