If you have ever played table shuffleboard, you have probably realized how fun it can be. Many bars and restaurants or family fun centers have table shuffleboard and there are games that up to eight players can play. While typically, two or four players might play most of the time, there are all kinds of variations on the game, making it a popular tournament game, played individually and as teams.
There are a few tips for table shuffleboard skills that include three main objectives you can use to win the game. Well placed weights, attacking your opponent’s highest scoring weights and blocking your own weights are tactics that the most successful players have learned to master. Of course, getting your weights the furthest down the table is the main objective.
You get the most points for the weights that make it to the overhanging four point position and if your opponent knocks it off, it still gets repositioned as long as it comes to rest in that scoring position. On cushion shuffleboard tables, learning how to use corners can protect your weights, especially when they have made it into the highest scoring zone.
Attacking your opponent’s weights that are in the highest scoring zones can be a tactic that you have to practice. You can prevent them from scoring if you learn how to knock them off without knocking them into higher scoring zones. Once you have mastered table shuffleboard, you will also know that your opponent will be trying to attack your weights so you need to block your highest scoring weights to protect them. You want to practice placing your next weight behind your leading weight so that it is protected from your opponent touching it. Be careful that they aren’t too close together or they can both get knocked off.
Another technique that can improve your table shuffleboard skills is learning to play with both hands because sometimes, you will have a better chance on one side of the table versus the other. Some people will shoot straight from the center of the board but many players learn how to side-wheel on Longboard shuffleboard models. To do this, your third and fourth fingers of your shooting hand act as a guide and balance on the side edge of the playing surface, which gives you better accuracy. Some players will use the thumb and forefinger to use an English backspin, which can increase your chances of the weight staying on the board because it puts a braking action on the weight.
There are table shuffleboard skills and tactics you can use whether you shoot first or shoot last. When shooting first, the best tactic is to shoot your first weight down the rail, as far as you can and then if that one remains safe, place your next one down the opposite rail so it will split your opponent’s counter-attack. Think about bowling pins when you are placing your weights in position. The center ones are the easiest ones to hit.
When you are shooting last, the hammer shots should aim at hitting your opponent’s weights every time they are placed, while keeping yours on the board in scoring positions. When you are playing table shuffleboard, some of the best table shuffleboard skills and tactics involve offensive tips as well as defensive moves.