Even if you're the dive bar among dive bars, if you have shuffleboard you're automatically elevated in status. There's something about the game that has motivated our readers to overwhelmingly vote it as their favorite bar game.
Maybe it's the history? Although precise accounts are incredibly hard to find, there seems to be some consensus that "indoor" or "table" shuffleboard was invented by the Brits sometime in the 15th century. In its earliest stages, shuffleboard was nothing but two blokes sliding coins across a table, in fact, its early name was "shove-penny" or "shovel-penny" and it became insanely popular around the time of colonization. Mostly confined to the east coast, shuffleboard didn't really become popular nationwide until WWII when soldiers spread the game back in their hometowns.
But maybe the allure of shuffleboard is the dazzling vision of a giant block of well-varnished wood? Most non-JC Penny catalog tables are between 9' and 22 feet long and made of Maple or oak, with the dickens lacquered out of them.
Or maybe it's the needed skills of precision and touch after you've drank 6 scotches. The standard game of shuffleboard is called Knock Off, but other shuffleboard games do exists. So if you're in the mood to mix it up, try these:
Crazy Eight, Horse Collar, Target, or Tap & Draw.
And to note, the beauty above is from Champion Shuffleboard and will probably cost you upwards of $5,000. And if you want to build one on your own, good luck finding a reliable how-to.
Here's to you shuffleboard...one big cheers from our readers to you.
What's your favorite shuffleboard venue? We're always on the look out for new ones.
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3 comments:
The Spigot has always been my favorite. Just as likely to play a pair of cougars (but the mangy cougars that can't kill anything and thus ends up at the Spigot)as you are a couple of Vietnam vets that will legitimately kick your ass, physically, if you beat them on their "home court".
Runner up court was in Oakland and telling a mid age douche bag after they beat our ass that i had to go because his mom was picking me up. Thanks again for whoever held that short bastard away from me.
Best Shuffleboard Venues in the Lincoln/Omaha area, in no particular order
1. The Spigot (okay this one is in order, and Murman summed up all the reasons needed to make it number one, but mostly it's number one because the bar clearly focuses on shuffleboard and everyone knows it, it's really hard to get on the table there most of the time and when you win the table, you really feel like you've earned it)
Honorable Mention:
The Elbow Room, Omaha (just watch that step onto Center St when you leave, how has nobody died?)
Harold's, Omaha (a surly dive where the city champs hold court)
My Way Lounge (really a Chuck-E-Cheese for meth-addled townies, but a great bar for Saturday night power drinking, plus all beer is on ice so bottles are ice cold)
Musette Bar (solid Benson locale, they have I believe 6 tables, which would be the most of any bar I've ever seen, and you can smoke pot in there, at least you could a couple years ago, according to patrons that went there a lot)
Downtown (where you can play shuffleboard and take home a sorority girl in the same venue, which when you think about it is nothing short of miraculous)
The Fox & Hound has a nice table, but it's always filled with a bunch of tools or Douchebags.
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