Outdoor Shuffleboard Rules

Outdoor shuffleboard — the court, deck and floor game with cues and discs, not the bar table with its hand-thrown weights — has one twist that makes it worth learning properly: the 10-OFF band. Here is how a frame runs, how the triangle scores, what the kitchen and dead lines do, and how long a game is.

Were you looking for the shuffleboard table?

Table shuffleboard rules — the bar game

Hand-thrown weights on a waxed board, the 3-2-1 zones and hangers, games to 15 or 21, Knock Off and Horse Collar.

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The rules of outdoor shuffleboard in ten lines

Two sides, four discs each. Yellow and black. Singles play from the same end and walk; doubles have a partner at each end.
Shoot from the 10-OFF area. Your discs start in the 10-OFF band at your end; you push each one with the cue from behind the baseline, alternating with your opponent, yellow first.
Reach the far dead line. A disc that stops short of the dead line at the far end is dead and removed.
Score where it lies. After all eight discs are shot, a disc wholly inside a zone scores that zone: 10 at the apex, 8 in the next row, 7 in the third.
Touch a line, score nothing. Any disc touching a line — including the triangle’s outline — does not count.
The kitchen costs ten. A disc that stops in the 10-OFF band behind the triangle (the kitchen) scores minus 10, and it counts against whoever owns the disc, not whoever pushed it there.
Knocking discs is the game. Bumping an opponent into the kitchen, or your own disc out of it, is legal and expected.
Then shoot back. The next frame is played from the other end; the side that scored last shoots first — in most rules the colour alternates who leads.
Play to 75. Fifty and one hundred are also standard; the game ends when a side reaches the target at the end of a frame.
Foot fault. Step on or over the baseline while shooting and the disc is removed.

Why the 10-OFF changes everything

A frame is rarely won by the disc that lands in the 10. It is won by the disc that stops in the kitchen — your opponent’s, ideally, after you have nudged it there. Because the penalty counts against the owner of the disc, the whole middle of a frame is about protecting your scoring discs and exposing theirs. The last disc of the frame, the hammer, is the most valuable shot in the game for the same reason.

Doubles and the walk

In doubles one partner from each side stands at each end; a frame is played from one end, scored, and the next frame starts from the other, so nobody walks. In singles both players shoot from the same end and walk to the other to score and shoot back. Either way the discs that scored are recorded, the court is cleared, and the side that was behind usually gets the hammer next.

Lay the court out

Shuffleboard court dimensions

52 × 6 ft with every band and triangle measured, plus a blank.

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Clubhouse sheet?

Print the court with your name on it

Blank court with name, logo and notes.

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Another slow-roll game

Bocce ball rules

Pointing, hitting and scoring to 12.

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How do you score in outdoor shuffleboard?

After all eight discs are played, each disc lying wholly inside a zone scores it — 10 at the apex of the triangle, 8 in the middle row, 7 in the back row. Discs touching a line score nothing, and a disc in the 10-OFF band behind the triangle scores minus 10 to its owner. Both sides score each frame.

What is the kitchen in shuffleboard?

The 10-OFF band — the 1 ft 6 in strip between the baseline and the base of the triangle. A disc that stops there costs its owner ten points, which is why so much of the game is about knocking opponents into it.

What is a dead disc?

One that fails to reach the far dead line, stops in the space between the dead lines, or goes off the side. It is removed before the next shot and cannot score or be scored against.

How many points is a game of shuffleboard?

Seventy-five is the common target; fifty and one hundred are also standard. The game ends when a side reaches the target at the end of a completed frame, not mid-frame.

Is this the same as table shuffleboard?

No — table shuffleboard is the indoor game with weighted pucks on a long wooden table. These rules are for deck or floor shuffleboard played with cues and 6-in discs on a 52-ft court.

Who shoots first?

Yellow shoots first in the opening frame; after that most rules alternate the lead each frame, and the last disc — the hammer — alternates with it. Agree the convention before you start.

Based on the National Shuffleboard Association rules for deck shuffleboard. Updated through September 2026.