Home Leisure Direct was recently approached by The London Shuffle Club to install not one but two 20ft Hudson shuffleboards as well as a custom Jack Daniel’s Juke Box into Europe’s first all shuffleboard venue.
The London Shuffle Club is based in a brand new floor of Shoreditch's iconic Truman Brewery, where they occupy 21,000 square feet of space. There are 8 shuffleboard courts, 2 cornhole courts, a pizza kitchen, a prosecco serving motorbike and a DJ booth. Plus of course 2 incredible Hudson shuffleboards supplied by us.
What is shuffleboard?
There are two variants both available at The London Shuffle Club. Deck shuffleboard and table shuffleboard. The games origins come from the reign of Henry VIII and is best described as a mixture of curling and ten pin bowling. The game was outlawed in the UK as soldiers spent more time playing the game than training for war. Since then the game has been hugely popular in America with local and national tournaments played throughout the year and over the last four years has seen a massive surge in popularity in Scandinavia with over 400 tables being installed in Norway alone.
Deck shuffleboard is played on the floor:
Table shuffleboard is played on a raised table:
What is Table Shuffleboard?:
Table shuffleboards vary in length, usually between 9ft-22ft. Tables are levelled to keep flat but the actual ‘board’ (the playing surface) will either be flat or slightly concave depending on where you are playing the game (there is a traditional American version and a European version) to give natural curl to the puck when you are shooting up the sides of the table.
In order to decrease friction the table is periodically sprinkled with shuffleboard wax (a mixture of silicone and crushed walnut shells) also known as cheese due to its resemblance to grated partisan cheese. This wax acts like ball bearings, letting the puck slide down the table a great distance with only a slight push.
Each end of the table is divided into three/four or five scoring sections depending on the size of the table. With a foul line located further down the table.
How to Play Table Shuffleboard:
The game can be played 1-on-1 or as team play 2-on-2. Players push metal and plastic weighted pucks down a smooth wooden table into a scoring area at the opposite end of the table. Shooting is performed with the hand directly, as apposed to deck shuffleboard where the player uses a cue stick. Players take turns sliding, or "shuffling," the weights to the opposite end of the board, trying to score points, bump opposing pucks off the board, or protect their own pucks from bump-offs. Points are scored by getting a weight to stop in one of the numbered scoring areas. A weight has to completely cross the zone line to count as a full score. A weight that's hanging partially over the edge at the end of the table is called a "hanger" receives an extra point.
Weights that haven't passed the foul line closest to the player are removed for the round. Pucks that fall off or are bumped off the table into the gutter are removed from play for the round.
Scoring:
When all weights have been shuffled, the player with the puck closest to the far edge of the table takes points for all pucks that are ahead of their opponent's furthest shot. The other player does not take points. For example: there is a red puck in 3, a red in 1, a blue in 1, but not as close to the end as the red, and two red pucks in 1 but further away from the end of the table than the blue puck. Red player would receive 4 points for the first 2 pucks ahead of the blue and no points for the pucks behind the blue, blue player does not score. The player who scores will shoot first the next round. 1-on-1 the game is played first to 15 points, 2-on-2 its first to 21 points.
We have installed two Hudson shuffleboard tables into the club, both models being the Grand Hudson Deluxe variants. Hudson is regarded as the best manufacturer of shuffleboards for both commercial and home environments. With the Grand Hudson Deluxe being the elite choice for commercial sites.
The cradle on the Grand Hudson Deluxe is constructed from solid poplar and hard-rock maple hardwoods and finished with a with a choice of stain(s), and each corner on the horse-collar is milled from a single piece of solid wood. The 3” thick playing surface is constructed from select kiln-dried hard-rock maple and topped with a tournament-standard clear polymer finish.
What Makes Hudson Shuffleboards the Best Tables on the Market?
The playing surface:
- features finger-jointed boards; far superior to butt-joints as seen on other tables.
- has the only planks on the market that are reinforced with maple inlays on the bottom, particularly at the location of each climatic adjuster.
- has a true 90-degree edge (not beveled) along the rails, allowing weights to hang off the rail instead of falling.
- has a UV additive in the epoxy which prevents "yellowing" over time, unlike some epoxies.
- has its finish poured with the climatic adjusters attached to the plank, allowing boards to be levelled both length-wise and side-to-side, for a perfect pour and resulting surface.
- Once the table has been poured, the climatic adjusters are gauged down to 0.001" before shipping, meaning your table is ready to play straight away.
Home Leisure Direct has the widest selection of shuffleboard tables available in the UK with the three top manufacturers in the world, Hudson, Brunswick and Hurricane all being exclusive to us.
The Jukebox:
The London Shuffle Club has teamed up with Jack Daniel’s to create an exclusive VIP bar and area, to add that extra exclamation point we have supplied our Jack Daniel’s Custom Rocket jukebox.
The jukebox is fully licensed by Jack Daniels and comes fully loaded with decades worth of music and bluetooth to stream the VIP’s personal playlists.
The Jack Daniel’s jukebox is exclusive to Home Leisure Direct and available on our website.
Visiting the London Shuffle Club:
It is open 7 days a week and is worth booking in advance.
Their address is: The London Shuffle Club, Old Truman Brewery, Elys Yard, London E1 6QR.
Phone: 0207 993 4281
Email: [email protected]