“So how about a nice game of shuffleboard?” With that battle cry, many seniors will take a refreshing walk to their retirement village’s shuffleboard court. Shuffleboard is a game that provides low-impact physical exercise as well as the opportunity to work the mind in a relaxing social setting.
The sport’s origin, credited to 15th century England, is played on a court that’s 52 feet long and six feet wide. The surface is either of wood, typically found on cruise ships, or smooth concrete for outdoor play. The game involves pushing a weighted disk called a puck across the court with a cue to score points by landing the puck completely within boundaries painted on scoring areas on the opposite side of the court. Play consists of either single players or teams of two stationed on opposite ends of the court. The winning team is the first to reach a predetermined number of total points.
Play involves two sets of four differently colored pucks that are alternately slid across the court. The scoring area consists of a small 10 point triangle followed by two trapezoids of eight points each, followed by two larger trapezoids of seven points each. The next level is two trapezoids of minus 10 points each, which are separated by a small triangle, for the unfortunate one who pushes their puck too far. Strategy involves going for the score, blocking an opponent’s shot and knocking an opponent’s puck from the scoring area.
Muscles throughout the body are exercised while participants have an afternoon of fun. Hand-eye coordination is also refined. Calories are burned at the rate of 0.019 per minute per pound. Thus, a 150-pound person can burn 85 calories in a short half hour game. As always, be aware of potential overexposure and dehydration from the sun.
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