Floor Shuffleboard: Sliding Discs into Scoring Zones

An adaptation of shuffleboard, a traditional English and American game in which discs are pushed with a cue into a scoring triangle. Using sticks and rubber discs on the gym floor, students decide on every turn whether to place a disc to score or use it to knock out an opponent's.

How to play

1. Use tape to mark four 8-meter courts, each with a scoring triangle at the end split into 10, 8 and 7 zones and a minus 10 zone at the tip; have the setup done before class and explain the game (2 min).
2. Free practice in pairs: push the disc with the stick from the starting line, without striking it, aiming for each zone (5 min).
3. 2v2 doubles games: each player slides four discs, alternating with an opponent; only discs inside a zone and not touching a line score (8 min).
4. Tactics break: each pair notes on the worksheet when it paid off to place a guard disc in front and when to knock out an opponent's disc (3 min).
5. Second game applying the agreed plan, against new opponents (7 min).

Rules

• Push the disc in one continuous motion; striking it like a hockey shot is a foul.
• The stick never comes up above knee height.
• Nobody walks on the court while discs are moving.
• A disc touching a line doesn't score.

Variations

Adaptations

• Wheelchair user: pushes the disc from the chair with a longer stick or by hand.
• Visual impairment: mark zone edges with raised tape, and a partner describes where the discs are.
• Lower-body injury: plays seated on a bench at the starting line.

Learning goals

• Grade force to control sliding distance.
• Choose between placing and knocking out based on the score.
• Manage scoring and rules independently in pairs.

Equipment for a class of 25

• sticks: 16
• rubber discs: 32
• tape: 3
• worksheets: 14

Teacher tip

A smooth gym floor is ideal; outdoors, the same game works with bigger discs. Leave the taped courts down if other classes will use them.

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