Shuffle scoring and the hammer

Shuffle looks like a game of distance. It is really a game of counting.

Only one side scores

When all eight pucks have stopped, find the single puck farthest down the table. Its side scores the round. Every puck of that colour beyond the best puck of the other colour counts its zone: 1, 2 or 3, or 4 if it hangs over the edge. The other side scores nothing, however good its other pucks look.

So a round with your pucks in the 3, the 3 and the 2 is worth nothing if one rival puck sits a hand’s width past them. And a single puck of yours in the 1 is worth a point if nothing else survived.

The hammer

The final puck of each round is the hammer. It is played with full knowledge of the table, so it always has an answer: clear the leading puck, or slide past it. Scoring a round costs you the hammer, because the scorer opens the next one.

Without the hammer, keep the end simple. A single puck in the 2 with nothing around it is easy for the hammer to remove, but a crowded end with three of your pucks gives the last puck a chance to take everything.

Guard, draw or knock off

• Draw: slide past the best rival puck and stop. Right when the end is open.
• Guard: stop just in front of your own leading puck so that a rival has to get through two pucks. Right when you lead and the other side still has pucks.
• Knock off: hit the leading rival puck off the table. Right when it is alone and you have the hammer or need to stop a big score.

When in doubt, count what the round is worth to each side after each option. A point you keep is often better than three you might get.