Shove Ha'penny Boards
The famous English pub game in which players attempt to shove old English ha'penny coins up a board so that they fall between the horizontal lines. At first glance, Shove Ha'penny appears to be simple but you can bet your bottom ha'penny that the pub locals will beat you every time... We offer a unique range of quality Shove Ha'penny boards of various materials and types.
The Origins of Shove Ha'penny
The important game in the ancestry of disk shoving games was the old English Tudor game of Shuffleboard or Shovelboard. The English aristocracy used to play this great game after dinner on their long dining tables although later some of the really wealthy nobles produced dedicated Shuffleobard tables. There are still one or two left that can be visited and gawped at around Wales and England, most notabley at Astley Hall in Lancashire. Players took round metal shaped weights and these were slid down the tables, with the aim of getting them as near to the other end of the table without falling off. At some point probably around the same time, an indoor version of Shovelboard appeared. Originally called, Shove Groat and later, partly as the currency changed over time, Slide-thrift, Push-penny and finally Shove Ha'penny, the game continued to be a popular pub game. Shove Ha'penny is first documented in the 1840s. Old tables sometimes have lines inscribed into them and so when separate boards started to be made is unclear. You can learn more about the History of Shove Ha'penny from The Online Guide to Traditional Games.
