Shove Ha'penny - The Board

The Board

Shove ha'penny is played on a small, rectangular, smooth board usually made of wood or stone. A number of parallel lines or grooves run horizontally across this board, separated by about one-and-a-half coin diameters. The spaces between the lines (usually nine) are called the "beds". Five British Half Penny coins (now obsolete pre-decimalisation coinage) or similarly-sized coins or metal discs are placed one-by-one at one end of the board slightly protruding over the edge and are shoved forward toward scoring lines, with a blow from the palm of the hand.

In the humorously opinionated (and exceedingly rare) book "The Shove Ha'penny Board Displayed" (Christophers, London 1934), author Trelawney Dayrell-Reed asserts that the best boards are made of unvarnished walnut or mahogany. In parts of South West England, primarily Dorset and Hampshire, the board is made of slate and lubricated with arrowroot powder or French chalk, which makes the polished ha'pennies glide with a very light touch. The five-coin turns are alternate and the coins are cleared between turns so there is no nudging of opponents' coins. Indeed, both players use the same coins, and it is a serious mistake to move the coins back to the bottom of the board before one's opponent has had a chance to check the scoring, as they may be distracted by drinking their pints and so suspect one of cheating. Sometimes teams compete, playing in sequence, but scoring is as for single players. Experienced players (including the aforesaid Dayrell-Reed) conclude that merely placing the coins between the lines is too easy so that to score they must be placed almost exactly in the center äof the bed. An exact placement by a single shove, rather than by nudging into position by subsequent shots, is called a 'flopper' and will command applause, especially if it is a winning shot. In competition games a scoring placement is judged by a referee. In times past considerable sums could be wagered on games of shove ha'penny and influencing the referee – whether actual or suspected – could result in sudden and violent confrontations. Because of this some public houses have a strong antipathy to games of shove ha'penny and will only allow trusted locals to play, sometimes keeping the board in a back room and denying its existence to strangers. This is particularly common in the case of the 'Dorset long board', making it difficult even for a shove ha'penny enthusiast to ascertain how many pubs still have this archaic board.

The Dorset long board is a somewhat different game, employing a much larger board, marked with circles instead of horizontal beds. This board can be viewed in a British Pathe newsreel "Tippit and Shove Halfpenny" (see www.britishpathe.com/recordphp?id=37692 ). Video of the more common modern game can be seen on YouTube by searching for "Indoor League" and seeking the finals of the shove ha'penny competition from this 1970s vintage Yorkshire TV show devoted to pub games. Some form of the game was the 'game of shufflegroat' at which King Henry VIII is legendarily alleged to have lost large sums to his more dubious drinking companions: 'The privy purse expenses of 1532 show that in January Lord William won £9 of the King at "shovilla bourde," and "My lord of Rocheforde won of the King at shovilla bourde and betting at the game £45." In the following month Lord Rocheford won £41, 12s. 6d. of the King at the same pastime'.