Sjoelen

Play the Dutch game “Sjoelen” and win!

Sjoelen is a party game and sport in which you slide 30 discs through four slots (with values of 2, 3, 4, and 1) in three turns to achieve the highest score. Each player gets three throws; only the discs that have not yet landed in a slot are re-thrown. Important: a complete set (one disc in each slot) earns extra bonus points.

Watch a short video of the members of the EVS 2026 organizing committee playing ‘Sjoelen’ (opnames van Melanie/link)

The World Shuffleboard Championship 2026 (film/link): https://nos.nl/video/2614481-wk-sjoelen#:~:text=Deel%20deze%20video-,NOS,-Nieuws

Basic Rules and Scoring

• Objective: Score the most points after 3 turns.

• Turns: You start with 30 discs. After each turn, you may reuse the discs that are not in the slots.

• Scoring:

• From left to right, the slots are worth 2, 3, 4, and 1 point.

• Bonus system: A set of 4 discs (1 in each slot) is worth not 10, but 20 points.

• The discs remaining after forming sets are simply counted according to the slot value.

• Maximum score: The theoretical maximum score is 148 points (when using all 30 discs).

• Results: If you have the highest or lowest score after all the discs have been thrown (3 turns), you write the score including the number of discs in slot 4, your full name and country on the whiteboard. For example:  ‘105/5 Roger Lindberg NLD’.

• Winner: If two or more players have the same highest score at the end of the day the player with the most discs in slot 4 wins!

Important rules

• ‘Bok’: If a disc lands on top of another disc, this is called a “bok.” According to the rules, this disc may not be played again, although in practice the game is sometimes played differently.

• ‘Gate’: A disc only counts once it has completely passed through the gate. A common practice in casual settings is to slide a finger or other object along the gates; if the disc slides into the gate during that movement, it counts, but if it slides back out, it doesn’t count.

• ‘Setup’: The tray must be stable. It is customary to smooth the tray with a little potato starch before the first turn.

How do you score points?

Suppose after 3 turns you have: 5 discs in slot 2, 4 in slot 3, 6 in slot 4, and 3 in slot 1.

1. You have 3 complete sets (3 x 20 = 60 points).

2. Remaining discs: 2 in compartment 2, 1 in compartment 3, 3 in compartment 4, 0 in compartment 1.

3. Remaining score: (2x2) + (1x3) + (3x4) + (0x1) = 4 + 3 + 12 + 0 = 19 points.

4. Total: 60 + 19 = 79 points.

On Friday, September 4, starting at 1:00 PM, you can participate in the unofficial European Sjoelentournament for Statisticians (ESS). The EVS 2026 organization have a prize for the highest score of the day. The prize ceremony will take place during drawing on Friday evening.