DISC DRIVE
Brooklyn gets into the shuffleboard game with Royal Palms’ Florida-style pastime
You’ve tried darts, boccie, pinball and even Jenga. But starting Wednesday night, the new bar game in town is your grandfather’s: shuffleboard. Two entrepreneurs in Brooklyn (where else?) are poised to open Royal Palms, the city’s only bar devoted to the sport of 16th-century English kings.
“This isn’t some hipster thing we’re co-opting. This is a sincere love of the game,” says Jonathan Schnapp, who is opening the club with Ashley Albert. “We think it’s a great game that a lot of people would enjoy if only they could.
“We want people to come here and feel like they’re on vacation,” he adds.
The vacation feel is all over the place — in the form of cheeky vintage Florida pennants adorning the walls, cocktails named for legendary shuffleboard stars Earl Ball and Jim Allen, bathrooms lined with flamingo wallpaper, and, of course, the weird retro game itself.
Royal Palms comprises 10 shuffleboard courts
Shuffleboard is Brookyln’s hip new thing
painted in the telltale Benjamin Moore Tropicana Cabana blue. The lanes rent for $40 for an hour, with biscuits (the discs) and tangs (the trident-like sticks) for four.
Beyond connecting with your inner Florida, the best part about shuffleboard is the low barrier to entry. Unlike PingPong or darts, nobody grew up with a shuffleboard court in his basement.
“Nobody’s any good at shuffleboard, so there’s no competition,” says Meredith Martin as she played some biscuits at an investors-only night recently. “It’s great if you want to get drunk with your friends but not just be sitting around drinking.”
The pacing of shuffleboard makes it a perfect bar game. Tandem teams stand at each end, taking turns shooting, which leaves plenty of time for socializing or making new friends.
“They came over and asked to join our game, and we’ve just been having a blast,” says Brian Lo, who shared the court with his girlfriend and another couple for a few rounds. “We’re already talking about coming back together.”
Some of the fun is built-in, thanks to the hot young Manhattan design firm Gachot, which transformed the 17,000-square-foot die-casting factory on Union St. into a sleek, retro clubhouse in a little less than a year.
“We didn’t want it to be some Brooklyn dive or a Miami club or a traditional shuffleboard palace,” John Gachot says. “So we thought, what’s between New York and Florida, and we came up with Cuba.”
Rather than splurge on a kitchen, the team turned the loading dock into a kiosk where a rotating crew of food trucks will park each night, serving a changing menu of grilled cheese, hot dogs, Korean tacos, barbecue or steak sandwiches.
“Look at this place; it’s got everything: a DJ playing Ray Charles, fancy cocktails,” says Park Slope resident Thomas Callihan. He recently formed a team, The Suicide Alleys, for the weekly shuffleboard league. “It’s like hipster catnip.”