Playing shuffleboard at the Skylark with Scott (picture by Rande Kamolz)

I had never played shuffleboard before. I only ‘kinda’ knew what it is. Well, I know what the old-people version is, the one involving broom-like objects and pucks that I find more fun to shoot with a hockey stick than some sort of broom. But we weren’t playing the old-people version of shuffleboard, we were playing table shuffleboard, which is apparently gaining more and more popularity nowadays. Rande, of course, knows how to play shuffleboard. Would he not? I’m always amazed at what Rande has up his sleeve. I should employ him to be my personal encyclopedia.

It’s not really a tough game to understand. I don’t really feel like explaining it, but there are some pages on the web dedicated to the rules. We played something closest to the “Knock Off” set of rules.

I’m not great at shuffleboard, really. I discovered that I’m somewhere between lousy and not too bad. That’s why I made sure I played on Rande’s team. I did get a couple of 1′s and 2′s, but I guess I didn’t do too terribly for having played it for the first time. I did have quite a bit of fun, despite Scott and Amber’s reluctance to play, and David’s skills (or beginner’s luck — he was new at it, too). I mean, almost anything’s good with a few pints of beer, right? Besides, I get pretty competitive, so of course I enjoyed myself (especially when we were winning).

Anyways, ever since playing shuffleboard that night, I’ve been dreaming in shuffleboard. I don’t dream “about” these sorts of things; they instead become incorporated into my dream, and whatever else has been on my mind or laying in my subconscious comes out through these games or activities. It’s like dreaming ‘in’ a different language (which I also do often, in Swedish, French, German, or Tagalog). I do this on occasion when I’ve picked up a new sort of game or been participating in a particular sport or activity rather frequently. Needless to say, I dream in swing dancing, volleyball, and sometimes hockey. On occasion — when work has been incredibly boring — I’ll dream in the Bubble Spinner game or Freecell. And for whatever odd reason, these are the dreams that I remember most vividly.

Last night, I dreamed about surfing on shuffleboard pucks along a gigantic shuffleboard table. Whoever was pushing my puck was the best player at the table. I kept winning. The night before, after we had gotten back from Denver, I dreamed that I kept losing at shuffleboard to my brother, who was also playing his first game, but wasn’t drinking as much PBR as I was. Um, have I been hanging out with Rande and his crew too much lately?

If I’m down on S. Broadway again anytime soon (which I probably will be, thanks to the Hi-Dive and Sputnik), I kinda hope we’ll end up back there for a little bit more shuffleboard ‘action’.