Sjoelen

Sjoelen is a traditional table shuffleboard game originating in the Netherlands. The game is played on a long, narrow, tabletop board called a sjoelbak, which has four slots or gates through which players attempt to slide thirty discs (also called pucks or stones) in three sub-turns. The game has similarities with bagatelle, curling and shove ha'penny... Since 1977, sjoelen has been a competitive sport (also known as sjoelsport), driven by the Algemene Nederlandse Sjoelbond (ANS).
A sjoelbak (plural: sjoelbakken) is typically 2m long, approximately 40 cm wide and has sides that are between 5.5 cm and 6.5 cm tall, depending on the model. One end is open, for the player to slide the discs, and has a bar joining the top of the side pieces to denote the start line of the playing area. At the other end, there is a gate line with four slots through which players attempt to slide the discs. The slots are numbered (from left to right) 2, 3, 4, 1. Sjoelbakken are made of wood and mass-produced boards are marketed by, among others, Schilte, Heemskerk Sport, Engelhart and Homas.
There are several rule systems for sjoelen. The most common requires a player to slide thirty discs down the sjoelbak with the aim of getting them through the slots and into the boxes at the far end of the board. After the player has used all thirty discs (the first sub-turn), any that have not gone through the slots are returned to them and they have a second sub-turn; this is repeated for a third sub-turn. Once all three sub-turns are complete, the player's score is calculated.
The basic scoring rule is that each disc that is wholly past the front of a slot will count for the number of points for that slot - from left to right, 2, 3, 4, 1. However, if a player gets one disc into each slot, then those discs count double and the player will get 20 points instead of 10. Therefore, the maximum score in three sub-turns is 148, comprising seven discs in each slot plus the two remaining discs in the 4 slot. If a player gets 148 in fewer than three sub-turns, they will get one additional disc to slide for each sub-turn they didn't use, making the maximum possible score 156 (148 in the first sub-turn and each of the two bonus discs in the 4 slot).
In some competitions (including the knock-out stages of the Sjoelen World Cup), the 20-2 format is used. This variant requires a player to slide only 20 discs down the sjoelbak and they have just two sub-turns. Scoring follows the same principles, but the maximum score in two sub-turns is 100 (five discs in each slot), with a maximum possible score of 104 if the player gets 100 points in one sub-turn and gets a 4 with their bonus disc.
Players from fourteen countries competed in the 2023 Sjoelen World Cup. This increased to eighteen countries in the 2024 Sjoelen World Cup.
Teams from Syria have participated in previous Sjoelen World Cups. There is a sjoelen club in Mallorca, Spain and the sport is also played in Argentina.
The first Sjoelen World Cup took place in 2008 in Heerhugowaard, Netherlands and was followed with another edition in 2009 in Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands. Since then, a competition has taken place every two years, except during the coronavirus pandemic, which delayed the 2021 event to September 2023. In May 2024, a catch-up competition (to make up for the coronavirus delay) was played in Bischheim, France.
The first International Para Sjoelen Competition was played alongside the 2024 Sjoelen World Cup in Bischheim, France. Players from France, South Korea and Switzerland competed on electronic boards brought from South Korea for the event.
In South Korea, the Korean Disabled Sjoelen Association administers the sport for people with mental and physical disabilities. No adaptations are made to the game itself in Para Sjoelen, but in South Korea, special electronic boards are used that help with adjudication and scoring.