Chicago’s First Shuffleboard Club and Bar Has an Opening Date

New York’s Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club has an opening date for its Chicago location. The spacious club with multiple shuffleboard courts, bars, food truck docks, and TVs should open on March 29 at 1750 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Bucktown, partner Ashley Albert writes. Royal Palms debuted in 2014 in Brooklyn and is bringing its formula to Chicago.

The space is exclusively for the 21+ crowd, so no children allowed. Owners Ashley Albert and Jonathan Schnapp are ranked shuffleboard players with a passion for the game. At the same time, they’ve created a venue that appeases hardcore players, casuals, and novices. While there are arcade video game (Emporium, Logan Arcade) and ping pong bars (AceBounce, Spin), Albert and Schnapp don’t want shuffleboard to be just an excuse to booze. They want to give back to their customers and teach them about the game and share why they dig it.

Shuffleboard is forever associated with retirement communities in Florida, and the Royal Palm’s interiors bring a bit of the Sunshine State feel up north. The cocktails also have a Floridian feel. The courts are 39-feet long and guests pay an hourly fee of about $40 to rent them. Royal Palms hosts teams in organized leagues, which Albert said start on April 9 and about 70 teams have already registered. It’s billed as a good way to meet new friends. There’s no kitchen, but there are bay doors on the side where food trucks will dock. And there’s also a roof deck bar, a rarity for the area (Taxim, The Robey, Whiskey Business). The roof will feature one of the space’s 11 courts. The roof will be ready a little after opening day, so have a little patience.

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