Shuffleboard powder lets the puck slide smoothly and quickly across the board. As a non-liquid lubricant, shuffleboard powder lowers the frictional coefficient on surfaces, which means that two objects, such as the puck and the laminated board, do not stick together as easily. It's made of tiny beads of a slippery kind of plastic, allowing pucks to glide as if floating on air.

When you want to increase the speed of your shuffleboard game, you try to decrease the amount of friction between the puck and top surface of the shuffleboard. The first step would be to clean and polish the wood or laminate to remove grit, grime, sweat, and oil. But if you still feel like your strikes need that special touch, evenly and lightly sprinkle some shuffleboard powder.

Shuffleboard powder, or wax, comes in different ratings of speed. This is because an increase in speed sacrifices control. If you find the puck is flying so fast across your field, it looks like a blur, you can try a "slow" wax. When you need that boost in speed, upgrade to a "fast" wax. These ratings aren't universal, but some brands name certain mixes their "third slowest" or "second fastest" shuffleboard powder to give you means for comparison.

This loose powder resembles talcum, cornstarch, or confectioner's sugar, but it is made of miniature, perfectly round spheres of silicone. The powder is usually sold in a cylindrical container resembling a can of powdered bleach cleanser. The array of holes on the top of the metal can allows you to shake out the powder so it's evenly distributed across the table. Store it in a dark, dry place.

Shuffleboard is a game in the carom family, dating back to the 15th century. Shuffleboard powder is only the latest technological innovation to reduce friction on the board. Other attempts included many layers of thin varnish, buffed and shined waxes, laminates in place of wood, and liquid polishes.