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Skee-Ball is an arcade game and one of the first redemption games. It is played by rolling a ball up an inclined lane and over a "ball-hop" hump (resembling a ski jump) that jumps the ball into bullseye rings. The object of the game is to collect as many points as possible by having the ball fall into holes in the rings which have progressively increasing point values the higher the ring is.
Skee-Ball was invented and patented in 1908 by Joseph Fourestier Simpson, a resident of Vineland, New Jersey. [1] On December 8, 1908, Simpson was granted U.S. patent 905,941 for his "Game". [1] Simpson licensed the game to John W. Harper and William Nice Jr. who created the Skee-Ball Alley Company and began marketing the thirty-two-foot games in early 1909. [2] The first advertisement for Skee-Ball appeared on April 17, 1909, in Billboard magazine . [3] About two months later the first alley was sold. [4] Alleys continued to sell slowly over the next few years.
In January 1910, Nice died unexpectedly, leaving Harper without the necessary funding for promotion. [5] The company struggled for the rest of 1910, 1911 and 1912. Simpson worked with Harper, but they were having difficulty making any headway, and by December 1912 the Skee-Ball Alley Company was moribund. [6]
In 1910, Jonathan Dickinson Este became enamored of the game, [7] and in 1913 he helped Simpson and John W. Harper to revitalize the company. [8] Este installed two alleys at a Princeton location, near the university, to see how well they would do. [9] After a few weeks, interest in the game fizzled, but in 1914 Este installed Skee-Ball in rented space on Atlantic City's boardwalk. [9] He purchased the patent and all rights to the game from Simpson, incorporated The J. D. Este Company to build and market the game, and hired Harper as general manager. [10] In 1917 Este enlisted in the military and turned over operation of the company to his business partners. [11] After his return in 1919 he sold The J. D. Este Company to his partners and exited the business. [12]
Este's business partners renamed the company the "Skee-Ball Company". [13] They operated the manufacturing and distribution of the game until 1928 when the game was sold to Herman Bergoffen, Hugo Piesen, and Maurice Piesen, who incorporated the National Skee-Ball Company. [14] In 1929, the National Skee-Ball Company of Coney Island, New York, trademarked the name Skee-Ball. [15] [16]
The National Skee-Ball Company organized the first national Skee-Ball tournament at Skee-Ball Stadium in Atlantic City. [17] The tournament alleys were shorter than the alleys that Simpson had built. Over one hundred contestants qualified to play in the tournament. $2400 in prizes were awarded to the winners. [18]
In 1935, Bergoffen died unexpectedly in Atlantic City, leaving Hugo and Maurice Piesen to run the National Skee-Ball Company. [19] In June 1936, The Rudolph Wurlitzer Manufacturing Company bought all of the rights to the game and set up a games division. [20] Wurlitzer produced more than five thousand Skee-Ball alleys and began selling them in December 1936, [21] but they ceased production of alleys in 1937 as demand weakened. [22] Beginning in 1942, Wurlitzer shifted its focus from amusement devices to the war effort by building equipment for the United States government. [22]
As the war drew to a close, the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) contacted Wurlitzer to ask about either licensing the rights to Skee-Ball or selling it outright. [23] By January 1946, PTC was the new owner and manufacturer of Skee-Ball. [24] That lasted until 1977 when Skee-Ball, Inc., was spun-off from PTC under the same ownership. [25] By 1984, Joe Sladek and three other partners had bought the company. [26] Over the next several years Sladek bought out his partners and renamed the company Skee-Ball Amusement Games Inc. [26] In February 2016, Bay Tek Games, Inc., of Pulaski, Wisconsin, acquired Skee-Ball Amusement Games, Inc., acquiring the rights to the legacy Skee-Ball game and trademark in the process, and moved its manufacturing to Pulaski. [27]
Super Ball!!, a version of skee-ball, was a pricing game on the American game show The Price Is Right from 1981 to 1998.
Skee-Ball is now a social sport played in bars in North America, with leagues forming under various banners. In recent years, it has inspired the development of professional Woodball, a sport version of the game known for its unique blend of skill and strategy. [28]
A beach version of Skee-Ball played in the Carolinas, with scoring resembling cornhole, is called Flyball. The inventors first publicized it on social media in March 2023. [29]
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Gameplay varies depending on the particular machine but, normally, a player, after inserting appropriate payment, receives a queue of (usually nine) balls made of either polished Masonite or heavy plastic and each approximately three inches in diameter. Each machine has an inclined ramp, 10–13 feet long, up which the player must roll the balls. A sudden increase in incline at the end of the ramp (called the "ball-hop") launches the balls above the plane of the ramp toward a series of rings that direct the balls into holes of varying point values, with the smallest and hardest to reach usually giving the most points. The machine dispenses coupons to the player, based on scoring thresholds, either during the game or after the game ends. The coupons are typically traded at the arcade for prizes. Some machines award large coupon bonuses to players who attain or surpass a posted high score.
At traveling carnival midways, prizes are typically won by scoring a certain minimum number of points in one game. This requires an attendant to hand out prizes immediately at the end of games, which is not common in arcade settings. Usually multiple small prizes can be traded for medium prizes and multiple mediums for large. Perfect or nearly perfect scores earn the largest prize available, while very low scores may earn nothing at all.
Ten-pin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The objective is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll of the ball, or failing that, on the second roll. People approach modern ten-pin bowling as either a demanding precision sport or as a simple recreational pastime.
Skittles is a historical lawn game and target sport of European origin, from which the modern sport of nine-pin bowling is descended. In regions of the United Kingdom and Ireland the game remains as a popular indoor pub game.
Tee-ball is a team sport based on a simplified form of baseball or softball. It is intended as an introduction for children to develop bat-and-ball game skills and have fun.
Candlepin bowling is a variation of bowling that is played primarily in the Canadian Maritime provinces and the New England region of the United States. It is played with a handheld-sized ball and tall, narrow pins that resemble candles, hence the name.
A billiard ball is a small, hard ball used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker. The number, type, diameter, color, and pattern of the balls differ depending upon the specific game being played. Various particular ball properties such as hardness, friction coefficient, and resilience are important to accuracy.
A marble is a small spherical object often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic, or agate. They vary in size, and most commonly are about 13 mm in diameter. These toys can be used for a variety of games called marbles, as well being placed in marble runs or races, or created as a form of art. They are often collected, both for nostalgia and for their aesthetic colors.
Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry Auchey and Chester Albright under the name Philadelphia Toboggan Company. The company manufactured carousels, wooden roller coasters, toboggans and later, roller coaster trains.
In the United Kingdom, the football pools, often referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of association football matches taking place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, and may encourage gamblers to enter several bets.
Duckpin bowling is a variation of the sport of bowling.
Cotton pads are pads made of cotton which are used for medical or cosmetic purposes. For medical purposes, cotton pads are used to stop or prevent bleeding from minor punctures such as injections or venipuncture. They may be secured in place with tape. Cotton pads are also used in the application and the removal of makeup. Cotton pads are soft enough that they can be used to clean babies. Cotton balls have much of the same applications as cotton pads, and can be used interchangeably.
Angleball is a registered sports fitness organization and patented equipment manufacturer for North America's oldest sport, anejodi. Angleball's anejodi rules were reestablished as an American tradition during World War 2 at Brown University by collegiate Hall of Fame football and basketball coach Charles "Rip" Engle to keep American World War 2 servicemen fit prior to deployment. Angleball equipment is currently played by 1,000,000+ people in the United States and worldwide and for conditioning in the NFL and by Team USA Olympic athletes. International Angleball has 13 current member countries. The Angleball organization honors its ancient heritage by encouraging groups to produce their own anejodi equipment to Angleball's patented measurements, using available or natural materials, as long as the equipment is not sold. Angleball is a registered trademark and is sold exclusively by the Angleball company.
Fascination is a game commonly found in North American amusement parks, boardwalks and arcades. The game is a redemption game, in that prizes are often won for playing the game. The game dates to 1918, with the first location opening at Coney Island, NY. It became popular during the 1920s and spread quickly from coast to coast, as evidenced in pictures of Chutes at the Beach in San Francisco, a park that operated from 1903 - 1928. Over a century later, there are still a handful of locations that are in operation, mostly in the Northeastern US.
Chicago is a "money ball" pool gambling game.
A carnival game is a game of chance or skill that can be seen at a traveling carnival, charity fund raiser, amusement arcade and amusement park, or on a state and county fair midway. They are also commonly played on holidays such as Mardi Gras, Saint Patrick's Day, and Oktoberfest.
Paddle ball is a one-person game played with a paddle and an attached ball. Using the flat paddle with the small rubber ball attached at the center via an elastic string, the player tries to hit the ball with the paddle in succession as many times as possible.
Ladder toss is a lawn game played by throwing bolas onto a ladder.
Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins or another target. The term bowling usually refers to pin bowling, though in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, bowling could also refer to target bowling, such as lawn bowls.
High Speed is a pinball simulation video game developed by Rare for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and published by Tradewest in 1991. High Speed employs the game engine that Rare previously developed for Pin*Bot (1990).
Out-of-home entertainment is a term coined by the amusement industry to collectively refer to experiences at regional attractions like theme parks and waterparks with their thrill rides and slides, and smaller community-based entertainment venues such as family entertainment and cultural venues.
Bay Tek Entertainment is an American arcade game manufacturer based in Pulaski, Wisconsin. The company specializes in ticket redemption and carnival themed games.
