SKEE (skee)
Skee
ball: a common arcade game Common clues: ___-Ball; Arcade game
starter; Half an arcade trademark Crossword
puzzle frequency:
3 times a year News: Can
Skee-Ball and Hot Wings Save Justin Bieber and Salena
Gomez Video: Amazing
skee ball tricks
Skee
ball (also spelled skeeball or skee-ball; sometimes called skee
roll) is a common arcade game and one of the first redemption
games. It is similar to bowling except it is played on an
inclined lane and the player aims to get the ball to fall into a
hole rather than knock down pins. The object of the game is to
collect as many points as possible by rolling balls up an incline
and into the designated point value holes.
Gameplay
varies depending on the skee ball machine, but is generally
similar. The player, after inserting appropriate coin payment or
token equivalent into the coin slot, is given a set of
baseball-sized balls to use, made from either smooth polished
compressed masonite or heavy plastic. Most machines provide the
player with nine balls per game; this can vary from machine to
machine, however. 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 (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, the
harder-to-reach holes usually giving the most points. When the
balls are exhausted, the player is given tickets dispensed by the
machine based on how many points were earned. These tickets can
be traded in at the arcade for prizes. The more tickets required
for redemption, the more valuable the prizes. In some locations,
a player who achieves a posted, exceptionally high score can earn
a large ticket bonus reward.
In
some installations, particularly traveling carnival midways,
prize-winning is achieved by scoring a certain minimum number of
points within one game. This requires an attendant to hand out
prizes immediately at the end of games, and is not common in
arcade settings. Usually small prizes can be traded up for medium
prizes and mediums for large. Perfect or nearly perfect scores
earn the largest prize available. On the other hand, low-scoring
games earn nothing, not even tickets.
The
game was invented in 1909 by J. Dickinson Este in the city of
Philadelphia. In 1935 the rights to Skee-Ball were purchased by
the Wurlitzer Corporation, which in 1945 sold them to the
Philadelphia Toboggan Company, an amusement park ride
manufacturer. In 1977 the Philadelphia Toboggan Company set up
Skee-Ball, Inc. to market the game, now located in Chalfont,
Pennsylvania.
When
Skee-Ball alleys were first sold in 1914 to the outdoor amusement
park industry by Maurice Piesen (the stock was held by nine year
old Maurice on behalf of his father, Hugo Piesen), the game had a
36-foot (11 m) lane. This was much too big for most arcades, and
made it so that only people who were quite strong could play it
well. As a result it was later changed to 14 feet (4.3 m), but
was eventually changed again to the modern length of 10 or 13
feet (4.0 m). Soon after these changes, skee ball became very
common in arcades around the United States. Because prizes were
given to the players, the game was considered a form of gambling
in some parts of the country. This led to restrictions on the
number of machines allowed in an arcade in some places, and
banning of the game in other places. These laws, however, did not
last long, and thus skee ball is now found in almost all arcades
in the country. It is also a staple of the restaurant/arcade
chain Chuck E. Cheese's.
In
1932, the first ever skee ball tournament was held in Atlantic
City, New Jersey.
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 competitive and social sport being played in bars in
North America. Skee-Ball leagues have begun to pop up under
various banners including the United Social Sports banner based
in Washington DC and SkeeNation based in the Carolinas. These
leagues are rapidly increasing in popularity and are expanding
the reach of Skee-Ball to new players.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Skee ball".
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