It was quite the practical joke. Many years ago when I was either a preteen or young teen, my parents hosted my dad’s large family for Thanksgiving. The night before Turkey Day, we all went to a family fun center called Wonderland. This place, which is still operational in north Spokane, boasts laser tag, go-carts, batting cages, and a large arcade. When we all arrived back at my parents’ place that night, it was discovered that we brought home more than just crappy redemption prizes.

When my aunt opened up her purse, she discovered a brown skee-ball resting inside. This was back in the late 1990s or early 2000s when most skee-ball machines used the heavy-duty, wooden balls for play. I remember seeing the ball and thinking it was so weird to see it outside the context of an arcade. My uncle had swiped one of Wonderland’s skee-balls and snuck it into my aunt’s purse to invoke an unusual surprise upon returning to my parents.

Ah, skee-ball. Quite the arcade classic, right?

My brother playing skee-ball in 2011.

It definitely isn’t my favorite. I would take hot shot or Ms. Pac-Man over it any day. But perhaps that is because I am just not very good at it. Or maybe it is because I don’t care for the sound of the ball rolling up the chute or the disparity between a high score and the minuscule number of tickets the machine would spit out.

Despite my relative disdain for the arcade mainstay, I sure have played a lot of it. In fact, I tested my skill (still really bad) at Chuck E. Cheese with the kids last week. Even after all these years, I just don’t find it to be that much fun.

Sloan playing some skee-ball at Chuck E. Cheese this past weekend.

So why do I keep finding myself playing it? I think because it is such an easy, self-explanatory game to play. In our current arcade era where games are so complex, life-like, and expensive, it is kind of a comfort for an old dude like me to try my luck at something so basic.

After doing some basic research on skee-ball, I thought I would share my favorite three facts I learned…

– Skee-ball was patented in 1909

– Although bowling was an obvious inspiration for skee-ball, it also was inspired by skiing/ski jumping that was becoming popular at the time—thus the jump ramp that the balls glide over to reach the game board

– Skee-ball is now a sanctioned competitive sport with championships held through the Brewskee-Ball League.

I don’t know if the skee-ball my uncle snatched from Wonderland was ever returned, but I hope it was. Don’t Blink.