A sign of things to come? (skeeball)

If you didn't know by know I am a huge skee ball whore (right after Magnum and CP :) ) Anyway yesterday I was at PKI and I really had the urge to play skee ball, especilly after I got schooled on the old tables at PKD. Now I went into one of the arcades in the Coney Mall area where I was told I could find skee ball. What did I find? I found the two biggest rip offs of all time. First they had a section for the Ice Ball, which I hate, I hate the balls, and I hate the metal nets I hate the short tables. On the other side of the arcade they had Skee Ball Too. Now it was made by the Skee Ball company that makes the traditional tables we are used to seeing. The new "Too" version still had nine balls but the lane was about 5 feet long and it only had one low, metal rack instead of the all net backgrounds. Also instead of the top row being worth 50 points it was worth 50,000. Now it only took me two quick games to master the table and get a perfect score. Overal I thought the tables sucked and I hope that the new "Too" version is the new version available and parks will someday have to upgrade to these new machines. Hopefully parks like Cedar Point will maintain the tables they have and not allow these new crappy versions of skee ball to take over the arcades. I just fear that a decade or so from now we will have the same situation we have with Fascination. Where only a few select places will keep it instead of replacing them with overpriced chain restaurants. Actually if it wasn't for CP getting ride of Fascination I wouldn't have fallen in love with skee ball in the first place.

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Danny J
magnum count :2166

Yeah next thing you know, you'll have to eat pig uterus's after rolling your ball. Oh wait a minute.....
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The word "definitely" is definitely the most misspelled word on the buzz.

Don't look now, Dan, but here's a ten-foot lane available right here in Ohio!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1093637346

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

Now that's what I'm talking about!!! I can't stand Iceball. The traditional 10 foot lane I prefer. Can't wait to get back to the Jitney!!!!

Wait til you see Skee-Ball Lightning. It has a black frame with flourescent scoring area. It also has the xx,000 scoring plus a doubler...roll the ball at the right time and it doubles your ball score. I don't know if it's still made though...

I don't think Skee-Ball will be going away anytime soon. It is still very popular with all age groups, and the company is still in business (and doing quite well!)

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My K'Nex Coasters

Coming to Wyandot Lake in 2003: Sea Dragon's Revenge

They have Skee-Ball Lightning at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe in Columbus. It sucks. All the versions suck except the old kind that costs a quarter, has 9 chipped-up wooden balls, gives you all the balls at once, and plays that dippy carnival song and calls you a WINNER when you score 250.

I don't mind the ones with 100 holes, though they are mighty temping.

btw, anyone in Columbus with an urge to win lots of tickets, check out the Chuck E. Cheese in Dublin. I had no problem getting 800-900 points every time on these. And every time you break, I think, 500 you get the "bonus" tickets, which racks up everytime anyone puts in a quarter.

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He let the contents of the bottle do the thinking; can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.

Big problem with Skeeball anymore comes has to due with ticket inflation.

Typically Skeeball machines award 1 coupon at 180 points, and an additional coupon for every 30 points thereafter. (Though I have seen several machines start at 150 points, and some (including PKI) offer triple coupons.) At one FEC here in Cincinnati, (land of no pinball replays), they had their skeeball machines set to award one ticket at 10 points, the next at 150, and then every 3-0 thereafter.

Even with triple coupons, with a max score of 450, if you start at 150 you can get, I beleive 11 tickets (x3) = 33 points maximum. New redemption games offer chances to win ticket payouts much more generous than that.

Dan, I thought a REAL skeeball machine required depositing a coin, pulling the big metal lever back, watching the 'flipcard' scoreboard roll back around to ZERO, then rolling the old beat up balls. There were no sound effects, just a gumball light on top of the machine that lit up at 180.

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David Bowers
Mayor, Coasterville

I love this topic. As a kid, I looked forward to the arcades at PKI and Americana more than the rides.

Which leads me to: Americana.... or whatever it's called now. They have one arcade that used to have an entire wall of skee-ball... probably 20-25 in a row. They had the levers if I remember right.

This is the same arcade that used to have an elevated corner for Pac-Man games only (Ms. Pac Man, Baby, Junior, Plus, Deluxe, Super [the best one]).... but that was gone in '98. You can see the Screechin' Eagle turnaround from the window.

Anyone know the status of those skee-ball machines?

Also, anyone remember the old "dueling" game in the arcade in the Old West section of the park, near the log flume? It was a full-size cowboy mannequin who drew his gun, and you had to draw yours and shoot him first.

Problem was, something was wrong... his arm came up slow as molasses, yet you couldn't shoot him. So it took him 5 seconds to shoot you, then gloat about how slow YOU were. :) Memories....

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He let the contents of the bottle do the thinking; can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.

Oh man Dan, what's your top score? I'm also a skeeball fanatic. So much so that we hold championship playoffs at SFMM. Between this and Dance, Dance Revolution, I don't do much coaster riding at SFMM anymore! ;)

Wow, it has been a really long time since I've seen a lever Skeeball machine. I nearly forgot they ever existed!

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

I always found that pulling that lever made a very satisfying sound (the crunch of the mechanics, followed by the balls dropping). Basically the same sound as pushing in the coin tray on a coin-op pool table.

Ah, reminds me of the good ol' days....when you could play a video game on one quarter for as long as your skill allowed.

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He let the contents of the bottle do the thinking; can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.

Lots of tables at Myrtle Beach. Not to misjudge or anything, but they have alot. The Pavilion used to have tickets for free skee ball games when they had value packs, so they always hooked you after one game. The ones across the street were always better, though.

There are some great old skeeball machines along with lots of other classic arcade games at Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire. If you didn't know, they also have some classic rides like the caterpillar and others that are in great shape.

***Shameless corporate plug included in post...

We have 8 of the pseudo-classic lanes (and a Coaster-Rider!) at the Dave & Buster's I work at here in Columbus (as well as the other 31 locations around the US and Canada). They are the classic long style, with the normal 3-digit scoring, 100-point holes, and the "old" wooden balls. We also have a progressive at 450 points. They are fitted with the single-ball release and the 7-segment LED scoreboard (looks like the older style, but no light-bulbs to burn out!) Our's don't take coins though.

We also have 3 custom-designed championship lanes for a special year-long tournament. These work the same as the classics, but also feature a high-score board, pressure sensor to detect cheaters, and a "magic cup" on the 9th ball. basically, it's the right 100 hole which scores 100 extra tickets and triggers a fog machine if hit on the 9th ball.

In case anyone's interested, we payout 3 tickets every 30 points starting at 120.

If you're in the area and stop in, ask for me (I'm the Assistant Amusement Manager). If I'm there (usually mornings/afternoons) I'll slide you a few free cards.

I would be remiss without mentioning that Skee-Ball makes the best alley bowlers in the business. The imitations, as some have already mentioned, just don't cut it.

***OK, I guess that was 2 shameless corporate plugs...

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Wow! when I worked at The Enchanted Forest we had SkeeBall Machines everyplace! We had Skeeball 1 and 2. #2 was in the Bingo place and # 1 was right next to the train station. I never got to work in them but believe me, I was in there on every break and ever day off. We had the old style lever machines and the ops each had a "Key" that they could put in the coin slot and give free games. The park was auctioned off in 1991 and everything went everywhere. I heard that the day of the auction that these machines were selling for 100$!! I wish I could have gone to that auction.

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Beer, my soon to be wife, coasters, and the FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Is this a great country or what!!

When I worked at Wyandot Lake, they had 16 of the old-style lever machines OUTDOORS under part of the Dodgem building. They even paid out tickets with a very old ticket dispenser. The following season they got 12 newer ones, but still kept them outside. They built a wall around the area in the off-season, but only had tarps that came down during the season. I think they have (finally) been moved to the main arcade.

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My K'Nex Coasters

Coming to Wyandot Lake in 2003: Sea Dragon's Revenge