Skee-Ball brings generations together at the Shore. 'Anybody can play'

Skee-Ball is to the Shore as what baseball is to Cooperstown — a game that connects generations.

“Skee-Ball has been part of the Jersey Shore forever and ever since 1907,” said Ed Pohlman, owner of the Ed's Funcade arcades in Wildwood.

Polhman has hosted the annual World Championship Skee-Ball Tournament on Labor Day weekend since 2011. Dozens of the best players from the United States come through.

Joey Wolf, who summers in Wildwood, has won multiple championships.

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“It feels like tradition almost, being at the Jersey Shore,” said Wolf, who lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “The beach and Skee-Ball, it kind of goes hand and hand.”

To play, players roll a wooden or plastic ball up a 10-foot lane, and it goes airborne after hitting a ramp. The ball lands in one of several concentric holes of varying sizes; the smallest is worth 100 points, the top score for a single roll.

“Muscle memory is key, and repetition,” Wolf said. “It’s kind of like baseball. The more reps you get in — swings of the bat, taking grounders, pop flies — whatever you want to do there, the better you’re going to be. So repetition is a big thing for sure, and there’s a certain amount of strategy to it as well.”

What kind of strategy? Well, do you bank the ball off the side or roll it up the middle? Simple, but surprisingly complex — kind of like Jersey.

In 1907, Joseph Fourestier Simpson of Vineland applied for a patent for his new game with a “skee-jump” design, according to Skeeball.com.

Early tournaments took place in Atlantic City, and the game's popularity grew from there.

Pohlman made Skee-Ball a priority when he purchased his first Wildwood arcade in 1976.

“The first thing I bought was used Skee-Balls,” he said. “That was before video games, which came out later. Space Invaders, Pac-Man, everything else, but Skee-Ball was always the staple of the arcade forever.”

So it is at the Jersey Shore, where most boardwalk arcades have Skee-Ball or its cousins, Fireball and Ice Ball.

Skee-Ball purists, Pohlman included, look askance at Fireball and Ice Ball.

“It does not play like Skee-Ball, and the biggest difference ... is the angles of the ramps,” Pohlman said. “It just does not play well. The only thing that plays like a Skee-Ball is the original Skee-Ball.”

“Ed is always ahead of everything,” Wolf said. “He always has the best lanes. He and the employees clean them prior to the tournament every year and they’re well maintained. He just takes care of it and does it right.”

Wolf's wife and 15-year old son play with him at Ed's.

“My son Jeremy, he's very good,” Wolf said. “I taught him just the way I play, and he's usually in the top four or five every year. He's part of my competition, for sure.”

That's a big part of the game's appeal, Pohlman said: Everybody can play.

“The reason people love Skee-Ball is because anybody can play Skee-Ball,” Pohlman said. “Grandma can play next to her 3-year-old grandson or granddaughter. Not everybody can bowl because the ball's too heavy. Skee-Ball is a game everybody can play, and it's become a tradition in New Jersey. To me, it's not an arcade without Skee-Ball.”

Where to play

Asbury Park: Silverball Retro Arcade, 1000 Ocean Ave., has seven Skee-Ball lanes.

Atlantic City: Lucky Snake Arcade and Bar at the Showboat, 801 Boardwalk, has four Ice Ball lanes. Playcade, 2629 Boardwalk, has four Ice Ball lanes. Central Pier Arcade, 1400 Boardwalk, has four Ice Ball lanes.

Beach Haven: Fantasy Island Amusement Park, 320 7th St., has six Skee-Ball lanes.

Keansburg: Bev and Wally's Arcade, 275 Beachway, has two Skee-Ball lanes and four Fireball lanes.

Point Pleasant Beach: Jenkinson's Boardwalk has four arcades — South Arcade, Pavilion Arcade, Frank's Fun Center and South Beach Arcade — that contain multiple Skee-Ball and Ice Ball lanes.

Seaside Heights: Lucky Leo's, 315 Boardwalk, has five Ice Ball lanes.

Wildwood: Ed's Funcade, 23th Avenue and also Lincoln Avenue on the Wildwood boardwalk, is home to the annual World Championship Skee-Ball Tournament. Mariner's Arcade, 3501 Boardwalk, has six Skee-Ball lanes.

Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com.