Posted on March 14, 2023
1. How long have you been interested in Skee Ball?
I’ve been playing Skee Ball since around the age of 8 years old. As a child we would go to Ocean City, MD for our vacation. We would never actually stay on the boardwalk but always made at least one visit there during our trip. My eyes always lit up when I would see the arcade and my parents would encourage me to play Skee Ball. They claimed it was the best game in the arcade. I was too young to realize it was because it only cost a dime and most of the other games were a quarter. So basically we were only allowed to play Skee Ball.
2. At what point did you get interested in the game competitively?
I never strayed far from the game as I grew up. It was a blast to hit the boardwalk and win tickets and great prizes playing Skee Ball. I guess the first competitive event I participated in was over 15 years ago when Dave and Busters had, what I remember to be, a $25,000 grand prize for a Skee Ball tournament. The person who had the highest score at each location went on to Miami for the $25,000 finals. I did not win. About 8 years after that I stumbled across the World Championship in Wildwood NJ.
3. What should the audience know about the first “SBK: The Movie”?
“SBK The Movie” chronicles my attempt to win the Skee Ball World Championships at Wildwood. I believe it was in it’s second year at Ed’s Funcade on the boardwalk when I became aware of it. I had been a frequent player at Ed’s and had success there so I felt I had a great chance to win the trophy and prize money. The nice thing about Skee Ball is anyone from the age of 8 to 80 can play and possibly win, I can think of no other competition like it. Thought it might make a fun, unusual subject for a movie.
4. Are there any movies that specifically inspired you to make the SBK films?
I think the success of King Of Kong was an inspiration for making the movie and I was very interesting in documenting the history and evolution of Skee Ball. The latter didn’t come to fruition as Skee Ball ownership was in turmoil at the time, so I had fun adding some scenes to make the movie feature lenght. Many like to call it a “mockumentary”, I say no, maybe call it “docutainment”. My passion and competitive drive to play Skee Ball is very real and if you doubt that I will meet and (most likely) beat you on any lane, anytime, anywhere.
I was also hoping the movie would demonstrate the visual appeal of Skee Ball and the serious competition so I could find some support to televise the championships. I think Skee Ball is a perfect fit for TV, especially on the ESPN family of channels. They show Corn Hole, they show Pinball, they show Shopping Bagger competitions, just this week I saw Power Tool Belt Sander Drag Racing on ESPNnews – no joke. The is definitely room for Skee Ball and it can be exciting to watch.
5. Will we get a third skeeball movie to make this a trilogy?
There is a Part Three in the works. The Trilogy will be complete! This time though I will be behind the camera. It’s a road trip movie about the incredible journey of a left for dead, rotting Skee Ball lane discovered by some visionary players who used it to introduce Skee Ball to a whole new generation of competitors.
Catch “SBK: The Movie Take Too” here at Zoetropolis, 7: 30 PM on Wed. April 19th!
