Leagues offering Bar-Skee
Northern VA Bar-Skee – DC Bar-Skee – Bethesda Bar-Skee
History of Bar-Skee
Bar-Skee is a new take on the classic game of Skeeball. Bar-Skee is based around social league and tournament play and is often played in bar and restaurant establishments.
Skeeball was invented in 1909 by J.D. Estes in the city of Philadelphia. The current rights to, and production of the Skee-Ball brand and machines currently belongs Skee-Ball, Inc located in Chalfont, PA.
When Skee-Ball alleys were first sold in 1914 to the outdoor amusement park industry the game had a 36-foot 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, but was eventually changed again to the modern length of 10 or 13 feet. 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 Skee-ball can now found in almost all arcades in the country and thanks to groups like ours and a few fun loving individuals Skee-ball machines are now finding their way into your neighborhood bars!
Interesting Fact 1: The first known Skee-ball tournament was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1935.
Interesting Fact 2: A version of Skee-ball was a pricing game on the popular game show The Price Is Right from 1981 to 1998; on the show, the game was known as Super Ball!
Rules
Teams
1. Group’s must have at least 8 rollers on their roster to be elevated to Team status, however the league reserves the right to place free agent rollers on teams with fewer than 12 rollers. 12 rollers is the max number of players able to compete during a single match. It is encourage that teams have 12-15 rollers on their roster for the times when individuals are unable to attend.
2. Each team will have a captain, who will be the official representative to the league and will be responsible for communicating messages from the league. A co-captain is also highly encourage.
A. While phone numbers are optional for regular players all captains must ensure that their profiles have an accurate phone number listed. This is used during urgent communications between the league and captains and will never be shared with third parties.
3. Players must be registered (and paid in full) to play and to be counted towards a groups Team status.
Game Play
1. A match will consist of two teams rolling 12 regular frames and one specialty frame. Each frame is one full game with 9 rolled balls. Every team member present and able to play must roll at least one full frame (9 balls), unless more than 12 players are present.
2. Each team must have a minimum of 4 rollers per game. No player may roll more than 3 frames in any given game. If only two or three players show they may play but their score will be capped at their best 6 or 9 frames respectively.
3. Teams will roll on the same lane throughout the match. If teams wish to choose their lane prior to the start of a match Captains or a designated player will play Rock Paper Scissors for choice of lane.
4. Every ball must be rolled while standing with both feet on the ground and located behind the machines (i.e., no rolling from the side of the lane) Violating this rule will result in a score of zero for balls rolled during the infraction.
5. Any shot thrown while observing the previous rules and counted by the machine (including Bank shots) are permitted.
6. Balls that fail to enter the scoring zone and roll or otherwise return to the thrower are able to be re-thrown.
Scoring
1. Skeeball scores presented on the machines screen will be divided by 10 (the zero dropped) to simplify scoring.
2. Each Roller will roll one full frame (9 balls) as their contribution to their teams score.
A. If Players are unhappy with their first score they may choose to roll a 2nd frame, however if a second game is rolled the score from that game will count even if it is lower than the original roll.
B. If a player chooses to roll a second frame they must first wait for their opponent to finish their first frame. At this point they may announce “I’m rolling again” and may proceed to begin their 2nd game.
C. Players choosing to roll a second frame must choose to do so BEFORE the 3rd ball is rolled by their opponent if they too opted for a 2nd frame. Rollers may NOT wait for their opponent to finish their 2nd game before attempting to roll their own 2nd game.
3. Frame scores will be divided by 10 for addition purposes, and the team with the highest combination of their 12 frames will be the winner.
4. After the 6th frame of each match a mystery round will be played. The mystery round will result in a score of “10″ for the winning team and “0″ for the loosing team. The following specialty rounds are selected and played at the discretion of the host.
A. Speed: Both teams will present one roller who will each begin to throw their balls at the command of the host. The first player to roll all of their balls and have the machine flash game over or for their score to flash will be considered the winner.
B. Relay: Each member of the team present will roll one of the 9 balls. If less than 9 players are present the team will rotate through their players in the same order as they began the frame. (I.E Rollers Bob, Jane, Jack, Kelly, will continue in the same order until all 9 balls are rolled) The team with the highest score wins that round.
C. Speed Relay: Using the above relay rules the winning team will be decided not by total score but by the first team to have their machine count all 9 balls rolled and the game to be declared over, indicated by the flashing score or the Game Over message.
D. Blind Folded: One roller will be blind folded and led to the machine where they will roll one full frame (9 balls). Teammates may assistance through verbal direction but are not allowed to physically aid the blinded folded roller. Top score between the two teams wins the round.
E. Skee-off: Teams choose one roller from the opposing team to compete against the player the opponents have chosen from their team. The roller with the highest score after a single round of 9 balls wins a bonus 100 points for their team.
Awards & Trophies
1. At the end of each Skeeson Teams will be ranked based on games won and total score. The top teams from each chapter will face off at the end of skeeson party with the final winning team crowded “Skeeball Champions”.
2. At the end of each skeeson Individuals will be invited to compete in a High Roller tournament. The winner of this tournament will be given the designation of “High Roller” for that chapter and skeeson.
3. Additional prizes and trophies maybe given.
Sportsmanship
1. Teams & Rollers are encouraged to introduce themselves to their opponents prior to the start of each frame.
2. Teams are encourage to “line up” after their match and shake hands, give high fives, or otherwise congratulate their rivals.
3. Skeeball is considered a game for the civilized and friendly. While healthy competition is encouraged, any player deemed to be acting in an unsportsmanlike manner will be warned on their first instance, removed from the game on their second (and their score fore-fitted) and finally removed from the league on their 3rd infraction. Examples of unacceptable conduct include excessive badgering of players (to include cussing, shouting or heckling) and or excessively rude conduct to other bar patrons or bar staff. League Reps will have final decision on any issues regarding enforcement of this rule.
