The founders of Brewskee-Ball like to say they've taken Skee-Ball from the arcade to the bar, turning the old-time amusement park game into a competitive sport with hundreds of dedicated players in a handful of locations across the country, including Brooklyn, San Francisco and Austin.
But the company that makes Skee-Ball machines is not amused.
It's suing Brewskee-Ball's founders for trademark infringement. The league isn't rolling over, though and co-founder Eric Pavony is launching a crowdfunding campaign called "Skee the People" to raise money for his legal defense.
Before launching the league in 2005, Pavony says he met with the CEO of Skee-Ball Inc. outside Philadelphia.
"He gave us his full blessing to start the league and he kind of chuckled when we said, 'Hey, can we call it Brewskee-Ball?' " Pavony says. "He said, 'Yeah, of course.' We shook on it. And we got the good times rolling."
The league uses official Skee-Ball machines. The players fling a series of balls up a lane and into the air, hoping to land them in a series of round plastic rings, but the league had to invent its own scoring system and other rules. Bad puns and drinking are optional but encouraged.
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