One Man's Skeeball Dream

Did you know there is such a thing as the World Championship Skeeball Tournament, honoring those who are expert at the old-school county fair and arcade game that makes use of nine wooden balls and a curved, bulls-eye ramp?

It happens every Labor Day Weekend at Ed's Funcade in Wildwood, New Jersey. In 2013, video services firm owner Aaron Re decided to give it a shot and came out of the event, no matter what, with a feature documentary.

Re will premiere SBK - The Movie at an arcade closer to home on Saturday, December 13th. Several things are worth noting about the forthcoming event at the Timeline Arcade in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

Even though there is nothing remotely international about the overall premiere event other than *tentative plans to hold next year's edition in Rome, it has been cheekily dubbed The International Festivale of Film. Helping stir things up will be Howard Stern posse member Richard Christy and Jim Krut, who played the role of Helicopter Zombie in 1978's Dawn of the Dead.

But the pièce de resistance is the Lifetime Achievement honorees. Although neither Chuck or Aaron Norris are expected to attend, they are being recognized for their ability to "set the screen on fire."

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door, which includes arcade play. At midnight, the 1982 Hal Needham movie Megaforce will be shown.

It's entirely fitting that a movie about a man pursuing his Skeeball dream is debuting in Pennsylvania. The game was invented in Philadelphia in 1909 by J.D. Estes, while the first national Skeeball tournament was held in Atlantic City in 1932.

[The International Festivale of Film]