Skee Ball Question

modessitt

Volunteer: Encyclopedia Submission Moderator
Joined
Mar 22, 2007
Messages
33,414
Reaction score
325
Location
Austin, Texas
Got a customer with a Skee Ball machine of some type (waiting on a make and model). He says that all it needs is an "updated light kit". Anyone know what he's talking about?
 
If its the standard Skee Ball Classic, then he is probably refferring to the update that replaced the original and by now worn out fluorescent-backlit score display with newer and brighter LED scoring displays.
 
Hmm. Maybe. I've seen the thing in passing, and it looked like a regular "old" skeeball machine. I didn't think it had LED scoring, but I could be wrong.....
 
Okay, this is the info he sent me:

"Skee Ball, Inc. made it

The metal plate reads model # 3/83
and serial # is 410

It's not updating lights altogether-- it's more about replacing them.
The digital readout is actually little bulbs that light up the digital
bars on the numerals. when i bought it he said that's all it needed
but you never know."

Here's the pic he sent me:

IMG00026.jpg



He also wants me to "shop it out". Where would I get good info on shopping out a skee-ball? Is it EM inside like a shuffle bowler?
 
I wanna say old school Skee Ball uses switches vs. the Omron optic sensors like on the newer designs.

I know nothing about the power unit or the main board on the old ones, but I imagine it's nothing overly complex that you couldn't figure out. the ball release is solenoid driven... I'm gonna go on a limb and say that component is little to not different at all from the newer ones. it just runs off 110V.

parts that usually wear or get messed up are the panels, which I'm going to say are metal (the Skee Ball Extremes use ****ing plastic!).

I don't know which degree of shopping you're going with it.
 
They aren't bad at all to shop out. Just lots of cleaning. There really isn't much to them. about 8 switches and one solenoid and linkage. Pretty much all of the cosmetic type stuff such as the lane cork, nets, numbers, white rings and sandbags are available. But the parts aren't cheap.

I've been looking for the LED kit myself for a while. It looks like it may only be available through Skee ball themselves.
 
I have one of those. The bulbs are easy to replace and are very small. If the plastic around the bulbs has gotten brittle and broken then sometimes the bulbs will work their way loose. You replace all of the bulbs by removing the front of the marquee, then the plastic red display.

As for shopping it out, I guess you could replace the wooden balls with NOS ones on Ebay, but they are $100+ for a full set. You may also need to replace the switches and the bean bags in the rings.. All of those parts are sold on Ebay.

I have brand new ticket dispenser it it needs a new one that I will sell. I bought it thinking that mine needed a new one, but it ended up being a dip switch. Skee-ball gets played more than anything in my game room.
 
I called Skeeball this week to order some parts and I got the information on the LED kit. They carry the LED Kit, it is around $350.
 
skeeball manual

I bought one of these skeeball units, when I got it home and hooked up the connections, I couldnt get the switches to register points I also couldnt get the ball number to register. maybe I have it wired wrong. I would also like to set it for free play and not have it give out tickets
where can I find a manual for it?
Thanks....
 
Back
Top Bottom