And the Balls Roll On...: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball

This is the story of Skee-Ball— a unique game, patented in 1908 by a long-forgotten inventor living in Vineland, New Jersey: Joseph Fourestier Simpson. The film explores the era in which the young inventor grew up, as the industrial revolution created the new middle class, and the explosion of amusement parks that allowed them to flee their crowded industrial neighborhoods for a few hours of pleasure. It was also the age of innovation, as inventions from the telegraph and telephone, to electricity and machinery transformed the pace of life in the late 19th century. It captures the excitement that drove the young inventor to persevere through failure after failure, and finally his inspiration for this unique game with its fast play excitement. It follows his trials and tribulations in trying to launch the game with partner John W. Harper and it introduces the varied and fascinating cast of characters who owned, promoted and more than once rescued the game, through opportunities like the Roaring Twenties and the rise of Coney Island, and challenges like the Great Depression and World War II. The film looks at why the game creates such profound nostalgia, and explores its uncanny ability to fascinate a legion of fans around the nation after more than 100 years, through the eyes of Skee-Ball enthusiasts from game collectors and arcade owners to folks rolling just for fun. Skee-Ball is still a popular feature of arcades and amusement parks—but no place more than the Jersey Shore, where champion tournament rollers compete for the Worldwide tournament prize at Ed’s Funcade in Wildwood, New Jersey. This is an invitation to Skee-Ball fans and their friends, and even the simply curious, to go for the roller coaster ride of their lives, discovering the real story of the beautiful game of Skee-Ball. And the balls roll on…