There are three significant dates in Skee-Ball history: October 31, 1852; December 8, 1908; and April 17, 1909.

On April 17, 1909, a small advertisement appeared for the very first time in the Billboard for the brand new game which would revolutionize arcade games forever. Its inventor was Joseph Fourestier Simpson.

Joseph Fourestier Simpson was born on October 31, 1852 to Henry and Josephine Simpson in Philadelphia, PA. When he was about seventeen his father died unexpectedly and Simpson had to find work. He became a railway clerk at the Pennsylvania Railroad, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for a time, then with the help of his Aunt, Sophia Brognard, started a planing mill which went bankrupt a few years later.

He persevered and invented an over center trunk latch that was patented in 1875 and subsequently exhibited at the 1876 International Exposition in Philadelphia in the Shoe and Leather Building.

He and his cousin invented a new type of ratchet wrench and received a patent for it in 1883.

In 1890, his mother moved the family from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, NJ then to Vineland, NJ. Simpson tried his hand at a number of jobs including becoming an attorney. He had never given up on inventing and continued to try and find better ways of doing things.

With the newly popular sport of Ski Jumping in the United States, Simpson glued together multiple ideas for a new game that rolled up bowling, ski jumping, and target shooting. It also incorporated a coin box to take the players’ money, automatically release the balls for play, and had a scoring device to display the cumulative score. Additionally it had an automatic ball return to recapture the balls. This system was unique for the time and made sure that there was nothing to get in the player’s way of dropping their nickel and playing the game. It also meant that no attendant was required–which was a feature operators were sure to love. He applied for the patent in 1907 and after a lengthy battle with the US Patent Office, he was finally granted a patent on December 8, 1908.

Simpson had taken on two business partners, William Nice Jr., the deep pocket investor and John W. Harper, the man who would build and market the alleys. After the patent was granted in December, Simpson, Harper and Nice rolled into action to get ready to sell the game, creating their first advertisement that appeared in the Billboard on April 17, 1909 on page 2, alongside other advertisements for moving picture machines, post card supplies, and an ad that promised to teach you how to be an actor.

The advertisement proclaimed, New and the most popular game ever invented. even though they had yet to sell an alley.

Soon, the alleys began to sell. James T. Noell in Roanoke, VA became their first customer and their first repeat customer. Alleys soon sold into New York, California, Utah, and Illinois. Simpson and Harper ran an alley at Wildwood Crest Pier in New Jersey. The operators were thrilled with the game, calling it a, “Quick money getter.” And the players were fascinated by it.

So there you have it, the first advertisement for a novel game and the fledgling company that was selling it. The world would grow up on Skee-Ball and it would not occur to most that there was a time before the game was in the arcade on the boardwalk.

And the balls roll on…