Thanksgiving is a unique national holiday in the United States, celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November each year. It is also one of the most tradition-laden holidays literally centered on the Thanksgiving meal, and the centerpiece of that meal is the turkey.
I can remember, as a child, my mother and grandmother getting up at 5AM to heat the oven and get the turkey going. I’d get up late. That meant 8AM. I would wander into the kitchen, already warmed by the oven with its turkey and side dishes roasting away. I can still remember the aromas of clove, pumpkin, celery, onion, garlic and turkey wafting through the house enveloping me like the warm blanket that I had just crawled out from under.
But where did the turkeys come from that so many families cooked? There were turkeys aplenty at the grocery store, or from special holiday outlets. And many families like ours got our turkey from their employers. My second corporate job had a holiday custom of giving turkeys to employees every year. My mother came to count on these delightful and bountiful birds that saved her both money, and the need to fight the hordes at the local grocery store as the holiday drew near.
Earlier in our country’s history, there were even more ways to acquire one of these birds around the holiday. Turkeys were given as prizes for bowling. For instance, on November 27, 1909, the Montclair (NJ) Athletic Club gave away turkeys as prizes in their annual bowling tournament. In 1910, Pilch and Lorenz each won a turkey at the City Alleys in Spokane, Washington. And the advent of Skee-Ball tournaments meant there was yet another way to procure a bird for the holiday table.
Beginning on November 18, 1920, The Skee-Ball Co. of Dayton, Ohio ran several ads about the Skee-Ball contest they were having on Thanksgiving Day. Prize for the highest score?
A turkey.
On November 30, 1920 the Miami Herald reported that on Thanksgiving Day, Fred Fuchs won a turkey for his high score in the Skee-Ball tournament.
On November 17, 1924 an advertisement appeared in The Robesonian of Lumberton, North Carolina that A. E. Spivey was giving away a turkey for the person making the highest score on November 26th at Skee-Ball at their establishment.
And, on November 20, 1947, an article appeared in the Cloverdale Reveille newspaper, of Cloverdale, California reporting that a Skee-Ball tournament was underway at the Moderne Liquor Store owned by Frank China and Lawrence Hourihan. First prize in the tournament would be a turkey.
So there you have it, turkeys were, and probably still are, the Skee-Prize to roll for in the Thanksgiving Skee-Ball tournament.
Did you ever wonder what year Skee-Ball first showed up in your state? Based on the inventor’s notes, sales figures and advertisements, here’s what we know. On December 8, 1908, Joseph Fourestier Simpson, a resident of Vineland, New Jersey (making Skee-Ball a New Jersey invention), the inventor of Skee-Ball, received a patent for the game. In April, 1909, the first advertisement for the game appeared in The Billboard. The first alley was sold to James T. Noell, of Roanoake, Virginia, on May 25, 1909, and he bought a second alley on September 7, becoming the first repeat customer as well as the very first customer for Skee-Ball alleys. On September 8, the third alley was sold to John Clifford Warren, a cigar store owner in Ukiah, California. Two months later, on November 20, Andrew F. Gustav, of Gloversville, New York, bought an alley. Four days later, Mark Inman of Pana, Illinois, bought one. On December 14, F. J. Williamson, of Burlington, North Carolina, bought an alley, including the automatic scoring device, for $275. Even more exciting, by December of 1909, there were two alleys running at the Steeplechase Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, a major tourist destination. That was the most promising venue yet for the new game. The momentum was steadily building. As the alleys sold, John W. Harper and Simpson built at least one at their own expense, and installed it at Wildwood Crest Pier, which would be a great advertising opportunity at the very least, and perhaps begin to defray some costs. It was clear that Skee-Ball was going to be a big success. Over the years, Skee-Ball sold into almost all of the United States, even Alaska and Hawaii. Below is a table showing each state and the best evidence for the year it got Skee-Ball. Above you can see a map with the same information. What year did Skee-Ball come to your state?
State
Year
State
Year
California
1909
South Carolina
1916
Delaware
1909
Wisconsin
1916
Illinois
1909
Connecticut
1917
New Jersey
1909
Georgia
1917
New York
1909
Kentucky
1918
North Carolina
1909
Arizona
1920
Virginia
1909
Washington
1921
Colorado
1910
Arkansas
1922
Utah
1910
Hawaii
1922
Pennsylvania
1911
New Mexico
1922
Florida
1914
Minnesota
1925
Maryland
1914
Nebraska
1930
Massachusetts
1915
Oregon
1930
Missouri
1915
Oklahoma
1931
New Hampshire
1915
Tennessee
1932
Ohio
1915
West Virginia
1932
Rhode Island
1915
Indiana
1936
Texas
1915
South Dakota
1938
Vermont
1915
Kansas
1949
Washington, DC
1915
Maine
1949
Alabama
1916
Wyoming
1949
Iowa
1916
North Dakota`
1951
Michigan
1916
Alaska
1955
About The Author
Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at: http://www.nomoreboxes.com/.
Can an antique Skee-Ball token help unravel the game’s history? A token picked up on the West Coast of the United States in 1915 by a Skee-Ball roller finds its way to a token seller in Fort Wayne, Indiana and then wends its way back to the West Coast 100 years later. Now, that token is helping to unravel another chapter in the fascinating history of the game of Skee-Ball.
Archduke Ferdinand
Babe Ruth
It was 1914. Against the backdrop of the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand, baseball legend Babe Ruth entering the major leagues, and the inventor of Skee-Ball, Joseph Fourestier Simpson selling the rights to the game to J. D. Este, more mundane corporate machinations were plodding along behind the scenes in Philadelphia.
On June 5, a cryptic article appeared in Variety Magazine, noting that three unnamed Philadelphia Stock Brokers would be operating 100 Skee-Ball alleys at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.
And on July 16, 1914 the Pacific Coast Skee Ball Company was incorporated in Delaware, whose purpose was:
To acquire by purchase or otherwise and to manufacture and lease or otherwise turn to account skee-ball machines and all other amusement devices.
To purchase, lease or otherwise acquire and to hold, own, use, develop, mortgage, lease or sell or otherwise dispose of all real or personal property necessary or convenient for use as a public amusement park or resort. To purchase lease or otherwise acquire, and to manage both as [illegible]als and agents, theatres, roof gardens, amusement parks and any business [illegible] herewith.
To carry on the business of restaurant owners and vendors of confectionary and tobacco, mineral waters and provisions or of refreshment contractors generally.
Stated more succinctly in its published legal notice:
“To manufacture, sell and deal in and with skee ball machines.”
Frederick W. Cavanagh, the president of the new corporation, assembled an impressive team of brokers, attorneys, and real estate people. His colleagues in the Philadelphia financial elite, James Carstairs, and Christian Hagen, would join him as officers.
In October of 1914, Cavanagh sold his seat on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange for $3100. It is likely that the proceeds of the sale were to be used to fund the fledgling corporation. Cavanagh relocated from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, California, where he would run the company.
While all of these mundane corporate machinations were going on in Philadelphia, more exciting events were happening in California.
A Tale Of Two Expositions In 1881, the French began an ambitious project in Central America which they would abandon due to engineering problems and high worker mortality. In 1904, the US took over construction. The Panama Canal opened for business in August 15, 1914, a feat of modern engineering that would revolutionize shipping between Europe and the west coast of the United States.
Opening of the Panama Canal
San Francisco and San Diego competed for the honor of hosting the year long International Exposition that would celebrate this boon to international trade. And although San Francisco won the distinction of hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Diego decided to go ahead with an Exposition of its own: the Panama-California Exposition.
July 11, 1911, San Diego broke ground for the Panama-California Exposition. Designers, architects and laborers would work for the next several years to get the exposition ready for the public.
Panama-Pacific International Exposition Groundbreaking with President Taft
Three months later, ground breaking got underway for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. President William Taft traveled to San Francisco for the event and dug the first shovels worth. It would take over three years to design, build and install, and it would be spectacular.
The Expositions each occupied about 640 acres, but attendance in San Francisco would be five times the San Diego crowd, a total of 18 million people that year.
San Diego’s exposition opened on New Year’s Day in 1915. At midnight Pacific time, President Woodrow Wilson pushed a telegraph button in Washington, DC to open the expo by turning on the power and lights at the park. The exposition featured a dizzying array of exhibits and boasted an amusements area dubbed “The Isthmus” featuring live music, silent movies, a shooting gallery—and the brand new arcade game, Skee-Ball.
On February 20, 1915 the Panama-Pacific International Exposition opened to the public in San Francisco’s Marina District, with fascinating exhibits from around the world. There were sculptures and paintings in the Palace of Fine Arts, auto races, airplane demonstrations, the Tower of Jewels, and The Liberty Bell, that made the trip all the way from Philadelphia to be on display.
The Panama-Pacific International Exposition had its own amusement area called “The Zone” that included roller coasters and the Aeroscope, a steel arm that lifted passengers 265 feet in the air to view the countryside across five counties around the Bay. There was a huge scale model of the Panama Canal with phonographic narration explaining the history and operation of this engineering marvel. And there were Skee-Ball alleys, a definite hit with the crowds.
Having these two expositions running simultaneously on the West Coast was an entrepreneur’s dream. Imagine being able to operate Skee-Ball concessions at not one, but two large expositions for a year, with a built-in audience in the millions—all coming to you. That was Cavanagh’s plan and the reason for the Pacific Coast Skee-Ball Company. From his central location in Los Angeles, Cavanagh would be able to easily travel between the two Expositions as needed over the course of the year. And maybe it would launch an even bigger opportunity. The day after the Panama-Pacific International Exposition opened in San Francisco, an advertisement appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle that hinted that Cavanagh might have loftier plans:
IF you are a hustler with some capital and good references, look over the skee ball alleys at 1256 Fillmore or 1067 Market st. any evening; skee ball is patented and you can get exclusive territory; Fillmore st. place can be leased. PACIFIC COAST SKEE BALL CO.
On January 27, 1916, the officers began to dissolve the company. The Panama-Pacific International Exposition ended on December 4, 1915, and while the San Diego exposition elected to continue for a second year, that decision wasn’t official until March, and the corporate dissolution was already underway.
While cataclysmic events that year, like the Battle of Verdun, were noticed by the entire world, the closure of Cavanagh’s company went silent and unnoticed. Why did Cavanagh and the other officers decide that it was the time to close the company? It appears that the entire point of the company was to operate the alleys for the duration of the Expositions, make as much money as they could, and then dissolve the operation.
This entire piece of Skee-Ball history, and the game’s presence at these historic events, might have been lost to antiquity. But the Pacific Coast Skee-Ball Company minted Skee-Ball tokens as part of their business operation. Although the corporation disappeared and was forgotten, the tokens survived. And those tiny metal discs opened the door to yet another chapter of the Skee-Ball story.
Disappearing into obscurity is nothing new for Skee-Ball, not even in the time period of the Pacific Coast Skee-Ball Company. Joseph Fourestier Simpson, the inventor of the game was eclipsed by J. D. Este by 1915, and would not be discovered again until his records resurfaced in 2011, more than eighty years after his death.
Epilogue There is one more question that you might want to ask: What happened to all the Skee-Ball alleys that were operated at the expositions? And there were more alleys at 1067 Market St. and 1256 Fillmore near the Exposition in San Francisco. As is so often the case with the history of Skee-Ball, as one puzzle is unraveled, another arises to take its place.
And the balls roll on…
Acknowledgements Preparation of this article required a group of historians, researchers and organizations to bring it to fruition including:
Laura Ackley Jonathan Bechtol John Hepp Tom Keels Jim Mundy Library of Congress Panama-California Exposition Archive Panama-Pacific International Exposition Archive The Union League Keeley Tulio
We are so happy to have had their help, thank you all!
About The Author
Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at: http://www.nomoreboxes.com/.
The last school bell has rung for the year, and as families re-orient themselves to the fact that it’s summer, they are finalizing their vacation plans. And if you’re anywhere near the Jersey Shore that means a trip there, be it for a day, a week or longer.
And if you’re going to the Shore then you’re definitely going to be playing Skee-Ball on the boardwalk. Again this summer another generation will be introduced to this fascinating game by their brothers and sisters, parents, grand parents or aunts and uncles. Whoever it is that makes the introduction will put them in front of an alley show them how to roll the ball and then wait patiently for the new inductee to follow suit.
The machines will clang, the balls will clank their distinctive sound, the tickets will burp out and another generation will know the thrill of the ball flying over the ski-jump, holding their breath, and waiting to see which ring it will fall in. And that will be the beginning of their best memories at the Boardwalk—playing Skee-Ball.
At the end of it all, they’ll take their modest number of tickets and redeem them for a small trinket. The more seasoned will horde their tickets until they have enough to cash them in for something more substantial, like the ginormous teddy bear.
Have a great summer, roll some balls and collect those tickets. And if you feel just a bit nostalgic while doing it, give a nod to Joseph Fourestier Simpson, the man who invented the game and gave the world our first taste of Skee-Ball in 1909.
Happy rolling and have a great summer!
About the author:
Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at: http://www.nomoreboxes.com/.
After Joseph Fourestier Simpson invented and then received his patent for Skee-Ball on December 8, 1908, he made a deal with John W. Harper and William Nice Jr. to build, sell and promote the game. Harper and Nice set up a company named the “Skee-Ball Alley Company,” which initially operated out of an office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Harper built and marketed the alleys, while Nice was supposed to be the “deep pockets” investor. These original alleys came with a scoring device and coin box. The coin box took nickel sized coinage, including tokens. Harper had tokens made specifically for the Skee-Ball Alley Company.
Although the token has the name of the company as the “Skee-Ball Co.” on the token, the address is the same as Harper’s corporate address in Philadelphia, 533 Chestnut Street. Presumably they couldn’t fit the full name of the company on the token and abbreviated it, as they did with the city name, “Philada.”
On the back of the token, it states the obvious: “Good For One Game Skee-Ball.”
The coin box feature was terrific for operators and revolutionary for the arcade games at the time time, eliminating the need for an attendant to hand out balls and take coins. But Harper had no end of trouble setting up the coin box. In August of 1910, he wrote in a letter to Simpson:
Dear Simpson,
I enclose you 2 different kind of keys for coin boxes. I am sure 1 opens the box I set out to put on alley. I do not think you will have any trouble in adjusting box as I have had all the trouble a person could have adjusting it when it was first placed. When they come to move [the] alley, remember the screw into the floor at tapered end of trough.
And this coin box, along with the integrated ball release, was about to make history.
Token Specs.
Size: 21mm
Composition: Brass
Shape: Round
About the author:
Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at: http://www.nomoreboxes.com/.
Simpson waited breathlessly. He had sent his response to the Patent Office on May 4 stating:
In the matter of my application for patent on Game No 401,786,filed November 12,1907 and in answer to Examiners [sic] letter dated April 20, 1908,I hereby amend my specification by striking out Claim 1.
He could only imagine what Townsend, the irascible Patent Examiner had in store for him this time.
On May 16, the Patent Office rendered their final decision in the matter and mailed it to Simpson. This was the letter that would make or break his application.
If the Patent Office decided that it was not going to grant the patent would the game of Skee-Ball exist today?
The letter from the Patent Office arrived a few days later and Simpson was greeted by the following:
SIR: Your APPLICATION for a patent for an IMPROVEMENT IN
Game apparatus,
filed Nov. 12, 1907, has been examined and ALLOWED.
The final fee, TWENTY DOLLARS, must be paid, and the Letters Patent bear date as of a day not later than SIX MONTHS from the time of this present notice of allowance.
The letter went on to detail the details of what needed to be done in addition to paying the fees and the penalties for not meeting those dates. But, this meant that Simpson would receive the patent for Skee-Ball later that year and that he was on his way to fulfilling his dream of bringing the game to market.
It was as good as done! Simpson had his patent, now all that remained was that he pay the fees, provide the drawings and wait for it to be published. In the meantime that gave him ample time to work on the next steps to bring the game to market. One can only hope that Simpson celebrated this victory with at least a smile. He may have lost many battles, but ultimately he won the war. The game of Skee-Ball was that much closer to coming to market!
Letter from US Patent Office to Joseph Fouretier Simpson, May 16, 1908.
About the author:
Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at: http://www.nomoreboxes.com/.
Simpson received Townsend’s letter of April 20, 1908 and seems to have been stunned into silence.
Whether he perceived Townsend’s attempt at humor it was clear that claim 1 was not going to be granted no matter what he did to try and rewrite it. Townsend was not having it.
Simpson had started the patent process back in November 1907 with great hope and seven claims:
In a game apparatus, in combination, a board along which a projectile is adapted to travel, an obstruction upon said board for causing said projectile to be projected into the tair in a direction which will be a continuation of its original movement, and a target in the line of the trajectory of said projectile.
In a game apparatus, in combination, a board along which a projectile is adapted to travel, an obstruction for trajecting said projectile, and a perforated target in the line of the trajectory of said projectile.
In a game apparatus, in combination, a board along which a ball is adapted to be rolled, an obstruction for trajecting said ball, a target in the line of the trajectory of the ball, and an inclined base or floor for returning the ball to the player after it has been played.
In a game apparatus, in combination, a board along which a ball is adapted to be rolled, an obstruction for trajecting said ball, a target in the line of the trajectory of said ball, and an indicator for showing the part of said target engaged by the ball.
In a game apparatus, in combination, a board along which a projectile is adapted to travel, an obstruction for trajecting said projectile, a target in the line of the trajectory of said projectile, screens for limiting side movements of said projectile, and an inclined base for returning said projectile to the player.
In a game apparatus, in combination, a board along which said ball is adapted to be rolled, an obstruction for trajecting said ball, inclined gutters to the sides of said board, an inclined base to the rear of and leading to said gutters, a target, and screens for limiting side movements of said ball.
In a game apparatus, in combination, a board along which a projectile is adapted to be rolled, an obstruction for trajecting said projectile, a perforated taget in the line of the trajectory of said projectiles, pivoted levers connected with said perforations adapted to be engaged and depressed by the projectile after passing through said perforations, and an indicating device adapted to be operated by the movement of said levers.
By April 1908, those claims were whittled away at until Simpson only had two claims left, The ski jump obstruction, and the lever in the target to register the score.:
In a game apparatus, in combination, a board along which a projectile is adapted to travel, an apertured target at the rear of and above said board, in front of and spaced from said target, adapted to cause said ball to leave said board and continue its flight towards said target in the air.
In a game apparatus, in combination, a board along which a projectile is adapted to be rolled, an obstruction for trajecting said projectile, an elevated apertured target at the rear of and spaced from said obstruction, pivoted levers arranged in said apertures adapted to be engaged and operated by the projectile after passing through said apertures, and an indicating device adapted to be operated by the movement of said levers.
It is reasonable to believe that Simpson would be angry and depressed at this point. It was clear that the Patent Office did not understand the brilliance of the invention and how all the pieces fit together to make a game that would fascinate players. And, it was even more obvious that he was not going to be able to change their minds, no matter how adamant he was.
Simpson finally came to terms with the situation and decided a patent with some form of protection was better than no patent and he finally gave up. He wrote his response on May 4, 1908, stating:
Sir:-
In the matter of my application for patent on Game No 401,786, filed November 12, 1907 and in answer to Examiners [sic] letter dated April 20, 1908, I hereby amend my specification by striking out Claim 1.
Very respectfully
Joseph F. Simpson
And once again, Joseph Fourestier Simpson waited.
Letter from Joseph Fourestier Simpson to the US Patent Office, May 4, 1908.
About the author:
Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at: http://www.nomoreboxes.com/.
Simpson’s letter of April 7 arrived at the US Patent office and as usual wended its way through the mailroom, then down the majestic columned halls of the Patent Office until it came to rest in the pile of patent applications on Senior Patent Examiner, William Wilder Townsend’s desk.
Townsend had shown no sense of humor with respect to Simpson’s application for a mere game. It is possible that he thought games were beneath him, and the Patent Office, especially when there were so many more important patents to be granted.
He did however go through Simpson’s response and wrote one of the shortest responses ever to Simpson, possibly showing that he may actually have had a sense of humor. On April 20th he wrote:
Applicant’s statement that claim 1 has not been amended as suggested is not understood, unless it refers to the retention of the comma in line 4 of the claim, which could not possibly define a distinction over the references. The claim is still held to be substantially met in Miller, of record, and is again rejected.
For want of a comma a patent was almost lost!
One would hope that Simpson would see the humor in the rejection, however slight that might be.
Letter from William Wilder Townsend to Joseph Fourestier Simpson, April 20, 1908.
About the author:
Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at: http://www.nomoreboxes.com/.
In what had to be one of the quickest turn-arounds possible, Simpson received the letter that Townsend had written on April 4 and responded on April 7, 1908. Simpson was either incredibly well prepared for what he knew was coming or more likely spent several long days drafting and finalizing his response.
In an attempt to not antagonize Townsend too much he made all of the changes to claims two and three and one of the suggested changes to claim 1, and responded to Townsend:
1st. by striking out word “to” line 3 – claim 1, and by substituting at.
2nd. by striking out in line 3 – claim 2 words “to” and by substituting word at, and by striking out in same line and claim words “and spaced from”,
3rd. by inserting in front of words “said target”, line 4 – claim 2 words and spaced from,
4th. By inserting in front of word “apertured” line 3 – claim 3 word elevated.
5th. by striking out word “to” line 3, claim 3 and by substituting word at,
6th. by striking out in line 4, claim 3, words “and above”.
He goes on to say:
…claim 1 has not been amended as suggested as it is believed that to do so would clearly put the claim in shape to be met by Miller, of record.
Attention is called to the fact that in Miller the targets, which are ordinary ten pins, are carried upon a board that is not spaced from the ball track but which is a continuation of this track.
In the Miller game the pins are not “elevated targets”, in the sense that my target is elevated, they are carried by the pin table and the ball is adapted to strike their tops so that it may not be impeded by the pins and the cords attached thereto. In my case the target is separate and distinct from the table or board along which the balls are rolled. Broadly speaking this target might not be perforated but it should be elevated above the leve of the ball table and entirely separate therefrom and it is this construction that I claim.
An exhausted Simpson sent the letter, hoping this time would be the final time–again–and that Townsend would finally understand that the ski obstruction and the elevated target were the key and uniquely related features of the game. Something that up until 1908 no one else had done, and something that would fascinate the players and be timeless. Something anyone who has played the game today knows, as do all of the imitators of the game.
Letter from Joseph Fourestier Simpson to US Patent Office, April 7, 1908, pg. 1.
Letter from Joseph Fourestier Simpson to US Patent Office, April 7, 1908, pg. 2.
About the author:
Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at: http://www.nomoreboxes.com/.
