By: Jeff Hudson
For over 50 years, Skee-Ball Alleys have been an integral part of the traveling Carnival Midway. This will continue for many years to come as we have put the finishing touches on an awesome new Skee-Ball Carnival Alley that was in operation for Magel Carnival Midways during the 4th of July holiday. This trailer will continue to play various spots in Minnesota through July and August and then make its way to play the top 2 ranked State Fairs in the USA; the Minnesota State Fair wrapped around the Labor Day Holiday and then on to the Texas State Fair in October.
This project has been in the works for several years now.  Back in 2016 when we were transitioning Skee-Ball into Bay Tek Games, Larry Treankler asked me about the Carnival Market and his desire to have game offerings for this segment.  I relayed that there was a need for a Carnival Skee-Ball games as both a replacement unit and for completely new units.  In addition to filling a need for our customers, having the Skee-Ball Alley continuing to have a presence on the Carnival circuit only solidifies our Skee-Ball brand recognition.
Collaborating with our Research and Development Department and soliciting the input from several Skee-Ball Carnival Operators, we have developed a new game unit. It is built with a hinged runway so it can fold up into the trailer.  It is robust enough to take the weekly movement of the trailer between locations and can withstand the variety of weather conditions that will be encountered in the outdoor environment.  We maintained the color scheme of the Classic Skee-Ball, but added the lighting and graphic elements of the Modern Skee-Ball to create a fantastic looking and fun playing game.
A Big Thank You to all the dedicated Bay Tekkers who made this project a reality!!