Skeeball is a Skill, Damnit

Tort reform now, damnit.

A San Diego mom has filed a potential class action against Chuck E. Cheese’s that claims its games are illegal gambling devices.

The federal suit by real-estate agent Denise Keller claims the games are similar to slot machines, the San Diego Union Tribune reports. Children play with tokens that cost 25 cents each, and the machines dispense tickets that can be redeemed for prizes.

California generally bans gambling, but it makes an exception for games of skill. The suit claims the games at Chuck E. Cheese’s are based mostly on chance and they “create the same highs and lows experienced by adults who gamble their paychecks or the mortgage payment.”

This woman apparently missed out on my madly competitive air hockey sessions at Showbiz when I was growing up. What? You think I went easy on my opponent just because she was my grandmother? Puh-lease. And those skeeballs don’t make it up the ramp themselves. Video games are just that – video games. Their versions just dispense tickets. Skillz, witch.

Apparently, the woman dropped the case in federal court late yesterday, but she refiled in California courts. Because apparently she hates fun.

Is it wrong that writing this post makes me think that Friends of NRA needs to introduce a skeeball game into their rotation? It could dispense raffle tickets based on your score. Then it would be a game of chance where your chances are significantly improved by your skill. And I would never leave that game all night long.

10 thoughts on “Skeeball is a Skill, Damnit”

  1. I think she is right. Skee ball is the exception. . . but at our Chuck E Cheese, they have the kids hooked on what amounts to a slot machine (albeit with cute cartoon characters) as well as an electronic version of what is basically a cross between the wheel of fortune and a roulette table.

  2. Reading some of the quotes in Uncle’s article, is it inherently better to have a child who begs for one more quarter for skeeball or the claw machine? And why isn’t the claw machine considered a game of skill? I would think that one is obvious.

  3. “Wow Timmy, you’re pretty good at that game. Heck, you beat me two out of three. Why don’t we put a few tickets on it, make it a little more “interesting”.” =)

    If these games aren’t skill, why did I have a guy try to “shark” me at Galaga, of all things, back in Junior High. He actually wanted to put some money on it.

    This in an arcade with pool tables.

  4. In carney lingo this game could be classified as an “alibi” or a “hankypank” I is NOT a “flatshop” With the first ntwo,anyone can win if they have the skill. With the third,no one can win….

  5. My oldest is completely addicted to the claw game. But that’s cause he seems to win 3/4 of the time he plays it. Probably has $8 total invested and has won everything from footballs to backpacks to a super bart Simpson and a dozen other stuffed toys.

  6. What the HELL, California? Is that the place where fun goes to die, or what?

    Dayum but I’m glad I moved out of that crap-hole last century.

  7. Here I thought lawyers and insurance agents inhabited the lowest rung of hell. Guess realtors or brokers just one-upped them :) Is real-estate that bad in CA some lady had to go after games? Watch it… video games and payments to shooting alley facilities must be next. What is real sad is this is something that looney 9th circuit could think is sound law…

  8. I heard that they were trying to pass a law in the People’s Republic of Kalifornia to wrap all children in bubble wrap until there were 18 years old. It’s for the children you know!!

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