I saw this advertised on Facebook and wrote to the seller for more photos, and got their permission to share here. I'm fascinated by old arcade games that failed to launch.
As of writing, the game is still available for purchase.
 |
1949 Skill Bowl by Allied
242" long x 21" wide x 60.5" tall (over 20 feet long!!)
weighs approximately 200-240 pounds |
The only reference I was able to find was this mention from 1949. I doubt a different version was ever built. It is also good to remember that most of what the industry figures say in these magazines is bluster.
 |
Cash Box 1949-12-24
|
Text:
Thomas F. Anderson, director of sales, Allied Mfg., Inc., Cleveland, dropped into our office to discuss the firm's "Skill Bowl". Tho this game is not as yet coin operated it has been doing a terrific job on locations in many parts of the midwest he reports. Anderson of the belief that if "coin operated" will do even better...
The game is the size of a large shuffleboard table. I would consider this a pub game, similar to shuffleboard, especially since scoring would be done manually by the players. The pins are manually between rounds using the heavy-duty pinsetter frame. The player appears to pull back the ball on a chain and let it go. The seller says that when the chain then hits the bar, the ball releases and proceeds down the lane.
Upon inserting a coin the pin-setter frame is released and can be lifted up. The pin frame can be lower and raised 11 times, to bowl full game. If it is a multiplayer game the player light at the top will advance after each frame use.
This game has a long tradition in the world of traditional wooden games, though most of these are based on a ball staying affixed to the pendulum. Please look at this catalogue entry from 1870, and the bottom left version is a very similar style of bowling:
 |
| 1870-12-24 Harper's Weekly |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was sent photographs of a similar machine from before the war. As we do, archiving them here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For my readers in the USA: The only way for this blog to continue in the face of the crushing authoritarian moral panic against trans people in your country is for me to continue to make space for the struggles of my friends and family staring down the horrors of hundreds of millions of dollars funneled into hate campaigns to vilify and lie about them.
For some context on how this dehumanizing bigotry was mainstreamed, please read and NYTLetter from 2023, which was in response to the New York Times being controlled by an editorial board that hates trans people, and consistently promoted propaganda and moral panics while discarding science and healthcare. (archive)
~!
