Skee ball score sends Perryville teacher to Hawaii

The world championship in the popular carnival game is worth $50,000

By Mike Wells ~ Southeast Missourian

It is a test of precise aim, a steady hand and perfect control. At stake is $50,000.

Not a bad payoff for skee ball.

Perryville High School teacher Donald O'Keefe, 26, competes Thursday in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Skee Ball World Championship, sponsored by Dave & Buster's, a restaurant and arcade chain. He takes on 31 players, including a 13-year-old from Atlanta, a police officer from Pittsburgh and a magician from California.

In skee ball, players roll nine grapefruit-sized wooden balls up a ramp, trying to sink them in holes to score points -- a perfect game is 900. Popular at carnivals and arcades, the machines typically dispense tickets for prizes.

O'Keefe, a social studies teacher, entered the contest in December 2001 for fun. He rolled 650 points at Dave & Buster's in St. Louis, where his score held up against a year's worth of competitors.

"I haven't really played it since I was a kid at Show Biz Pizza," he said. "I'm used to winning wax lips, not trips to Hawaii."

Thursday will be his second time as a finalist. He took sixth place last year in Dallas-Fort Worth, where he saw a player cry after losing.

"I've played baseball and other sports my whole life and I understand those," he said. "But this is skee ball -- that's about all I can say to my friends to explain what it is. Don't get me wrong, I want to win the $50,000. But how much skill does it take to play skee ball?"

O'Keefe and his wife, Carrie, will spend three days relaxing in Hawaii, he said. The travel and hotel costs were covered.

"I added it up, and I think I spent a total of $18 playing skee ball for a trip to Hawaii," he said. "You can't go wrong with that."

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160