DIY Skee Ball Machine

The skee ball machine is a wonderful thing. The simple experience of rolling a ball into a target is so freakishly satisfying that I used to play as much as I could as a kid at the local amusement park/mini-golf course. The sound of the rolling ball on the ramp, the pop as it launched in the air, and the bouncing as you hoped it would hit the 50 or even the 100.

So when the idea for doing a bigger project came up, I jumped at the chance to make a DIY version. I was amazingly lucky to get a lot of help from the folks at Because We Can who did the design and fabrication of the machine on a Shopbot.