I have a new favorite game. It’s not as accessible as Words with Friends but it is equally addicting and even more fun plus it’s a little physical.
I just returned from a trip the northern Oregon Coast and in Seaside at the Funland Arcade I had the opportunity to play Fascination.
Invented in the 1920’s, it’s a game similar to Skeeball or Rollerball. You roll a ball under a Plexiglas screen and when it falls through one of the 25 holes provided, a light lights up on the backboard. Your goal is to get a “bingo” either across, down or diagonally with the lights. An auctioneer-type emcee lets everyone know how many lights they need for a bingo to keep the challenge going.
Sometimes he gave us two balls, which really confuses non-multitaskers like myself or sometimes we played black out. In the end I finally won a Frisbee. Others walked away with Seaside coffee mugs, six packs of soda made in Seaside and saltwater taffy.
I highly recommend it as a delightful family activity free of video games and screens. Fascination is operated by relays like our telephones used to be.
The Fascination Room is open seven days a week in the summer and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday the rest of the year.
This looks like great fun! Some of my fondest memories on vacations with my parents is all of us playing skeeball.