This wild new game has bocce balls, a ramp — and a whole lot of New Jersey history

An online ad for a new outdoor game recently sent me down a deep rabbit hole of New Jersey history.

The starter set, which popped into my social media feed, comes with eight wooden balls, a small target ball, a roll-up mat ramp and raised, numbered target holes.

Creators of Bocceroll say it “blends the best parts of bocce, a popular arcade game, and cornhole.”

My New Jersey born-and-raised eyebrows immediately raised, since the game is clearly a mix of Skee-ball and bocce.

Skee-ball — the New Jersey-invented arcade game

Skee-ball was created in the early 1900s by Vineland resident Joseph Fourestier Simpson.

He developed a “skee-jump” device on an alley, the first of which was installed along the Jersey Shore. In the decades since, it is still a year-round Shore favorite.

Then there’s bocce, the ancient, outdoor game of rolling bigger wooden or resin balls, one at a time, to try and get closest to a smaller target ball.

Italy long ago adopted Bocce as a favorite pastime, and in turn, the very proud Italian-Americans of New York and New Jersey have kept the game going strong.

The park in Union County where I grew up had bocce courts packed with dirt or sand within a raised wooden border, as a staple well into the 1990s.

In present-day New Jersey, a bocce league has been in Bridgewater since 2014 thanks to a local Eagle Scout project.

Bergenfield has its own outdoor bocce courts at a municipal park, as does Bradley Beach.

Bocce is among the games offered at Pinstripes in Paramus.

In Monmouth County, you find bocce courts at the Freehold restaurant Tre and at Osteria Cucina Rustica in Marlboro.

With all this detailed history, firmly rooted in New Jersey, BocceRoll became an immediate source of intrigue.

The Wisconsin team that created it might have run into a trademark issue, hence the generic “arcade game” mention. The initial pitch during a televised inventors’ competition, “Make48,” did mention Skee-Ball.

The trademarked company has changed hands over the years, and now, funny enough, Skee-Ball is also based in Wisconsin.

In any case, lovers of Skee-Ball and bocce can certainly invest in the set for the chance to put a new spin on two classic games.

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