The King of What?

Some friends and I were out the other night at an arcade and as we went up to the Skee Ball machines we came upon a middle-aged man who had a video camera set up on a tri-pod and a t-shirt emblazoned with the words "King of Skee Ball 1998" across the back. My first thought was, "I really hope I don't end up on camera tonight because I was at work today and I look really tired," but my second thought was How does one become the King of Skee Ball?

A brief google of skee ball champions and I discovered two things about the man that I met and confirmed something I already suspected. The two things I learned are: first of all skee ball takes almost no skill and secondly it is usually done comparatively by a bunch of drunken frat boys. What was confirmed for me is if you're still bragging about being the King of Skee Ball nine years later, your rule has been usurped and the palace china has probably been sold for more pot or some other magical substance.

I did find something really remarkable though about this man in what he was doing. Every time he played he stood in the exact same spot and did the exact same movements and he got exactly the same two results: 100 points or 10 points. He had learned that the movements that would garner him the greatest reward also have the greatest risk for the lowest scores. How can anyone do the same thing over and over again and vacillate between the two extremes? Do we really need a new King of Skee Ball each year?