Tributes and Traditions

Randy Senna has run Fascination games in Wildwood since 1995, when he relocated Lucky’s Fascination from Seaside Heights. Tributes and Traditions is his latest undertaking, filled to the brim with vintage arcade games, amusement park memorabilia, and a set of about 28 Fascination tables.

The tables are from the former Olympic Fascination parlor in North Wildwood. Senna acquired them after Olympic went out of business in September of 2014.

The game Fascination is a cross of Skee-Ball and bingo. Each player is seated and rolls a rubber ball, similar to a racquetball or handball, towards a five-by-five grid of holes (a glass plate over the front part of the table prevents overreaching). When the ball falls through one of the holes, a corresponding light is lit on a backboard and the ball rolls back to the player. Like bingo, the center light is “free” and the goal is to make five in a row, either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

The game is typically run in a “winner takes all” style where the first player to make five in a row wins either a cash pot or a “coupon” credit towards arcade-style prizes (depending on the parlor), but Senna runs his game differently. He has installed ticket dispensers into each table and every player is awarded prize tickets during each round. The winner receives a variable number of replay tokens, depending on the type of win and how many other players there are. For example, winning on the top (red) row is worth more tokens than on the bottom row.

Senna also has several variants of gameplay. In addition to the standard game, there are ranked games (first, second, and third place), “coverall” games (first player to cover all lights on the board), and “stoplight” games (timing of the winning roll determines the replay token payout), among others.

Additionally, Senna has updated the tables by adding coin acceptors and credit display systems for each table. The display indicates each player’s number of current coin credits and current replay credits. Be sure to stop by for a trip back in time!