Skee-Ball 2

Enjoyable simulation of the ball-rolling arcade game

Skee-Ball 2 is based around the classic arcade game, skee-ball, in which you need to roll balls into the numbered holes on a bank. It's surprisingly engaging for a port of such a simple real world game.

Skee-ball reimagined

Just like the original Skee-Ball game for iOS, Skee-Ball 2 takes the ball-rolling format and adds all manner of bells and whistles to it. You earn points and tokens by playing well, which you can exchange for power-ups such as three balls at once.

There are plenty of items and objects to collect too, including new ball designs, different playing surfaces, and avatars. In-app purchases allow you to get more tokens to unlock more prizes. You can also earn tokens by landing the ball in the hole with the flashing light.

Skee-Ball 2 includes a multiplayer mode, which works via Game Center. You can either take on a friend, or play against a random opponent in a best-of-three match.

Great handling

The controls in Skee-Ball 2 are very easy to pick up (there's a handy tutorial anyway, which walks you through the basics). You roll a ball by flicking your finger upwards to control the speed and direction. Tilting your device changes the spin on the ball, so, with some practice, you can be very precise in where you want the ball to land.

Authentic arcade experience

Skee-Ball 2 offers as realistic a simulation of the real thing as you could hope for on a mobile device. The different tracks are well designed and the ball physics are very impressive and leave no surprises when you launch the ball.

The sound effects in Skee-Ball 2 are even more impressive, and the thud of the ball landing on carpet will instantly take you back to those childhood days spent playing the game in arcades.

A skee-ball fan's delight

Fans of the real life version of the game will love Skee-Ball 2. Not only does it provide an accurate simulation of the real thing, but the power-ups, items, achievements and the multiplayer mode give the game real depth.

Despite all this dressing up, Skee-Ball 2 is repetitive and is essentially just rolling balls into holes time after time. However, there is fun to be had, even if only for a while.