I was introduced to Skittles when my Uncle Ken gave a "Merdel" Skittles set to my brothers for Christmas approximately forty years ago. I was too young to play the game and watched as my brothers and Uncle Ken played. When I was big enough to play, I played for hours at a time.

The game was placed in a non climate controlled storage room when we moved to the Seattle area from Spokane for work opportunities. Our stint in Seattle lasted about four years and we moved back to Spokane. We still have stuff in that storage room after about eighteen years.

I removed the Skittle game from storage in Summer 2004 to use the pins and tops for patterns to use to make the cad drawings to create the initial CAM programs for my computer controlled machine shop.

After the years in storage, the original game became warped to the point that the tops gravitated to a dead spot on the board and just hovered. I was tempted to modify the old box so it would work properly, but decided against it since it is now considered an heirloom. The set still resides in its original package when not used.

In the light of the fact the original set does not work the way I am accustomed, I decided to make my own box using better materials and the sophisticated box making methods taught to me by Fr. Victor Zehnder S.J. (Father was also my freshman Algebra teacher at Gonzaga Prep in Spokane, Washington.)

You will find my Skittle sets to perform better and more violently than the original mass produced "Merdel" brand sets, plus have that fine custom finish.