Watermelon Skeeball

Ok so bear with me. Watermelons are a great fruit and all but there's a ton of untapped potential inside those big green oblong bois. As we discovered through intensive research these guys have a knack for being carved into any shape you can think of. So without further ado, let's get started with Watermelon Skeeball.

You will need:

• One large watermelon
• A serrated knife or another large watermelon knife
• A small sharp paring knife
• Cutting mats or a cutting board
• A standard plastic bottle cap
• A melon baller or ice cream scoop
• Blueberries!!

You can also use other small fruits instead of blueberries but trust me the blueberries work best.

Yeah, don't cut your fingers off. Pretty self-evident.

In this step, we'll be setting up the body for the target.

1. Turn the watermelon so all of that juicy goodness is lying face down on the cutting board
2. Using the serrated knife cut a wedge from the stem outwards at about a 30-degree angle from horizontal so that the melon can sit on the table at an angle
3. Set your slightly less than half watermelon on the side you just cut and admire your handiwork

Doesn't that look nice.

You can get creative with this step so these directions are more method than hardcore do-this do-that. Refer to the pictures if you get lost.

1. Using the bottle cap, create a hole in your melon by pressing it into the face.
2. Next, use your hands or a paring knife to pry the inside of the indent out to create a circle-shaped hole
3. After that cut around the holes in a circle so that you have a ring around the hole
4. Repeat this process (steps 1-3) until you have the desired amount of holes
5. Once you have your holes (with rings around them) all set, cut along the perimeter around the edge of the melon next to the rind
6. Then, remove the melon on the inside being especially careful by the rings around the holes with an ice cream scoop or melon baller

After this, you should have your rings protruding out of the melon and then a lip so that the "skeeballs" (blueberries) won't fall out.

In this step, we'll be taking the leftover half of the melon and making our skee track. Is a skee track a thing? I don't know, but we're about to make one.

1. Cut the other half of your melon into 2 quarters (or halves of halves? hmm)
2. Cut off a slice that's about 1.5 inches thick (should be shaped like a semi-circle)
3. Cut out a rectangle from the red (it's easiest to do this with the smaller knife at this step)
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have 4 to 5 rectangles roughly the same size like so...

If they end up at different heights that's ok we'll address that later don't worry your pretty little head.

This step requires some finesse so hype yourself up as you see fit and jump on in. The water is melony.

1. Take that leftover wedge that you removed from step 3 and carve out a rectangle with the skin side down
2. Put that sucker on its side and cut diagonally from one corner to the opposite
3. Now you have a triangular prism ish shape (yeah we're getting fancy with the terminology)
4. If you want your ramp to get that extra kick keep carving out so your ramp gets steeper at the end

Now you've got yourself a ramp, not the vegetable but the slopey thing. Cool.

My favorite part personally. You get to flex your precision of watermelon carving and typographical knowledge with the trusty paring knife.

1. Take a scrap piece of rind that you probably have lying around at this point
2. Try your best to make a few 1/4" thick rectangles that you can get a 1, 3, and 5 out of 'em

How to make the 1:

1. Make a straight cut off the end of the rectangular block
2. Congrats you made a 1

How to make the 3:

1. Cut out a rectangle about 2 times as tall as wide
2. Cut 4 equally spaced notches on the long side so you have 5 sections
3. Now remove the inside sections but not the center one
4. Congrats you should have a 3 by now

How to make the 5:

1. Cut out a rectangle about 2 times as tall as wide
2. Cut out a slender notch on the long end towards the right top of the rectangle
3. Rotate 180 degrees and repeat
4. Congrats again you should probably have a 5 by now or a 2 if you flip it over. crazy

The pictures explain this a lot better so refer to them if you're stuck. Winging it is also fun if you're feeling risky.

Now all you gotta do is set 'er up.

1. Place the target on the end of a table
2. Set up your rectangular blocks in order of highest to lowest (lowest at the target)
3. Position your ramp on the block closest to the target
4. Set up your point values as you see fit
5. Grab those blueberries and start playing!

We found that if you want an easier time you can remove one of the skee track blocks or get rounder blueberries. Other than that have fun and compete with your friends!