Living in New York City, there are certain annual events (that’s once a year for all you *legal* weed smokers) that we all look forward to. Events like the lighting of the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center, Santa-Con, and 9/11 are seared into the mental calendars of all New Yorkers, and now thanks to the mind (and wallet) of Jake Zulinski, another tradition has been added to the Summer season, Zulsk’s Game of Skate at Borough Hall.

Scheduled for Saturday, June 8 at 2pm, everyone started making their way to downtown Brooklyn through the muggy summer heat. The weather forecast looked threatening with a forecast of thunderstorms, something that has happened the previous two years, but rain or shine this game goes on.

It’s interesting how the most fun skate spots throughout the world often double as the preferred restrooms for those on the street, and Borough Hall is no exception. A massive governmental set of marble stairs overlooking a patchwork of granite tiled flat ground provides a great place to host a skate event while at the same time providing plenty of open-air composting toilet opportunities. Monday thru Friday the building houses Brooklyn’s Borough President and on the weekends it plays home to all types of passersby soaking up the sun on the steps. From the brunchers, to the dog walkers, to those screaming about the apocalypse whilst urinating in the alcoves, always a lively mix of humans all cohabitating at the Hall.

Around 2:30pm, Zulsk set the brackets and the games began. I won’t bother you with the play by play, but with each match consisting of run one at a time, all attention and heckles were focused squarely on the two brave knights doing battle each round. Due to the abuse of certain completely legal substances and varying attention spans, no specific round info was retained by the more than 50 friends that attended. Believe me, this reporter has been trying to track down any semblance of official brackets to no avail. But hey, if you want official stats and scoreboards, pretty sure there’s a certain website run by a certain Melrose Place actor/former pro skateboarder/flat bar insertionist that hosts extremely official games of SKATE for millions of dollars and corporate sponsors, but this ain’t that youngins. None of us even Ubered here.

Notable highlights and surprises; John Baragwanath of Theories of Atlantis fame being eliminated in the first round, John Devine with a solid effort placing him in the semi-finals with a clutch switch heelflip body varial (I actually saw him eat food between rounds), George the Jeweler with an all around impressive performance, former champion Danny Falla attending but sidelined with a pilates related hamstring injury, and non-skateboarding MVP Skinny Corey Quinn showing up with not one, but two cases of beer for the thirsty, legal-aged audience.

The stage was set for the final; Dustin Eggeling versus James Sayres. With each trick the tension continued to rise like an unsupervised Minnows bar tab. In the end, Sayres took down Eggeling faster than he’d take down a Bushwick Spider, while the crowd of onlookers went wild. $250 dollars in Sayres’ ripped pocket along with boxes from Seasons, Headgear, Labor, and Bureau Cafe were distributed amongst the local youth and onlookers. Like all great skate events, it’s more about the overall feeling than the results. No one cares who landed what and who beat who, just as long as Falla doesn’t win again.

Thanks to all who came out, the fine folks that donated their products and time, and the mastermind Zulsk for having the vision to elevate what would normally be just a regular day of avoiding real NYC spots and making a contest out of it. Hope to see you all at the concrete beach next year!

Zulsk Game of Skate 2023