SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - If you love Nintendo Wii bowling as much as some people do, you might have been a bit excited when cruising a local trading website on Monday afternoon.

Eugene Foisy, with his bowling ball and Wii controller in hand, was the victim of a perfectly executed prank Monday afternoon when his wife and friends posted on Yktrader that he was a two-time Canadian Wii bowling champion on a local trading website, and was offering to teach interested parties the secrets to successful Wii bowling. - Andrew Livingstone/NNSL photo

A post for a 'Wii tutor' showed up on Yktrader, offering lessons from Eugene (aka Spider-man) Foisy - a two-time Canadian Wii bowling champion and runner-up at the annual Scandinavian Wii bowling tournament. The post offered lessons for $20 an hour, or a straight up trade for exceptional Zelda skills.

As it turned out, Foisy, who moved to Yellowknife last July, was the brunt of a practical joke orchestrated by his wife Noha El Hakeem, and friends Kevin Cummings and Mark Huntley.

The prank grew out of a weekend Wii party at Foisy's home where some intense bowling matches took place between Cummings and Foisy.

"He gets really cocky when he bowls," Cummings said. "So we thought it would be a good idea to put up the post."

El Hakeem said she was talking with Cummings and jokingly said Foisy, who is currently looking for work in the city, just sits at home and plays Wii all day.

"I said we need an under the table job for Eugene," said El Hakeem, to which Foisy insisted that he doesn't actually sit at home and bowl all day, having only purchasing the Nintendo system a week ago.

The masterminds were surprised and pleased, at the expense of Foisy, when Yellowknifer contacted him for an interview and a round of bowling.

"I called my wife and said 'why is (Yellowknifer) coming to bowl with me this afternoon?'" he said.

Even though he's not actually a two-time Canadian champ, it's likely Foisy has enough sound techniques and strategy to dominate the world of Wii bowling if ever a national tournament did come into existence.

"I average about 180 to 220 (points)," he said, adding his best game during the weekend tournament was somewhere in the 250 range while joking he'd like to become Yellowknife's Wii pro bowler.

For Foisy, it's all about spin when trying to dominate the pins.

"Spin is everything," he said. "It's like real bowling on TV. You've gotta get the curve away from the headpin."

Admittedly, he said he does have a little bit of a leg kick when he bowls, but said he has better form than some people do.

"My buddy Dayle, we've gotta move the coffee table when he plays," he said, while demonstrating the running motion and foot-slide Dayle would take.

Yellowknifer could not leave Foisy's home without challenging the former Cape Bretoner to a best of five series.

After a close first match and a lop-sided second match, Foisy was down two games. He said it was all part of his technique - tire the reporter out and go in for the kill with three straight wins. After he took games three and four in a formidable fashion, the two contestants duked it out in the fifth and final round.

Trading strikes for most of the game, he led by three going into the final frame. Foisy finished the tenth frame with two strikes, but with his last ball he scored a six. Knowing his goose might be cooked, Foisy looked on as Yellowknifer went on to take the final game - and the series - by 11 points.

Foisy, meanwhile, said he plans to get back at Cummings for the prank, but would not reveal what his plan was or when he would "strike."