The Interpreter Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 http://www.montanakaimin.com/mobile/features/lord-of-the-pins-how-the-bowling-alley-works-1.2778166 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcgoble3 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Interesting article. I'm a league bowler myself with about a 190 average. I'm so used to the occasional calls to the desk for "ball on 54" or "add the 2 on 51" or "set up the 7-10 on 64" (ouch ) that I almost take those little fixes for granted. It's nice to be reminded that there's an actual human back there responding to every such call. One thing I wouldn't have thought of is the noise. The article indicates it's so loud back there he has to wear hearing protectors. I can only imagine what it must be like to be in that loud of an environment for three hours of wall-to-wall league play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalefan Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Being a 28 + year bowler and someone who knows pinsetters, i have to disagree with the noise and price thing to a point. Each pinsetter model type is different. AMF has at least 5 model types. Brunswick as at least 6 model types. Then you have the other brands like Murrey and US Bowling who make rebuilt pinsetters. You also still have Candle Pin and Duck Pin bowling which is famous along the east coast. Then you have 9 pin bowling too. Each pinsetter model type is different in noise and price. The older pinsetters produce the most noise and cost less unless you have to replace a ton of parts. The newer pinsetters like the Brunswick GS-X pinsetter do cost alot. But not $50,000 a piece. Unless they are talking about them as a bunch and not each. At 36 lanes, that would have the alley paying out 1.8 million in the pinsetters alone. The newer pinsetters are more quite then the older ones. The guys or gals in the back also have to hear calls that are paged to them overhead. I have been in the back when a whole house is full. It's not as loud as one would think unless you have older pinsetters that are loud. Keeping the pinsetters quite and working right also depends on how you take care of them too. I guess that you can say that a pinsetter is like a themepark ride. You keep up the maintance on them and they run well. You let them go and they start to fall apart. The only bad part about working the back of the alley is the danger of the moving parts. You have to know what you are doing and be trained well to keep the injuries down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSnapper Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Extemely interesting... Maybe KI should build one? ha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 Bowling centers are facing hard times, with many having closed or cut the number of lanes in the past decade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSnapper Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Downtown Disney is building the worlds largest bowlong alley that is scheduled to open later this year So that is good news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalefan Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Bowling centers are facing hard times, with many having closed or cut the number of lanes in the past decade. Each bowling alley is different on price and how they keep up the center. We have had a few centers in Columbus, Ohio close due to the owners not keeping up the center in alot of areas. Leagues and open bowling are the 2 things a center needs to stay open. You can't have just leagues and not have any open bowling at all thinking that only leagues will keep the center open. We have had 3 alleys close due to the owner not wanting them open anymore. All 3 he owned were money makers. He didn't bother finding a buyer for the 2. The other one a guy offered him 3 million for everything and turned it down. The other few that closed were either on a lease or burned down. We still have a good number of alleys. About 12-15 centers in Columbus. The smallest has 8 lanes. The largest has 64 lanes. The funny thing is that we have 3 centers within miles of eacher that are doing very well. If you keep the prices low and your centers kept up, you will do good and make money. Believe it or not, Cedar Point in it's early days had a bowling alley. A few of the things from it are in the history building by SkyHawk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalefan Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Downtown Disney is building the worlds largest bowlong alley that is scheduled to open later this year So that is good news! That might be good, but unless they have leagues, open bowling and tournaments, they won't make anything to show for it. The alleys in Vegas do good because of all 3 of them things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSnapper Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Well Downtown Disney is a huge tourist draw... so I don't think they will have a problem with not doing good... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 But see Pleasure Island and Disney Quest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark6495 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 and to be honest on vacation how many people want to bowl, while at Disney. Its like saying Im going to the movie theater. Not saying no one wants to bowl on vacation, but if its not unique, then the dollars are hard to spend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 But people get haircuts at Disney..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dalefan Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 and to be honest on vacation how many people want to bowl, while at Disney. Its like saying Im going to the movie theater. Not saying no one wants to bowl on vacation, but if its not unique, then the dollars are hard to spend That would be me. Lol. Heck, i bowl up by Cedar Point at Cedar Lanes if i am staying overnight in the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark6495 Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Oh, Im a bowler at heart. If I would remember to bring my ball and shoes, I would hit up every bowling alley I could find. I just dont see the bowling alley being a huge draw for families.... but then again Im always surprised by people... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avatar Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 A bit of a update on a bowling alley going into Downtown Disney. http://www.wdwinfo.com/news/General_Disney_News/Bowling_alley_to_open_at_Downtown_Disney.htm?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=twitterfeed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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