The Worse Bowling EVER!!!!!!!!

[GeoLes]

I took a personal day off from work and decided to visit one of those fancy, new-fangled "bowling lounges" that are popping up in major citiies. I think one of Last Year' PBA charity events was held at Scores Bowling in LA. There is a place called 300 located on the Chelsea pier in New York City. I thought "What the heck. Let me splurge on a couple of games and see how the richer folks live.". So I went. It cost me $8.25 per game. Okay $17.50 won't break the bank just once for the fun of it. But it was anything but fun. The lanes were are neon-lighted in the floor, and the entire backsplash is comprised of huge flatscreen tv's. On the lanes, all the markers are neon lighted and there are lines running down the land between each marker, so it is easy to see what you are rolling at. That's the good part.

The bad new is that the lanes are bone dry. I could hear the ball rolling down the lane all the way to the pins, as if rolling on bare wood. The slightest hook on the ball sends it into the gutter. I was able to finally find the pocket by standing far right and rolling flat to inside the first arrow.

Now I get it. This is party lounge with bowling. I guess if you are plastered enough, you don't care how well you bowl. It's a shame. For all the money they put into the decor, you would think they gave some thought to investing in the quality and maintenance of the bowling surface. Glad I did not go during the evenings. It would cost even more and I would be hit with an expensive food bill to boot. Furlther proof that not everything is for everybody.

Live and learn.

[AZBowla]

Yep, I've found the best places to bowl are the little rinky-dink privately owned ones that don't try to be anything other than a bowling alley. AMF is trying too hard to be Chuck-E-Cheese, and these fancy bowling lounge places are a waste of money, big time. We have a good house out here called Let-It-Roll (formerly Sunset Bowl) and in Tucson there's a great little place that still has the old wooden lanes called Santa Cruz. I'd much rather spend a day in either one of those alleys than some fancy shmancy "bowling lounge" with big leather couches and bone dry neon flashing lanes.

[Greenday]

Yea, when I saw the 300 bowling alleys, I thought they looked cool, but I was pretty sure they aren't meant for serious bowlers. It's a club that happens to have bowling. The lanes are probably not oiled or taken care of.

[Zothen]

Lol,I guess the bowling GoDs were telling you not to play hooky from work!

Seriously thou,they may only oil lanes for leagues? I do know that some bowling establishments back East cut back on oiling the lanes as most of their buisness comes from summer leagues,etc at least thats what i've heard. If I was paying $8.25 a game I would have had them oil the lanes,then again most houses out in Cali charge $4-$6 a game is a lot.

Zothen

[UBowling]

Sad thing is they don't think about the friction bowling balls cause when they roll down the lane. Without the lane conditioner the balls will destroy the lanes over time.

[GeoLes]

Lol,I guess the bowling GoDs were telling you not to play hooky from work!

Seriously thou,they may only oil lanes for leagues? I do know that some bowling establishments back East cut back on oiling the lanes as most of their buisness comes from summer leagues,etc at least thats what i've heard. If I was paying $8.25 a game I would have had them oil the lanes,then again most houses out in Cali charge $4-$6 a game is a lot.

Zothen

I don't think they do leagues. The price package at 300 in the Chelsea Pier is directed at parties. $8.25 per game weekdays (This was Wedesday aftenoon), but on the weekends, it is diffuclut to get in (Think Studio 54 type A-list, bouncers at the door, etc.). At that time, you have to rent a lane by the hour with mandatory drink/food order. High pressure waitress at your station looking for you to order a meal plan of some sort. They earn their overhead in big, pretentious parties, not quality bowling. Worth it if you came for a high rolling party, but if you came to bowl, not so much. If you visit their website you will see their focus is not bowlers, it is parties.

[scottymoney]

Wow $8.25 a game...... I will enjoy my $2.50 a game normal price and I always enjoy the $1.50 Sunday mornings and then $1.00 Wednesday after 9pm games.

I like the old alley feel and as long as everything from the scoretable to the pin setters are working fine I am happy!

A place like that would definitely not have leagues, well at least not a league of decent bowlers. I see enough decent bowlers complain about average bowling conditions. I couldn't imagine anyone liking lanes like that. Plus the "flash" tends to look like crap unless they have good upkeep on it. In a few years the bells and whistles will look like a pile of garbage.

[Greenday]

Yea, I just found a decent alley in a not so nice area that does $2.00 games before 5pm on weekdays and has a nice bar attached that serves beer at really good prices.

[e-tank]

local alley has 1$ games 9am-3pm then 25$ a lane 9pm-12am on weekdays

bottles of domestics are 3$

[sprocket]

Drkula's 32, Inver Grove Heights, MN:

$1 per game Sunday mornings. $5 all you can bowl 9-11pm Sunday thru Thursday. You could hear crickets chirping when I was there on a Sunday night. NOBODY practices anymore or almost nobody. There was a couple of families bowling for fun but otherwise no one was on the lanes.

[75lockwood]

WOW..... that's just ridiculous! $8.25 a game??? no bowler would ever pay that......... can you imagine bowling 10-15 games a week at that price?

anyway, i got an awesome deal on bowling... 3 games + practice for each league at $12/$10/$18 (includes other prizes etc) and free practice whenever i can get to the ally. :cool:

[GeoLes]

You guys are a bunch or cheapskates! Comon' Don't you want to pay for laser lights and overpriced pseudo-gourmet food and watered-down drinks? Pizza, hotwings and beer is so lowbrow :)

[GeoLes]

I said "low brow". Not "Lowenbrau"

[e-tank]

did my practice on a Saturday instead of the usual friday. It was so much different. Friday its usually people just looking for a place to hangout but Saturday it was honestly a party in there. Almost every lane was full, bar was packed, drunk people everywhere. Wasnt too good for practice haha.

[Basisud]

Wow. In WI, you'll get the occasional open bowler and the occasional party but on a Saturday night, there might be 5 lanes on and a Sunday afternoon is for football. The bowling alleys survive off of their leagues and the alcohol that the bowlers buy.