Probably the WORST lanes I've EVER bowled on!

[Monte]

Today my team at work had our "team outing".

We went to a "bowling" center in the area. I put bowling in quotes, because I don't think anyone who bowls (even doing open bowling) even remotely seriously would want to bowl here. It's mainly a "hey, we're a bunch of cool, young people! Let's go hang out at that hip bowling alley" kind of place.

I was actually surprised at the inside of this place. It was dimly lit, even the lanes. It had pool tables and a bar, and at each end it had four "private" bowling lanes.

It was almost one of those "glow in the dark" places. I could not really even make out the arrows on the lanes. They did have some "lines" on the lane that the arrows were basically midway between. At the end of the lanes, above the pins, they had screens that they were basically showing music videos on. The coolest thing about this place, to me, was the scoring screens.

They were also probably some of the driest lanes I've ever bowled on. To the point where I never noticed a track forming on either of the balls I used. And the approach absolutely sucked! I was the only one in my group who I felt actually bowled properly, and I could not slide step for anything. The first time I did it, I stuck, and almost fell. I mentioned it to the girl who was basically our waiter, and she basically said something along the lines of "Yeah, we know. We'll fix it eventually" or something like that. So I basically had to adjust to that, too, which did not help my game.

My games sucked, too. I guess I'm not very good at adjusting to dry lanes at this point.

[Blomer]

Sounds like a pain. These "gourmet," centers charge an arm and a leg and then stuff like this happens. I think they cater to those who are just going out for casual bowling.

[Monte]

The sadder part is I actually recommended a BETTER place, that would have been about $14 per person for unlimited games, pizza, and bowling.

The place we went only allowed us 2 hours of bowling.

[Amyers]

I bowled at a center once where the approaches were so sticky that I fell three times in one game and the heads were so dry the my polished euphoria never made it outside the second arrow before hooking to the gutter about 20 feet in front of the pins it was awful. I had intended to bowl three games I packed my stuff up after the 8th frame and went home it was that bad.

[foreverincamo]

That's sad to hear. It's amazing places allow conditions like that where a bowler could easily get injured. Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[Monte]

That's sad to hear. It's amazing places allow conditions like that where a bowler could easily get injured. Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Yeah, tell me about it. I don't know if it's forbidden to mention the name of the place or not (because it appears to be a chain).

It was horrible, though. I think it was for people who bowl casually, like Blomer said. People who just walk up and fling the ball down the lanes, no slide step or real form.

I even used my towel to try to wipe whatever it was off of the approach, but that didn't work. It looked sticky, like someone had spilled some sort of sugary drink or something on it, and it had been there a while.

That's a place I won't be back to.

I know it was a "company outing", but I'm seriously thinking of emailing them and complaining. Should I?

[YODA]

We used to have a center by us that was awful, by the time they closed only 15 of the 30 lanes were bowlable, the other ones had cracked boards, dried up, had spots where your ball would get marked up. Honestly I dont see how they stayed in buisness as long as they did.

[Amyers]

Yes you should. They should know if they are providing conditions that aren't condusive to having a good time. It's one thing to be a little different it's something else to be unbowlable.

[mike_thomas93]

Sorry to hear that. But yeah it'll be good to speak up. You could even consider starting a petition if that's even necessary, just as a way to convince the people at that alley to get to work on ASAP. For now, yeah, wouldn't hurt to take a break and bowl at different alleys for a while. Good quality is always important.

[Aslan]

Sounds like a place not too concerned with "bowling". Not surprising.

Me and a co-worker went to an alley near where we work…the don't open till 3PM during the week…and have cosmic/glow-in-the-dark bowling up until about 7PM when their leagues start. We tried to bowl there and it was really difficult. It was so dark you couldn't make out your target until you got close to the foul line. The lanes were AMF and had fancy new touch screen scoring machines. But the new way they had tables/couches in the bowling area made it impossible to go from one lane to the other without walking around the front of the ball return. The pin-setter kept dropping pins. And in the bathroom were a number of high voltage cabinets that didn't close all the way so hopefully no curious children end up going to the bathroom alone or they might end up like that cat in National Lampoons XMas Vacation.

[Monte]

Sorry to hear that. But yeah it'll be good to speak up. You could even consider starting a petition if that's even necessary, just as a way to convince the people at that alley to get to work on ASAP. For now, yeah, wouldn't hurt to take a break and bowl at different alleys for a while. Good quality is always important.

Well, the town in which I live has a bowling center. I like it, except I think the scoring software is very outdated. They've had the same scoring screens for as long as I can remember. I'd guess close to 25 years. They do the job, though.

This place we went for our team outing, though...was something else. The only "cool" thing as I said, was the scoring features.

I think I will send them an email, though I'll probably never bowl at their facility again. I won't mention the company I work for. I'll just say I was there recently and noticed some issues. I'll have to gather my thoughts first, because I want to make sure I cover everything.