Cheapest bowling you have played?

[NewToBowling]

I remember AMF had a promotion around the late 80s. The price for a game was the temperature. They ran it for a week. One of the days it was like 25 degrees. So a game only cost $0.25. Not bad

[Amyers]

They quarter bowling all through the afternoons during the summer when I was younger can't imagine how many games I bowled back in those days

[Bradski9]

in valparaiso indiana they have 99c games for the first hour they are open, at my home lanes the cheapest is 3.00 a game in the afternoon. everybody in my area buys band cards that the local high school sells that has a bunch of discounts from businesses all over town and the bowling alley has a deal of buy 2 get one free game on it. (dat run on sentence)

[Monte]

The local bowling center where I live is running two promos right now. $1 games on Thursdays (6PM-close), and $5/person (not counting shoe rental) for unlimited games on Mondays.

We're going to try to go on Monday, depending on whatever else we have going on.

[epiepenburg]

When I bowled in youth league, we got a card for 75 cent games, usually valid for a year. My home centers cheapest bowling is now $2.50 a game on Tuesdays. I've also stayed after league on Fridays to bowl under the black lights for $10 for two hours.

[Mark O]

I guess you can't get any cheaper than free haha. When I was just starting to get into bowling Brunswick Zone had a promotion one summer where you got an hour for free every Friday. I don't think I missed a week and got a ton of free practice time in. Even now their normal rate is 4-5 dollars a game but from 9-12 in the morning and at night they have dollar games so you can still get a good price if you come at the right time.

[NewToBowling]

A lot of cheap games out there. Locally there are a few places with $1 games on Sunday evenings and another one with $1.29 games on Sunday morning. And $6 games for two hours at another place Sunday evening also.

[Sourtower]

The Brunswick XL by my house used to have $1 games after 9 PM on Mondays and the lady at the front counter would allow my son who comes to league with me every Monday to start the promotion at 7 PM. 2 weeks ago they stopped that because Bowlmor now runs the bowling alley. They got rid of a lot of the awesome deals they had. I get coupons from them every month for $1.99/game on Mon-Thurs and $2.99 a game Fri-Sun. Otherwise the league rate is $2.79 a game or $19.99/hour for normal customers.

[Amyers]

This summer our home center did the kids bowl free promotion. They had an additional package that for $25 the adults could bowl with them from opening to 5:00 M-F and all day Sunday for free. We bowled a lot of games with that this summer I would figure I had my cost down to about .10 a game.

[mc_runner]

My house has free practice on Fridays from 1-5pm for league bowlers. Not the most convenient time but its free. Few other promos too... $1 games on sunday mornings when there are no tournaments, and $1 games all summer for league bowlers.

Other than that normally just a discounted rate of like... $2.25 or somethign a game which is still not bad.

[rv driver]

I paid a quarter a game back in the '70s.

[jab5325]

My local lane does $1.99 on Sundays, and has a bit of a tough time getting folks in there for open bowling. It's about $3.50/game otherwise.

I've always wondered: Have any operators ever tried "memberships", similar to a golf club? It sounds crazy, but it may be worth exploring.

Perhaps something like this:

- League bowlers get a card for open bowling, good for an increment of games, for a set price. There would be multiple increments, each with more of a per-game discount. The card is good from September-April.

Based off of $3.50/game, something like this:
25 games, $75
50 games, $125
75 games, $200
100 games, $300

Or

- For $50, league bowlers get $1 off per game for 50 games, something along those lines.

[white_rabbitt]

Lots of deals around here...just have to go to right place at the right time. One house has penny per pin you shoot (shoot 86 and it's $.86, max of $1 for 200+), there are a couple different $9 unlimited bowling + breakfast from 9am-12pm Sunday morning places, $1 game time slots, and I get $1.95 games w/ my league card at any AMF center anytime.

[britjeff]

lucky buggers. my local alley is £5,25 a game( guessing that would be around $7 ish) even with my league discount it.sstill£2 a game ,round about $3 and a half, or $4 a game. can only get discount before 5 though

[britjeff]

bowling aint cheap in the uk. wish we lived in the states

[white_rabbitt]

That sucks man! That's one of the best parts about bowling...that it's relatively cheap. (unless, of course, you have an equipment obsession like some)

[J Anderson]

bowling aint cheap in the uk. wish we lived in the states

Depends on which part of the U.S. you live in. At my local center, league bowlers are charged $3.50 per game for open bowling. Depending on who is working the counter I can get games for $2.50 each as a youth coach.

[Blomer]

I bowl before 5 on the weekdays for $1 a game. Price went up but being a regular I still pay $1.

[swingset]

Best price was my AMF that had $10 for league play, plus unlimited open bowling after leagues...by the time we rolled out of there at closing, games were probably less than $.20. Plus we got a pizza every week!

That was only a few years ago, adjusted for inflation, made the $.50 games I played as a kid seem downright expensive.

[ralphs007]

The main bowling center I bowl at charges the following rates. The time you get there determines what you pay per game.
10:00 am. .50 every game you bowl
11:00 am. .50 every game you bowl
12.00 pm. .75 every game you bowl
1:00 pm. 1.00 every game you bowl
2:00 pm. 2.00 every game you bowl
My brother and I get there at 10:00 am. M-W-F and bowl ten games each. The total for both of us is ten dollars, and they always give us a 5.00 off of ten dollars coupon. That comes out to .25 a game ! I usually bowl ten games by myself once a week and it cost me 5.00. So for a total of 40 games a week, I pay 12.50 !

[mc_runner]

My local lane does $1.99 on Sundays, and has a bit of a tough time getting folks in there for open bowling. It's about $3.50/game otherwise.

I've always wondered: Have any operators ever tried "memberships", similar to a golf club? It sounds crazy, but it may be worth exploring.

Perhaps something like this:

- League bowlers get a card for open bowling, good for an increment of games, for a set price. There would be multiple increments, each with more of a per-game discount. The card is good from September-April.

Based off of $3.50/game, something like this:
25 games, $75
50 games, $125
75 games, $200
100 games, $300

Or

- For $50, league bowlers get $1 off per game for 50 games, something along those lines.

I've heard of a few things similar to this, where they offer unlimited games for a month for like $75. Great deal if you're going to be doing a lot of practice, maybe not if you only make it there as often as I have this season (once a month or so) ;)

[britjeff]

best one we had, was when me and my very better half went one thursday morning. three games each cost us around £22 ( about ish $40) but we had problems with the lane. the manager saw and offered us either a refund or vouchers, took the latter and got another 6 free games, but when he came back he said there was another game each on the lane and a coffee. didnt think it was bad 14 games and a cofffee each for £22.

[Perrin]

I think the normal price is something like $3.50-$4 a game but if you are a league member you bowl for $2 per game.

One house here does a pay what you bowl night so if you bowl a 135 you pay $1.35 for the game.

Great night for practicing 10 pins :D

[nomad1721]

Free when i practiced with a worker from the lanes.

[JoeInPI]

When I bowled in youth league, we got a card for 75 cent games, usually valid for a year. My home centers cheapest bowling is now $2.50 a game on Tuesdays. I've also stayed after league on Fridays to bowl under the black lights for $10 for two hours.

Right on! If you really want to learn to concentrate, bowl under the glow lights with the noise and fog of glow bowling! :)

Cheapest I bowled was 25 cents a game shadow bowling with no pins at the now gone Meadow Lanes on Ecorse Rd. in Taylor. Best times I had were with my Dad bowling there when I was 10-12 years old. I learned a lot there, and I loved that old place.

There was also 50 cent games at Skore, Wildwood, and Satellite Bowl before 2 of them were torn down. Liked Satellite, bowled my first 300 there as a HS junior after getting my first real pair of "high end" bowling shoes at their pro shop. :)



...The time you get there determines what you pay per game.

My brother and I get there at 10:00 am. M-W-F and bowl ten games each. The total for both of us is ten dollars, and they always give us a 5.00 off of ten dollars coupon. That comes out to .25 a game ! I usually bowl ten games by myself once a week and it cost me 5.00. So for a total of 40 games a week, I pay 12.50 !

http://media.giphy.com/media/5hHOBKJ8lw9OM/giphy.gif

[Aslan]

I paid a quarter a game back in the '70s.

I think some centers still did that promotion as late as 1999-2000.

I like to go to different centers all the time and as kinda a "frugle" shopper…I'm always looking for a deal. What I've found is:

- Most of the centers around here charge you around $18 per hour and then that gets closer to $25/hour on weekend nights. But the AMF houses will have $13 for 2 hours before 5-6PM. Thats not a 'super' deal…but they also on certain holidays (like Veterans Day) will do unlimited bowling for like $14. And THAT is actually more of an annoyance than a savings because you simply can't get people to leave.

- In my old Brunswick league, league bowlers got 3 free games per day for a week…every week. You just couldn't use them during cosmic bowling times.

- I currently pay $2/game as a league bowler. They also have $2 games for everyone on Mondays.

- A center closer to where I work and a bowling alley in the student commons at a nearby university both have $1 games on Thursdays. The $1 games end when leagues start at around 6PM at the one center…but at the student commons it's $1 games all night long and I think they're open all night or at least until very late.

The most EXPENSIVE prices I've seen are:
- The Red Rock Lanes that Rob M took me and Iceman to…I think their "private" lanes are like $400-$800 an hour or something like that. "VIP Lanes w/bottle service". Fancy.
- My center is up to $30/hour lane rental on Friday and Saturday nights.
- A lot of the higher priced centers are just shy of $6/game…especially during league nights, weekends, etc...

[Aslan]

lucky buggers. my local alley is £5,25 a game( guessing that would be around $7 ish) even with my league discount it.sstill£2 a game ,round about $3 and a half, or $4 a game. can only get discount before 5 though


bowling aint cheap in the uk. wish we lived in the states

Yeah. It's funny how bent out of shape Americans get over small bounces in bowling game prices or gasoline prices…then we take a step back…look at what the EU is paying…and it's kind've embarrassing. When gas here hit $2/gallon…I got so mad I started riding my bike to work (quite a ways). Meanwhile…in the U.K. they were paying the equivalent of about $5.60/gallon at that same time. I grew up near Canada and we'd be paying $ 0.97/gallon and then cross the bridge into Canada and they were paying like $1.25/liter ($4.70/gallon). It was always a huge mistake if we had to stop for gas in Canada…you always made sure to fuel up in the States.

[NewToBowling]

I think some centers still did that promotion as late as 1999-2000.

I like to go to different centers all the time and as kinda a "frugle" shopper…I'm always looking for a deal. What I've found is:

- Most of the centers around here charge you around $18 per hour and then that gets closer to $25/hour on weekend nights. But the AMF houses will have $13 for 2 hours before 5-6PM. Thats not a 'super' deal…but they also on certain holidays (like Veterans Day) will do unlimited bowling for like $14. And THAT is actually more of an annoyance than a savings because you simply can't get people to leave.

- In my old Brunswick league, league bowlers got 3 free games per day for a week…every week. You just couldn't use them during cosmic bowling times.

- I currently pay $2/game as a league bowler. They also have $2 games for everyone on Mondays.

- A center closer to where I work and a bowling alley in the student commons at a nearby university both have $1 games on Thursdays. The $1 games end when leagues start at around 6PM at the one center…but at the student commons it's $1 games all night long and I think they're open all night or at least until very late.

The most EXPENSIVE prices I've seen are:
- The Red Rock Lanes that Rob M took me and Iceman to…I think their "private" lanes are like $400-$800 an hour or something like that. "VIP Lanes w/bottle service". Fancy.
- My center is up to $30/hour lane rental on Friday and Saturday nights.
- A lot of the higher priced centers are just shy of $6/game…especially during league nights, weekends, etc...

Two of the local AMFs around here the standard prices are $10 for two hours Monday-Thursday. Friday-Sunday are $15 for two hours but Sunday evenings are $6 for two hours. Not bad and they are both clean centers