What would be in your Dream Lanes?

[The KingPin]

Ok so you have been granted the wish to build your own bowling center...

What would you have in it?

:)

[JBuford300]

I'm probably going to kick myself in the butt for putting my blue print out here, especially if someone beats me to it..

My dream center would be an 80 lane center much like the one I bowl and work in a shop at. 48 lanes on one side, 32 on the mirror...I would put my control desk and pro shop together at the front of the building. Reason for this is to have a entrance to the center much like that of a Golf Course, you have to go through the Pro Shop to enter the center. This would give bowlers the exposure to equipment (balls, shoes, and bags) right from the get go. Your once a month/year customers won't take much interest, but your multi-visit monthly recreational bowlers would pay attention to how much they are paying for rental shoes as opposed to how much they can spend on a decent pair of shoes that would be theirs and theirs alone. And of course once you buy shoes, you have to buy a ball, and sometimes the other way around, which will almost always end up in a bag purchase..

The 48 side would limited primarily to serious bowling, league, practices, college/high school, and tournaments. The 32 side would be my fun side, for the cosmic bowling, birthdays, groups, and fund raising.

I would have two grills (snack bars) of sorts. One up front past the pro shop/control counter, will be a restaurant which will serve all points of the day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner (desserts of course). Full plates and sit down style with hosts/hostesses and waiters/waitresses. The actual "snack bar" would be middle of the concourse with a concession like feel, drinks, beer, pop corn and small snack items, a true Snack Bar. I would have a major lounge somewhere probably infused with the arcade where you have a dave and buster's type feel with big projection screens and games which require the cards that you activate,( free advertisement on those game cards remind people where they spent money and brings them back often for the entertainment)

The Pro Shop: My dream, would be to have two presses because I would be anticipating a lot of business with this design and a full range of equipment selections from all companies. The beauty of my pro shop would be that I would put a 8 lane "practice range" in the back..Services included at my range would be to have the competitive/tournament bowler to have access to any conditions they want to put down for practice. I would like to have both high end machines available (i.e. Kegel Lane Walker AND a Brunswick A-22) so the bowlers could practice on variations of the pattern they choose. Pricing for the Range would be on a by the hour scale and wouldn't be nearly as cheap as it would be practice on the lanes in the center (obviously) but this is a little more detailed and you would get the coaching or privacy you're looking for without dealing with the crowd. I would consider including all equipment surface adjustments free of charge during these sessions.

I think that's all I'm willing to put out right now..and yes the cost of putting something even remotely close to this up is astronomical, but then again, that is why this is a dream set up..time to go play powerball, so I can win and make a small dent in my start-up cost for this place lol.

[Jord_84]

I've always liked the idea of marrying retro with new technology. It'd be somewhat contemporary with some retro furniture (orbit clocks) etc. Big, flat-screen monitors, top of the line consoles....maybe even have a room at the end of the house with 2 lanes and a lounge, a vip room of sorts, for private parties.

I've had ideas for years, only because I think my family's bowling alley could use a gimmick to keep bowlers interested, that and a new mechanic lol.
There's a Brunswick XL being built a couple miles from our center...so we'll see, we might not exist in a few years.

[Iceman]

I like both ideas - retro to bring back the "old school" style where mostly skill was dominant, and the layout of the first idea.

Second, would be to have 2 pairs of lanes that constantly run different patterns - and take out insurance for 800 series and 300 games rolled on them, maybe 2500 and 5000 for an entry fee of $10.00. Non-PBA entries only though, we have to keep it in check, so bowlers will try and would realize how much better they need to get - or stay with the THS and stay away from tournaments. Either way, they can shoot a big game or series and win money instead of 1 lifetime award and a cheap ring at that matter.

I think if somehow we can show all bowlers what it takes to compete in the sport, many of them will define themselves thus boosting pro shop involvement and bring back the skill in the sport. This is the main aspect of my approach of where I think the USBC needs to stand up.

[kev3inp]

Why bother with the VIP areas? Just do what Splitzville down here, and whatever the other one is called, and charge $14 for drinks and $100 an hour for a lane and totally keep out the riff raff. After all, the rich deserve to pretend they're like the rest of us, too, don't they? The one place has a sushi bar in it. I guess you'd have to have enough of the upper crust around to take advantage of them by serving their interests.