Bone dry lanes today

[GrumpyCatFace]

Oil machine broke down at league today. Every shot went left gutter for the entire center.
It was frustrating and fun to watch everyone adapt to a bizarre lane condition.

I wound up throwing my spare ball up the twig and still going Brooklyn if I didn’t keep the speed up.

I did better than most, but it really showed who was able to adjust as needed, and who was a board-10 dumper.

[Phonetek]

In a case like that it was obviously too late to postpone league night. I wonder if the rules would allow any kind of "Tonight didn't count"? I believe most league contracts state the lanes must be freshly oiled.

[GrumpyCatFace]

In a case like that it was obviously too late to postpone league night. I wonder if the rules would allow any kind of "Tonight didn't count"? I believe most league contracts state the lanes must be freshly oiled.

No idea, but the owner heard everyone complaining and claimed it was the weather (it was about 10 degrees warmer than previous day). I had arrived early enough to see the lane machine running, so I knew that it had been done.

First shot told the tale clearly. Everybody was laughing about it for a few minutes.

I actually enjoyed the challenge, but there were a lot of meltdowns and cries of agony that night. :)

[Phonetek]

Makes me wonder if someone flipped the switch inside the machine that set it to "condition only" which removes the oil. 3 settings, condition only, oil only and condition & oil. I've seen it happen multiple times now.

[Phonetek]

OR, someone forgot to fill the oil. DOH!

[GrumpyCatFace]

Either is equally possible. He has some new kids helping out lately.

[Phonetek]

Oh I'd bet on the DOH! then. You do have to open an additional cover to get at the switch. Unless they were playing with it flipping switches not knowing what they were doing.

[Phonetek]

You can really do some damage to real wood lanes without any oil. Before we had ours resurfaced we stripped them. For the fun of it I took a sanded 500 grit ball and two fingered it down the lane. It made a nice burn steak until it went into the gutter.

I'm not sure what it would do to synthetic but I can't image it would be exactly good for them. LOL

[GrumpyCatFace]

They’re wood with a film on top. I don’t know either, but I’ll look for burn marks next time I go.

[Ryster]

The lane machine at our center broke a couple of years ago. The GM of the center drove 6 hours to get the replacement part, and then 6 hours back home just so they could get it fixed within 24 hours. The league bowlers at our center are absolutely ruthless when it comes to the condition of the lanes. If they feel that anything is "off" compared to what they are used to, they are up at the counter making their displeasure known...and then complaining all night about how horrible the pattern is when the counter tells them nothing has changed.

[SRB57]

Oil machine broke down at league today. Every shot went left gutter for the entire center.
It was frustrating and fun to watch everyone adapt to a bizarre lane condition.

I wound up throwing my spare ball up the twig and still going Brooklyn if I didn’t keep the speed up.

I did better than most, but it really showed who was able to adjust as needed, and who was a board-10 dumper.

Wow that would be very frustrating to say the least. The center I bowl at is very good at taking care of the lanes and just heard they ordered 2 new lane machines as they can't get the parts to repair the 2 they have now. Sounds like the kids have not been trained very good on how they work or have a very short memory. Steve