Anyone build their own bowling lane?

[75lockwood]

Well if I wanted to blow 100 grand then sure, I'd call up those fusion bowling guys, but come on, 80% of that cost has got to be the pinsetter and the ball return, and 18% is the labor to have it put in. I bet if you just built the lane yourself using synthetic materials and rigged up a manual pinsetter you could get the whole thing done for a couple grand, tops. Yeah walking down each time and setting the pins up would be a pain, but if it meant having my very own bowling lane for a couple grand, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I'd like to see a cost breakdown that shows how much the wood is, how much the surface is, how much for the gutters, etc. The half scale guys can build their lanes for about $500-$750 and that includes the little half size pins and bowling balls, so a full size set up can't cost that much more. If you know where to go, you can get old pins for free from many bowling centers.

Bill, if you ever do hit that jackpot and build your own bowling center you should have a grand opening night of free bowling for all us forum members to come down and congratulate you on your win. If I ever win that kind of money, I don't think I'd own my own bowling center, but you can be sure I'd have a nice big game room in the basement with two brand new lanes with ball return and pinsetters in it just for me. And an entire DV8 arsenal of balls to go with it!

If Bill wins he needs to fly us all to his new bowling center! LOL

as far as building goes, the lane deck isn't as easy as you would think a lot goes into it. a pinsetter would be easy enough to build, i would just rig it with enough pins for an entire game and have an arm sweep all the down pins out of the way. or... you could take the 5 pin bowling aproach and put all the pins on strings so you can simply stand them back up after being knocked down....

[Juice]

If you were willing to do a lot of the work yourself and didn't mind handscoring, you could do a lane for less than 8 grand.

[75lockwood]

If you were willing to do a lot of the work yourself and didn't mind handscoring, you could do a lane for less than 8 grand.

First, i don't believe we have met, WELCOME TO THE BOARDS!!!

second, why 8 grand? if you handyman it i'm sure you could do it a lot cheaper


string pin method, use an old motor to rig up a ball return, forget about oil, weak balls only lol......

[Davec13]

I have looked at home lanes before and the price I was quoted was $180K. That was for 2 custom lanes with all the bells and whistles. After getting over the sticker shock I started looking smaller scale. There is an arcade version that's almost half scale and I have seen them at auction for substantially cheaper than $180?K There around $20,000 brand new. I didn't have the space the last time I saw one at auction. Now I do. Here is a link to the arcade versions. http://www.bmigaming.com/games-sport...ling-lanes.htm

If you look on youtube there are plenty of home alleys from 1/4 scale all the way to full scale.

[AZBowla]

Oh if I were to ever do this, it'd be full scale. I want to be able to use my actual bowling balls and practice under real world conditions. Mini bowling is fun and all, but it's just not the same.

Man, I was looking over those fusionbowling set ups in their gallery - whoa, that is classy, San Diego! If I ever hit the lottery, I'm calling these guys up as soon as I have the money in the bank. Those set ups are SWEET! Drool, da-rool! I need a bib when looking at that site. I SOOOO want one of these someday!!

[Davec13]

Just get a job with google and hang out at their employee relaxation center.

[AZBowla]

Just get a job with google and hang out at their employee relaxation center.

HA! If I had one of those at work I'd get fired for never getting anything done, and my GF would leave me because I'd never come home!

[billf]

It wold be cool if on the weekend before the grand opening we had a huge bowlingboards members only bowling marathon party. I bet I could fly everyone here, hotel and food for less than one pair of lanes lol
Then as an excuse to travel I could visit people on here and give lessons. My dream center would have 2-4 lanes in the pro shop with a CATS system for coaching, ball reviews and analyzing for ball purchase. An ID card would unlock the door to the gym so employees and the high school team can have a private place to work out. There would be lots of room too for people and equipment. I have even toyed with the thought of having an aisle on the side of each pair of lanes so you would only have to worry about lane courtesy with the team you're paired with. I decided long ago that kids under working age would bowl a certain amount of games per day for free and those of working age could with a pay stub or paper showing at least 10 hours a week of volunteer work. The center would sponsor the high school team and the youth league. What better way to get kids hooked than free bowling? I'm hoping to win enough that I wouldn't have to worry about the center making money but rather be a fun place for adults and kids.

[75lockwood]

Just get a job with google and hang out at their employee relaxation center.

*starts writing resume...*

[75lockwood]

It wold be cool if on the weekend before the grand opening we had a huge bowlingboards members only bowling marathon party. I bet I could fly everyone here, hotel and food for less than one pair of lanes lol
Then as an excuse to travel I could visit people on here and give lessons. My dream center would have 2-4 lanes in the pro shop with a CATS system for coaching, ball reviews and analyzing for ball purchase. An ID card would unlock the door to the gym so employees and the high school team can have a private place to work out. There would be lots of room too for people and equipment. I have even toyed with the thought of having an aisle on the side of each pair of lanes so you would only have to worry about lane courtesy with the team you're paired with. I decided long ago that kids under working age would bowl a certain amount of games per day for free and those of working age could with a pay stub or paper showing at least 10 hours a week of volunteer work. The center would sponsor the high school team and the youth league. What better way to get kids hooked than free bowling? I'm hoping to win enough that I wouldn't have to worry about the center making money but rather be a fun place for adults and kids.

This sounds AWESOME!!!!! please let bill win the lotto PLEASE!!!!