Small town bowling alleys

[NewToBowling]

Just discovered one while on vacation (yes, we bowl on vacation)

It is in small town of Westcliffe, CO. Small 500 population town an hour west of Pueblo. Beautiful town just overlooking the Sangro De Cristo mountains. It's not an old 100 year old center but rather built just a decade ago. New modern 8 lanes with arcade and cafe. People were really nice and it had to be the cleanest center I have been to. After we finish guy literally has towel in hand ready to clean up the table and what ever else needed attention.

They have sanctioned leagues also and price wasn't unreasonable ($3.50/game)

I never expected to see this kind of place in a town this small. Heck Pueblo (100k residents) only has two centers.

Lames were clean if not a bit dry due to probably the leagues taking a break. But fun nonetheless

[Blomer]

I know Chicago is no small town, but they have an alley where they still have pin setters to set up the pins after your turn. If bowling bad, you can stuff a dollar in one of the holes and they will knock down some extra pins for you.

[billf]

I know Chicago is no small town, but they have an alley where they still have pin setters to set up the pins after your turn. If bowling bad, you can stuff a dollar in one of the holes and they will knock down some extra pins for you.

Now that's funny and an easy way to raise your average

[Tony]

I know Chicago is no small town, but they have an alley where they still have pin setters to set up the pins after your turn. If bowling bad, you can stuff a dollar in one of the holes and they will knock down some extra pins for you.

I have never bowled on lanes with a manual pinsetter, we did have a small 8 lane house in the basement of the shopping center where I grew up, posts between the lanes and the end set of lanes wasn't quite level by the end when they shut the place down but we did have fun bowling there as kids.

[foreverincamo]

Where I bowl league, they are using the original wooden lanes from 1962 and have 16 lanes. Smallest house around. Never heard of a new one being built that was small like the one you found. Pretty cool!

[SAbowler]

There are several small 9-Pin houses in the small towns/municipalities around San Antonio. They all have kids (usually teens) setting up the pins. It's a different environment and 9-Pin is completely different than 10-pin bowling, but it is quite a bit of fun.

[fordman1]

There are several small 9-Pin houses in the small towns/municipalities around San Antonio. They all have kids (usually teens) setting up the pins. It's a different environment and 9-Pin is completely different than 10-pin bowling, but it is quite a bit of fun.

By a 9-pin house do you mean the scoring system or is this something different? I have bowled 9 pin before but never seen a 9 pin house.

[Tony]

Where I bowl league, they are using the original wooden lanes from 1962 and have 16 lanes. Smallest house around. Never heard of a new one being built that was small like the one you found. Pretty cool!

It wasn't built recently (1950's) but we have a 8 lane house that has all newer Brunswick equipment and Anvil lanes. I've never bowled in a league there but it's a neat little place with friendly people.

[NewToBowling]

Where I bowl league, they are using the original wooden lanes from 1962 and have 16 lanes. Smallest house around. Never heard of a new one being built that was small like the one you found. Pretty cool!

Yeah, when I read it online I assumed it would be an old lane with a rich history. But come to find out it was built in 2001. Town is small but a lot of tourists (as are most small mountain towns in CO). Nice walkable downtown

[SAbowler]

By a 9-pin house do you mean the scoring system or is this something different? I have bowled 9 pin before but never seen a 9 pin house.

Yeah 9-Pin bowling has a completely different scoring system than 10-pin. The pins are set into a diamond configuration and each team has six bowlers, each of which gets two balls to knock down as many pins as possible. If the first bowler doesn't knock down all the pins, the next bowler has to try to clean them up before they can throw at a fresh rack. If they fail to do so with two balls, it goes to the third bowler, etc. The pins are places further apart than a 10-pin rack, so it makes striking harder. You can also get what's called a ringer, where you leave the center pin only. That scores 12 points. I've only bowled 9-Pin a couple of times, so I'm sure I'm leaving something out. It sounds weird, but it's actually a lot of fun.