Do Your Bowling Alleys Control Scoring if so Why?

[Outerlimits]

Ill try not to be long winded......but it usually doesn't work. Phonetek....I know you work in a bowling alley from your posts so maybe you have first hand knowledge about what I am asking about.
Made friends with someone at the bowling alley and we were having a conversation one afternoon about the lanes. He has worked for the parent group that owns 7 houses in my area for many years. I have no reason to doubt what he says, I just never really thought about it.
I was talking to him about how spotty the lanes seemed to me and he went on to say that they had tweeked the lane dressing machine recently. I asked why would they tweek the machine? He went on to tell me that he was responsible to run a couple of reports a week that looked at composite averages for every league that bowls in the house and when the league average goes up or down, the manager decides whether a change is needed. He said they also look at honor scores and how many were shot and what the effect on the overall average on that league was. I might add this house has fully automated scoring by Brunswick. Guess you couldn't do this very easy if it wasn't computerized scoring.
I thought the lanes were dressed the same week to week, so what reason would a bowling center care about what a leagues composite average is? Whether its higher or lower at the end of the season. Just trying to understand. When I quit bowling 20 years ago.....oil was a lane protectant not a aid to scoring. lol
I know their are a lot of different patterns used.....and with the push of a button they can be changed in the machine, I guess I just don't understand why they would need too.

[bowl1820]

Pretty much every house in the country controls the scoring by adjusting the pattern.

Why? Because they want to stay in business, people liking scoring well and if they don't they stop bowling.

Plus checking the scoring pace, can be a indicator of problem with the conditions that needs to be looked into.

20 years ago oil wasn't a aid to scoring? Yeah right!

A good lane man back when they oiled with a mop and a flysprayer could control the scores. That's why the ABC had to check the lanes after a honor score was shot, to make sure they weren't juiced.

[Phonetek]

Well I can answer to a point but with my limited knowledge but I'll try to be helpful as possible but it WILL be a lengthy response. Yes, changing the patterns on a machine is pretty simple. There is a book that gives clear easy instructions, it's just simple programming. The mechanic has a binder of sheets from the USBC on what the different oil patterns are and the regulations therein. The various patterns must comply to those sheets. I just talked about this with him two days ago, in our house the mechanic which I would consider him the "head mechanic" (now that I'm there) HE has the say so on what he feels the oil "volume" and "type" should be to best suit the lanes and equipment we have.

That said, the "pattern" of which is laid the management can request from him to change but he has the final say so. If he feels that a certain pattern say will increase the volume too much, it will cause issues with the ball return belts getting caked up causing us to have to sit behind the lanes pushing balls up the return belt. In that case he would tell the management to stick it without hesitation and they can't do nothing about it unless they wanna fire him.

If it's too little especially with reactive balls it will quickly damage the rubber and or plastic rivets on the back board the ball hits in the pit causing them to break. That happens the pad on back board will fall and balls will fly into regular wood. That wood breaks and it will, then balls could fly all the way to the pin lift or out of the machine if the guard is off. That will obviously cause damage to the pin lift and of course the ball and possibly injury two very nice mechanics. Those are just a couple examples of what "could" happen if someone with a brain isn't calling the shots. So, that's why the mechanic controls the volume of oil and the pattern have to correspond. The management can spread the butter on the toast however they want, the mechanic tells them how much butter they get to use.

To directly respond to one of your comments, yes it is a "protectant" because of what I described above. If only protection was the only factor then in theory there would be only one pattern right? Even 20yrs ago and in the 80's THS still existed as well as other patterns. There were tough houses and easier houses we've all been on them. It wasn't exactly common knowledge of exactly why then like it is now. I don't think many people really cared as much as they do now either. I never really thought anything about oil patterns myself until I bowled at that crazy Peterson Classic. Best imaginable example of how oil effects score at that tournament.

As far as honor scores and high averages. From the longest running employee which is the assistant manager he tells me that only one 300 has been bowled there in the 10yrs he's been there. I for one can say that's the case simply because the higher averages there are in the 180's, I've been dealing with the league sheets. However it's not a oil pattern reason for it in this case. It's really a skill level, I've watched most of the leagues there and I've mentioned in other posts that 95% of them use house balls first of all. There just aren't hardly any serious bowlers in the house. As I said, it's a bar with a bowling alley not a bowling alley with a bar.

My assistant manager is probably one of the better bowlers there but he's in the 180's, never seen 700. He swears that we have the toughest house around and that's popular opinion. His quote not mine. I'm not great either but in my opinion there are so many lines you can play there that if you're even close your gonna hit the pocket and the carry is sick. How this is the toughest house around? I'd like to see what they consider easy? Don't take this wrong like I think I'm gods gift to bowling or anything because I'm DEFINITELY am not. I can easily see honor scores in my future here. That's why I DON'T wanna join any leagues there because it would be meaningless. It makes me wonder, they changed the pattern a year ago. Were the top averages 160's? I don't know. Also bear in mind, not one league is certified under USBC that we have and we have no tournaments. The lanes however are checked (measured and inspected) twice a year by the USBC and they have to conform and that's that. Why that's the case I have no idea to be honest, why even bother?

My theory is that now unlike the 80's where bowling balls didn't have the extreme differences that they have today you wouldn't have near the amount of honor scores you see now if they haven't changed. Maybe I'm wrong but I think balls do help give that extra boost that wouldn't otherwise be there. I think that fact alone has discouraged highly skilled bowlers. That and of course handicap, sandbagging and other off topic things have caused discouragement. Heck I'm buying a Rip'd, talk about extreme. Why? I'm not quitting so I might as well jump on the train. Only I'm NOT going to use it on THS except at work messing around. I'm only getting it for Sport and tournaments.

Your friends place is probably trying to harness some of that discouragement by changing things up some to try to keep or maybe draw people in. It may backfire but they are gonna roll the dice. It's a difficult thing really. It's a fight against technology to try to keep things fair. Ultimately one day it may come down to the USBC getting more involved to save the sport and be more strict or it's by by to bowling as we know it. They will either end up out of business or bars with bowling alleys not bowling alleys with bars. I hope I have helped answer you inquiry at least somewhat.

DISCLAIMER: On the technical aspects of this reply I have tried my best to word things correctly so no misunderstandings or misinformation was contained. I tried to keep fact and opinion clearly expressed. If you find any misunderstandings or misinformation was contained please PM me and I will make the needed corrections. No need to make it a public event.

BTW: Outerlimits, I know you don't post often but I have to say great post! Also, thank you for specifically asking me for input. I've only worked at the bowling alley for less than a month and there are far greater experts here than me. I'm flattered.

[Eddy]

When I quit bowling 20 years ago.....oil was a lane protectant not a aid to scoring.

Oil has always been used to aid/manipulate/inhibit scoring. Where did you get the idea that oil was just to protect the lanes? There were several houses in the Rochester NY area in the 80's that purposely oiled the lanes to promote high scoring. It attracts more bowlers and therefore makes more money for the house. Believe me, the word gets around when a house has an "easy" shot. People like to strike more than not strike. It has been this way since they started oiling lanes.

[Phonetek]

There are other factors that "aid" in scoring having to do with the lanes. Gutter depth, side board distance and material are just a couple others. There are more

[bowl1820]

well i can answer to a point but with my limited knowledge but i'll try to be helpful as possible but it will be a lengthy response.
.

tl;dr

[Phonetek]

tl;dr

huh?

[bowl1820]

There are other factors that "aid" in scoring having to do with the lanes. Gutter depth, side board distance and material are just a couple others. There are more

Yes but those things are not regularly manipulated like oil patterns are and those manipulations are more limited by USBC regulations than oil is.

[Phonetek]

Agreed.

[bowl1820]

huh?

Too long; didn't read (abbreviated tl;dr and tldr is a shorthand notation indicating that a passage appeared to be too long to invest the time to digest.

The tl;dr label is often used to point out excessive verbosity or to signify the presence of and location of a short summation in case the reader doesn't want to take the time to read.