Differences between California and Iowa

[Aslan]

With your luck you would move and a month later the bowling alley would be sold and turned into a big box store.

With my luck, I'd find a place next door, join 3 leagues...start subbing in 2 others...then the center would get bought by Bowlmor and they'd implement a daily lane oiling policy and stop oiling prior to leagues. And, of course, the next nicest center would be 45 minutes away so I'd have to get permission from the USBC to drop 3 leagues and then start packing up my place while I wait to honor my lease before paying to move again.

The cool thing about the USBC is...they WOULD respond to my request. They actually respond to members. Last time I wrote them about the Motiv scandal they actually did respond. It was a sort of 'form letter" response...but still...I give them credit for responding to members. Many organizations their size would just toss complaints/requests from members in the trash.

[Ryster]

With my luck, I'd find a place next door, join 3 leagues...start subbing in 2 others...then the center would get bought by Bowlmor and they'd implement a daily lane oiling policy and stop oiling prior to leagues. And, of course, the next nicest center would be 45 minutes away so I'd have to get permission from the USBC to drop 3 leagues and then start packing up my place while I wait to honor my lease before paying to move again.

The cool thing about the USBC is...they WOULD respond to my request. They actually respond to members. Last time I wrote them about the Motiv scandal they actually did respond. It was a sort of 'form letter" response...but still...I give them credit for responding to members. Many organizations their size would just toss complaints/requests from members in the trash.

Nobody needs permission to drop leagues. Give 2 weeks notice to each league and pay the 2 weeks for each one, and you are done. Potentially expensive, yes, but no permission required.

We are going through the Bowlero thing right now. It is "interesting" to say the least. Lots of unhappy league bowlers. The center swears up and down that the shot hasn't changed, but the bowlers and current league scores tell a whole different story. The new lane machine is due to arrive this month and is going to be set-up by Kegel themselves. We anticipate a whole new shot once that happens.

I agree that the USBC is responsive to inquiries. They have always responded any time I have reached out to them with questions or comments. Some responses were more useful than others, but they did respond.

[Phonetek]

Nobody needs permission to drop leagues. Give 2 weeks notice to each league and pay the 2 weeks for each one, and you are done. Potentially expensive, yes, but no permission required.

We are going through the Bowlero thing right now. It is "interesting" to say the least. Lots of unhappy league bowlers. The center swears up and down that the shot hasn't changed, but the bowlers and current league scores tell a whole different story. The new lane machine is due to arrive this month and is going to be set-up by Kegel themselves. We anticipate a whole new shot once that happens.

I agree that the USBC is responsive to inquiries. They have always responded any time I have reached out to them with questions or comments. Some responses were more useful than others, but they did respond.

Simply changing the squeegee or brushes on the oiler can change the shot actually pretty significantly. The pattern may be exactly the same but changing worn parts or NOT changing worn parts can make a big difference.

The scores falling could also be part of the extended time off with Covid. There are a ton of factors to consider before assuming they changed the shot. If they did there would be no reason to deny it honestly. It would be kinda silly on their part.

[J Anderson]

Simply changing the squeegee or brushes on the oiler can change the shot actually pretty significantly. The pattern may be exactly the same but changing worn parts or NOT changing worn parts can make a big difference.

The scores falling could also be part of the extended time off with Covid. There are a ton of factors to consider before assuming they changed the shot. If they did there would be no reason to deny it honestly. It would be kinda silly on their part.

“But wait, it can’t be my fault that my scores are lower. I throw it just like I’ve been doing it for the last ( insert number >10 here ) years. I’ve bought a new ball and that should have made my average go up ten pins. I don’t need to practice, I have naturally great muscle memory. There must be something wrong with the oil machine.”

[Ryster]

Simply changing the squeegee or brushes on the oiler can change the shot actually pretty significantly. The pattern may be exactly the same but changing worn parts or NOT changing worn parts can make a big difference.

The scores falling could also be part of the extended time off with Covid. There are a ton of factors to consider before assuming they changed the shot. If they did there would be no reason to deny it honestly. It would be kinda silly on their part.

We have been back to bowling full-time since July 2020. We were shut down from March 2020-July 2020, then reopened and never closed again even when the state tried to shut everything back down again in November 2020.

Bowlers on both the senior leagues and the evening leagues have been approaching the center management and asking what happened to the shot. Bowlers are getting frustrated and contemplating leaving the center because they are noticing something different and do not like it. I agree with them that something did change. My usual arsenal stopped working and I had to switch everything out to find a mix that works. A ball that I could never use previously as my benchmark is now my go-to ball.

The center management has never been forthcoming about the lane condition. They always treat it like a state secret and refuse to say anything other than "we use a normal, medium house shot". There was a point last year where the management let us know they were "experimenting" with different shots at the time, but never said what kind of changes were being made.

The new lane machine has arrived, but it is not being used because no one has yet been trained how to actually use it. A $45,000 machine just sitting. Bowlero does some very interesting things to say the least.

[Phonetek]

Using the new oil machine probably has a bit of a learning curve. Since it recently arrived it's going to have to be properly calibrated. That's not something most mechanics are going to know how to do. It's a very complex process literally done with test tubes and other lab measuring equipment.

They have to be taught on how to program the oil patterns. I'm not making excuses for them but it's not an easy process. You can't just flip a switch and it knows to lay down the "Scorpion" oil pattern. It may be different on a brand new machine but the ones I know you have to have a special cable, thumb drive, laptop and specific software to do this.

Each pattern has to be calibrated as well. They are also limited on how many preset patterns they hold. There are a ton of patterns. Ours was only 5 patterns. To switch from those 5 you have to type in a code to do it. Once you know how to do it it's easy but it's not just a matter of looking in the owner's manual.

So yeah as you can see some training is involved. You don't just open the box, fill with fluids, press a button and go. If the people aren't trained then it's a recipe for disaster. The people who come out to teach this aren't exactly at your beacon call either. They handle many centers.

I won't argue that your center may suck, I don't know but realize there is a process and it's not exactly quick.

[Ryster]

Using the new oil machine probably has a bit of a learning curve. Since it recently arrived it's going to have to be properly calibrated. That's not something most mechanics are going to know how to do. It's a very complex process literally done with test tubes and other lab measuring equipment.

They have to be taught on how to program the oil patterns. I'm not making excuses for them but it's not an easy process. You can't just flip a switch and it knows to lay down the "Scorpion" oil pattern. It may be different on a brand new machine but the ones I know you have to have a special cable, thumb drive, laptop and specific software to do this.

Each pattern has to be calibrated as well. They are also limited on how many preset patterns they hold. There are a ton of patterns. Ours was only 5 patterns. To switch from those 5 you have to type in a code to do it. Once you know how to do it it's easy but it's not just a matter of looking in the owner's manual.

So yeah as you can see some training is involved. You don't just open the box, fill with fluids, press a button and go. If the people aren't trained then it's a recipe for disaster. The people who come out to teach this aren't exactly at your beacon call either. They handle many centers.

I won't argue that your center may suck, I don't know but realize there is a process and it's not exactly quick.

I get all of that. But they are going from a Flex to a Flex Walker. Bowlero wanted them to have the Flex Walker so the mechanic doesn't have to move the lane machine manually from lane to lane. They want the mechanic to be able to just put it on Lane 1 and let the machine do its thing on all 48 lanes. They were told that a rep from Kegel would come in to set it up and train them, but there has been no word on that at all.

Bowlero has pretty much told our center that tournaments are no longer "allowed" because they reduce the number of lanes available for open bowling, so having to store multiple patterns in the machine is no longer an issue.

One would think that would all be coordinated. The machine gets delivered and then the rep comes out to do the training. Given the financial investment these machines require, it would just make good business sense to make sure the customer is able to start using the machine shortly after delivery. Otherwise it would be like buying a new car and having it dropped off at your house without the keys. Then having to wait several weeks for a rep to show up, give you your keys, and go over all of the features.

The more I personally see of Bowlero centers, I have no idea how they stay in business or continue to have money to keep buying up bowling centers.

[Phonetek]

I get all of that. But they are going from a Flex to a Flex Walker. Bowlero wanted them to have the Flex Walker so the mechanic doesn't have to move the lane machine manually from lane to lane. They want the mechanic to be able to just put it on Lane 1 and let the machine do its thing on all 48 lanes. They were told that a rep from Kegel would come in to set it up and train them, but there has been no word on that at all.

Bowlero has pretty much told our center that tournaments are no longer "allowed" because they reduce the number of lanes available for open bowling, so having to store multiple patterns in the machine is no longer an issue.

One would think that would all be coordinated. The machine gets delivered and then the rep comes out to do the training. Given the financial investment these machines require, it would just make good business sense to make sure the customer is able to start using the machine shortly after delivery. Otherwise it would be like buying a new car and having it dropped off at your house without the keys. Then having to wait several weeks for a rep to show up, give you your keys, and go over all of the features.

The more I personally see of Bowlero centers, I have no idea how they stay in business or continue to have money to keep buying up bowling centers.

Yeah their way of thinking sounds a bit backwards for sure. Those walking machines are great as long as there are no gaps between lanes. Like the previous center there were gaps every 4 lanes for supporting stanchion poles. Those machines would be trying to walk over to of the gutter caps.

[J Anderson]

Yeah their way of thinking sounds a bit backwards for sure. Those walking machines are great as long as there are no gaps between lanes. Like the previous center there were gaps every 4 lanes for supporting stanchion poles. Those machines would be trying to walk over to of the gutter caps.

Our center also has a pillar every fourth lane. I haven’t really noticed if the mechanic has to manually guide it around the extra wide gutter cap but I think they can just let it run from lane one through lane forty. There’s a V shaped gap between 40 and 41 and the higher number lanes are set at an angle to 1-40. So they have to stop it and ‘walk’ it over to finish up.

[Phonetek]

A walker would work where I'm at now, 84 consecutive lanes, no poles, no gaps. The have 2 identical machines to three last place only no cords. Battery operated. Still... those walkers have to be programmed exactly perfect. One little variable in distance between lanes could lead to disaster.

I have watched them oil daily and it's pretty cool how they do it. Machine 1 does lanes 1&2, machine 2 does 3&4 and so on. Now if they did one pair at a time using both machines then that guys argument would actually stand up but they don't so it don't. They are very particular how they do things.