America's Bowling Pins Face a Revolutionary New Technology: Strings (msn.com) 98
There's yet another technological revolution happening, reports the Los Angeles Times. Bowling alleys across America "are ditching traditional pinsetters — the machines that sweep away and reset pins — in favor of contraptions that employ string.
"Think of the pins as marionettes with nylon cords attached to their heads. Those that fall are lifted out of the way, as if by levitation, then lowered back into place after each frame... European bowling alleys have used string pinsetters for decades because they require less energy and maintenance.
"All you need is someone at the front counter to run back when the strings tangle." String pinsetters mean big savings, maybe salvation, for an industry losing customers to video games and other newfangled entertainment. That is why the U.S. Bowling Congress recently certified them for tournaments and league play. But there is delicate science at play here. Radius of gyration, coefficient of restitution and other obscure forces cause tethered pins to fly around differently than their free-fall counterparts. They don't even make the same noise. Faced with growing pushback, the bowling congress published new research this month claiming the disparity isn't nearly as great as people think.
Using a giant mechanical arm, powered by hydraulics and air pressure, they rolled "thousands of test balls from every angle, with various speeds and spins, on string-equipped lanes," according to the article: They found a configuration that resulted in 7.1% fewer strikes and about 10 pins fewer per game as compared to bowling with traditional pinsetters... Officials subsequently enlisted 500 human bowlers for more testing and, this time, reported finding "no statistically significant difference." But hundreds of test participants commented that bowling on strings felt "off." The pins seemed less active, they said. There were occasional spares whereby one pin toppled another without making contact, simply by crossing strings.
Nothing could be done about the muted sound. It's like hearing a drum roll — the ball charging down the lane — with no crashing cymbal at the end.
Still, one Northern California bowling alley spent $1 million to install the technology, and believes it will save them money — partly by cutting their electric bill in half. "We had a full-time mechanic and were spending up to $3,000 a month on parts."
The article also remembers that once upon a time, bowling alleys reset their pins using pinboys, "actual humans — mostly teenagers... scrambling around behind the lanes, gathering and resetting by hand," before they were replaced by machines after World War II.
"Think of the pins as marionettes with nylon cords attached to their heads. Those that fall are lifted out of the way, as if by levitation, then lowered back into place after each frame... European bowling alleys have used string pinsetters for decades because they require less energy and maintenance.
"All you need is someone at the front counter to run back when the strings tangle." String pinsetters mean big savings, maybe salvation, for an industry losing customers to video games and other newfangled entertainment. That is why the U.S. Bowling Congress recently certified them for tournaments and league play. But there is delicate science at play here. Radius of gyration, coefficient of restitution and other obscure forces cause tethered pins to fly around differently than their free-fall counterparts. They don't even make the same noise. Faced with growing pushback, the bowling congress published new research this month claiming the disparity isn't nearly as great as people think.
Using a giant mechanical arm, powered by hydraulics and air pressure, they rolled "thousands of test balls from every angle, with various speeds and spins, on string-equipped lanes," according to the article: They found a configuration that resulted in 7.1% fewer strikes and about 10 pins fewer per game as compared to bowling with traditional pinsetters... Officials subsequently enlisted 500 human bowlers for more testing and, this time, reported finding "no statistically significant difference." But hundreds of test participants commented that bowling on strings felt "off." The pins seemed less active, they said. There were occasional spares whereby one pin toppled another without making contact, simply by crossing strings.
Nothing could be done about the muted sound. It's like hearing a drum roll — the ball charging down the lane — with no crashing cymbal at the end.
Still, one Northern California bowling alley spent $1 million to install the technology, and believes it will save them money — partly by cutting their electric bill in half. "We had a full-time mechanic and were spending up to $3,000 a month on parts."
The article also remembers that once upon a time, bowling alleys reset their pins using pinboys, "actual humans — mostly teenagers... scrambling around behind the lanes, gathering and resetting by hand," before they were replaced by machines after World War II.
Bowling (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Bowling (Score:4, Informative)
I'm not a fan of cars driving in circles so maybe I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure the drivers don't drink and smoke
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not a fan of cars driving in circles so maybe I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure the drivers don't drink and smoke
Not sure about drinking alcohol, but I’ve definitely seen smoking drivers. They usually run around in circles then roll around a lot and take a nap.
Re: (Score:2)
Or a pool/billiards hall.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Bowling (Score:5, Funny)
Well, can you imagine watching either of them sober? I mean, fuck, I have watched cricket and that was more engaging and entertaining. And with cricket I'm even certain it's an elaborate British prank where they all pretend that this is a game with very complicated rules while it actually has none, just to look down their noses at us muggles who don't get the intricate nuances of that "sport".
Re: (Score:3)
Cricket: a friend of mine flies back to India every year for whatever their big cricket event is. I don't get it, he couldn't explain it.
Re: (Score:2)
Depends on why you watch it. Personally, I rather enjoy curling. Very little happens, I find it quite relaxing. But then I find interruptions a royal pain the butt generally. Nothing is worse than having to wait in a room, say for a car repair, and have some person sit down too who seems to feel every moment of dead air not filled by their voice to be a wasted moment.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't get curling, if I want to see people scrubbing a floor like mad, I just dump my shake in a McD.
Re: (Score:2)
Understanding curling is easy. It is basically Bocce Ball on ice.
The sweeping is to effect the friction between the stone and the ice, similar to re-oiling a bowling lane between every shot.
Re: (Score:2)
Dude, it's one thing to make a lame joke, but going and explaining it is in another league...
Re: (Score:2)
Understanding curling is easy.
I always figured women's curling got good ratings because the image of a woman with a broom sliding down an alley screaming "HARD!" really resonated with some men.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Golf, you're not encouraged. Simply not discouraged. There's a difference y'know.
Re:Bowling (Score:4, Insightful)
You know, I read the summary, and it I could have sworn all bowling used the string system.
Then I realized, that I only saw it with the smaller bowling alleys. I've not been to a large one in years, but I never looked at them up close.
And no. Golf, Bowling, Baseball/Softball/Slopitch, Badminton/Tennis and a few other sports where you can't really get close enough to the field safely, like Soccer/Lacross/Football/Field Hockey are like this too.
Basically your typical "killing time with the guys/ladies" activities depends on how much downtime there is between action. All field sports are stupidly slow, which includes Golf. Where as Bowling has more in common with indoor racquet sports, where you could quite literately be waiting for your turn to use the space since you usually don't have more than 4 people.
Then there is Minigolf, which is basically the "fun" version of golf with the boring aspects of geometry math.
Re: (Score:2)
Is the only sport besides golf where you're encouraged to drink and smoke.
Also darts. In fact a BMI over 30 is an advantage as a good beer belly is gives you a stable place to rest your pint while you throw.
Re: Bowling (Score:1)
One professional player tried to claim a tax allowance for his beer on the grounds it was a business expense (refused). See also Alas Smith and Jones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
See also Alas Smith and Jones:
That is brilliant, they have somehow completely captured the essence of TV darts (ok there were 4 channels, there wasn't much else to watch, right?) an the game in general. I love the little touch where they're playing actual darts i the background while they're waiting for the drinking.
Re: Bowling (Score:2)
Every table holds a pint at a darts game, both spectators and participants alike. And I can't imagine curling without empty bottles stuffed under my seat. And I suspect the beer at a snooker tournament is a regulation lager, although I have never played myself.
Re: (Score:2)
Dude. Darting.
Re: (Score:2)
Also darts.
And snooker.
Intrudes a bit into pin freedom of motion. (Score:2)
Fucking expensive (Score:5, Informative)
I covered 8 kids bowling for 2 hours. $320. That didn't even cover shoes or food, just the lanes. Ouch.
At those prices I want unlimited alcohol, free food and a foot massage.
You chose your own destiny. (Score:1)
I covered 8 kids bowling for 2 hours. $320. That didn't even cover shoes or food, just the lanes. Ouch.
At those prices I want unlimited alcohol, free food and a foot massage.
You made your own choice. You could have saved your cash for hookers and blow.
Re:You chose your own destiny. (Score:5, Funny)
Sure I could have but you know how much more expensive -that- would have been for 8 teens?
And what about the kids who didn't want coke but wanted fentanyl or heroin or whatever the kids are doing today? That's not cheap either!
I got away easy with bowling by comparison.
Re: (Score:3)
Spoiled brats these days, when I was a kid, we got wasted on moonshine and liked it!
Re:You chose your own destiny. (Score:4, Funny)
I regularly remind my teen she lives a 1%er life. I'll add quality street drugs to the list of examples, thanks!
Re: You chose your own destiny. (Score:2)
Have you ever noticed that the police *always* have one "crisis" drug to whip up hysteria over and claim it's the root of all evil?
* I'm just old enough to remember the old school films about "angel dust" (by that point, old & scratched, and shown because the teacher had diarrhea that day & someone had to come up with an excuse to let a teacher's aide babysit the class for a half hour or so). Nobody, including police, ever saw it in real life.
* Around the time the public started to loudly question w
Re: You chose your own destiny. (Score:2)
~70k deaths a year in the states mostly from fentanyl. Itâ(TM)s more than nothing and probably worth stamping out.
Re: You chose your own destiny. (Score:2)
I don't know where you live but here it's under $20 CDN/person and that includes the shoe rental!
Re: Fucking expensive (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
That was 2 lanes.
Seriously. No joke. Fucking expensive.
Re: Fucking expensive (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
With the rate of price increases here, by my next summer EU trip it will be cheaper to fly the kids there for their next bowling party than doing it here again.
Re: (Score:2)
At those prices I want unlimited alcohol, free food and a foot massage.
... and hookers, how could you forget about those when using the F-word?
Re: (Score:2)
You waaay overpaid. Not sure if you were going to a bowling alley on the top of Trump tower with champagne and whatnot, but I just picked a random place in Houston (AMF on the west side) and it came to $120/lane including shoes (otherwise $105/lane) and taxes for 2 hours in peak time.
You are not smarter than anyone here.
Re: (Score:2)
I covered 8 kids bowling for 2 hours. $320. That didn't even cover shoes or food, just the lanes. Ouch.
At those prices I want unlimited alcohol, free food and a foot massage.
Local bowling alley offered kids to bowl two games for free once a week. All summer long when they were out of school.
I guess it all depends on demand and consumer tolerance to spend that kind of money on bowling.
Re: (Score:2)
It's hilarious to think that bowling will soon become a sport for rich people!
Re: (Score:1)
There's the local neighborhood bowling alley that hasn't been updated in 40 years... and then there's the big new exciting "family entertainment complex" at the mall with a bowling alley, big arcade, bumper cars and laser tag. I reckon you chose the latter and not the former.
Not new (Score:1)
Re:Not new (Score:4, Interesting)
I would think occasionally lifting one out of the way would knock other pins over.
It's also esthetically distasteful.
Re: (Score:1)
I would think occasionally lifting one out of the way would knock other pins over.
Given the computer knows which pins are standing prior to lifting any knocking is irrelevant during the setting process.
Sound (Score:2)
"Nothing could be done about the muted sound."
Come on... you threw some technology at it, but you stopped too early? Maybe some computer vision and artificially generated sound? LOL....
Re: (Score:2)
This.
If they can make my Tesla sound like it's got a big block hemi V8, bowling noises should be a cinch.
Re: (Score:2)
Holographic pins (Score:5, Interesting)
At that point, you're changing the game enough - just look into simulated/holographic pins.
The viewers are 60 feet away, viewing from a restricted viewing angle. It's perfect for a holographic replacement. Add a couple cameras and a pressure sensor to capture ball speed, rotation, and weight (may require players to use balls with obvious visual markers) and you can use the actual throw dynamics from the player to accurately simulate the hit. Animating pin dynamics is an exercise in rigid-body physics simulations. Heck, most people were perfectly happy with the pin physics and sound in Wii bowling.
Just figure the way to handle multiple size balls in the ball return and you can switch from traditional 10-pin bowling to candlepin bowling with the toggle of a software switch, rather than needing completely separate pinsetters. It allows you to introduce the candlepin a variant to other parts of the country than New England.
You then create new income opportunities like branded pins (just UV-map a different texture) or even custom games that would be difficult to pin-set on traditional hardware - like games of "horse" where two players compete to pick up different spare configurations.
You'd need a certifying body to evaluate the software used in tournaments and league play. But it would open lots of new opportunities for open bowling.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, we could even invent a bot that would watch it for us.
Re:Holographic pins (Score:4, Interesting)
You could go all the way and just use the same technique on the bowling ball, so you just capture the motion of the bowler and simulate the movement of the ball as well.
Then you realize that, hey, for the price of 2 hours on a lane, I could also buy Wii bowling and get exactly the same experience...
Re: (Score:2)
Wii Sports demands a premium these days
Re: (Score:2)
Except the bowler interface is where Wii bowling was lacking.
Yes. It's fun, but you could bowl just as well sitting on the couch and doing a wrist flip as you could standing; an 8-year-old could throw just as hard as a 30-year-old; there was no approach and slide; no foul line; your arm never really got tired; everybody threw a ball of the same "weight"; etc.
The pin action was the part that was probably the most realistic. The "tactile" part of what is bowling was the part that wasn't replicated (it was goo
Re: (Score:2)
You'd lose the hard core (Score:2)
And while those guys are common, they bowl a lot and so they spend a lot.
My brothers used to be pin boys (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Just a piece of advice, don't go around telling people you come from a family of "pin boys". To the modern ear that sounds more like some specialized kind of prostitution, than anything to do with bowling.
Of all the bad ideas... (Score:5, Insightful)
Still, one Northern California bowling alley spent $1 million to install the technology, and believes it will save them money
Yeah, because rent on a closed bowling alley is $0.00.
The action is so off that even the casual player notices it, and the sound - one of the most satisfying and iconic sounds in all of sports, up there with the crack of a wood bat and (arguably) the sound of a golf ball hitting into the hole - is so flagrantly different that even the spectator is put off.
People going bowling in 2023 aren't there for the arcade games and overpriced hot wings. They're there to bowl. Fuck that up at your own peril.
Re: (Score:3)
Found Walter Sobchak
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Smokey my friend, you're entering a world of pain.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I have seen this at the mini bowling alleys at Dave & Busters. For those, it makes sense, because the size changes and other items, who cares if the pins behave differently. However, I hope this doesn't become a standard at normal bowling alleys, just because of exactly what the parent says, and it also changes how one bowls fundamentally.
sounds boring (Score:3)
It is probably just me, but it sounds boring.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Bowling is boring? I mean the food, the drinks, the people, the fun, the shitting on each other for the mistakes they make.
Wait ... do you play bowling to ... bowl? That would be weird. You're doing it wrong.
Umm... (Score:4, Interesting)
Ancient 'tech'. I've never seen 5-pin lanes without this, never seen a 10-pin lane with it.
The lines don't seem to interfere with how the pins fall, but they do occasionally get twisted and you need someone to go back and manually untangle them.
Overall, I'd say it's a slightly less reliable system than the non-string pin setting.
Re: (Score:3)
It may have a lower MTBF, but MTTR and repair costs are big drivers of the total operational cost. It's a lot easier to send the high schooler back to untangle strings than to call in a mechanic who tells you that the parts you need are two weeks away, but can be overnighted for only a few hundred more dollars.
Re: Umm... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Overall, I'd say it's a slightly less reliable system than the non-string pin setting.
Depends. "Reliable" is a catch all term. What do you really care about? I'm guessing it's total uptime. While the string system may tangle more frequently the mean time to repair is very low. You will have an issue and be back and bowling within minutes. On the flip side when a pinsetting machine conks out you'll typically have an employee spending 15min f---ing around with it before declaring it a lost cause. If you're lucky you can move to another free lane, if you're unlucky your entire game gets cut sho
So now we're going to actually pay people? (Score:2)
Mind you, the summary says that someone from the front staff has to come back to de-tangle the strings...which is fine, until you keep cutting how many are actually working the front counter at any time.
It'll take half a generation (or the long overdue rise in minimum wage) for this to flip-flop back and have them all going "how can we automate this so we don't have to pay people who don't want to work this crap job at minimum wage?"
I note the one place they mention with the biggest savings is California. I
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
They went from completely manual pin setting, to mechanized pin-setting, to another mechanized system with lower maintenance requirements. The process of automating never reversed.
I'm not sure you understand the system with the strings - there's not a kid back there pulling up the strings every time a pin gets knocked down. It's automated. Human intervention is only required in the event of a jam, i.e. maintenance. Maintenance that a teenager can do, whereas the old system required a trained mechanic.
They a
pinbot (Score:2)
> once upon a time, bowling alleys reset their pins using pinboys, "actual humans
Sounds like a perfect job for a modern robot.
Re: (Score:3)
> once upon a time, bowling alleys reset their pins using pinboys, "actual humans
Sounds like a perfect job for a modern robot.
Maybe we could have a robot sweeper that clears any remaining pins and have a belt system feed them into a hopper which drops them into the ten slots and lowers them back into place on the lane.
just play 9 pin (Score:2)
If I want little strings I'd play 9 pin. Yuck!
No, I want the pins to scatter everywhere and a pin setter gather them up like a old factory's machinery packing up widgets for American industry.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Then there is candle and duck pin. This string setup will simply not work for them.
Err... Guy Fieri has a restaurant/arcade here ("Flavortown") with duckpin bowling, and the lanes use string resets.
Re: (Score:2)
You are correct, I forgot duck pin you clear the pins :) I would mod you up if I could.
Been quite a while since I played duck pin, many places closed down here, as a kid we never cleared the pins when we played duck pin, but later found out leaving pins was wrong.
But there are still candle pin around and for that, strings will not work.
My crystal balls predict.... (Score:2)
... this will fail, for two reasons
Bowling is losing popularity in general
People who love bowling want it to stay the way it was
Re: (Score:2)
If bowling is on the decline - and in my area we're down from 3 alleys to one, so at least here it seems true - that's a shame.
It's a nice inexpensive casual social outing with the right mix of 'something to do' and 'time to chat', and a great opportunity to add a small kitchen and bar for extra revenue.
If you've never bowled before, it's worth grabbing some friends and trying it out just for shits & giggles - it's not all Polish professional players, as long as you take it seriously enough you're not d
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
In my area, the pressure of large holding companies is pushing out the local bowling alleys to use the square footage for low-rise apartments that cost $3000 for a 1/1. If you want league bowling, you have to drive to a little town surrounding the area, where they actually have built lanes.
Re: (Score:1)
Local bowling alley here closed last year. Before COVID it was packed on league nights. Now it's being gutted and will soon reopen as a blood plasma donation center. As for me - I haven't bowled in probably 13-14 years since I moved to a new city and away from my friends I used to league bowl with. Still got my bag, balls and shoes.
Manual Pin Setting (Score:2)
[quote]The article also remembers that once upon a time, bowling alleys reset their pins using pinboys, "actual humans — mostly teenagers... scrambling around behind the lanes, gathering and resetting by hand," before they were replaced by machines after World War II.[/quote]
I did that for a month at the bowling alley at Merrill Barracks, Nurnberg Germany. My companions were all DP's (displaced persons) from the East, and they were amazed that an American teen would be there doing that job! They tho
Finally, we have a use for ... (Score:3)
... string theory.
I like the accidental spares, but it sounds off (Score:2)
I like the accidental spares when the strings knock over other pins, but the sound is lousy. Near me there's an abandoned bowling alley with real pinsetters in it and I'm afraid they will be cannibalized for parts or simply scrapped.
Nobodly truly wants or needs string pinsetters except bowling alley owners.
revolutionary ? (Score:2)
String Pin Bowling is lame. (Score:2)
The pinsetting mechanism shouldn't interfere with the game. As this video [youtube.com] shows, the strings impact pin action and result in some pins not falling that should and in others falling that should not (the latter because they get knocked down by the strings of other pins).
Surely the clunky old pinsetters could have been redesigned with modern technology to make them more reliable and while not interfering with the game.
String pinsetters are the end of Western Civilization as we know it. (Well, at least as those
No Strings Attached, Please... (Score:2)
Earlier this year, I saw a string-based pin setter for the first time (Lucky Strike, San Francisco), and was appalled such a thing existed. Based on what I could see from my end, I initially thought the design's appeal was that it consumed less physical depth than free-standing pin setters -- a potentially desirab
Re: (Score:2)
Current Pinsetters (Score:2)
For folks like myself, wondering how current pinsetter's worked, here ya go [youtube.com].
A bit complicated, but fairly elegant. Certainly seems like a more advanced technical solution than the string pinsetter but I can see why you'd need a mechanic and a pile of spare parts around.
Overall it feels like the strings are a step backwards.
Re: (Score:2)
I'd give you mod points if I had them. Very interesting and informative video!
Part of the game (Score:2)
Watching the pins crash all over the place and a large mechanical arm reset the pins is part of the charm of bowling. It's like playing an old pinball machine.
Yeah, you can cheapen the game, but then people will just rather stay home and play video games.
Break even calculations? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Average 24-lane bowling alley needs what - at least one full time and one part time mechanic. Probably gonna pay them $30/hr + taxes and benefits... so that's what, $45/hr x 3,000 hours. $135,000/yr just for two mechanics. Then there's parts, electricity to power the things, etc. TFA said $3,000/mo in parts for one bowling alley and half the electric bill. So let's say $36,000/yr in parts and savings of $20,000/yr in power costs. So we're up to $191,000/yr in savings. Full return on the investment i