Bowling alley prize on TPiR

[ActualRetailMike]

Does anyone remember a "bowling alley" prize on some 1974 or earlier episodes of TPiR?  This was essentially a single bowling lane you could install in your own home.  I know I saw it announced at least twice on some early TPiR shows, and one or both were part of a showcase.  Both times, one of the models demo-ed the lane by rolling a bowling ball down it, and one of those times she got a gutter ball!

This was probably a ½ or ¾ scale bowling lane, since most homes cannot really accommodate the 60 feet a standard lane requires. (More than that, actually, with the pin deck, pit, and the approach.)  It was not clear on the show what kind of pinsetting or ball-return abilities it had., automated or otherwise.

[geno57]

I don't recall it, but if there was a machine on the far end, I'd love to have one!

(Worked on Brunswick pinsetters when I was a teen.)

(That's something most people don't know about me!)

[Bob Zager]

I DO recall such a machine given as a prize a couple of times.  I believe Johnny Olson referred to it as a "Mini-bowling alley." IIRC, it was like playing the real game, with real pin action!

While growing up, my family had a bowling machine made by Chicago Coin, which was still fun, but not like the one on TPIR.  The one my family had just simulated the game, using electronic wire sensors underneath some fake pins, causing the pins to rise.   My family sold it for a cheap price when my father passed away in 1989.

Some amusement parks/arcades have similar machines to play, but I'm not sure of the manufacturer, or if it's the same one that made the one shown on TPIR years ago.  This website has a photo gallery of such machinery, which different backgrounds are often available:

http://www.dakotahsport.com/bowling.html#nogo

I've tried playing one, but it can be more challenging than the real game, on a real lane!  All in all, still a lot of fun!

EDIT:  Here is a link to one such manufacturer, with some photo galleries showing different background themes as mentioned earlier:

http://pintraxbowling.com/alley_trax_specs.htm

[ActualRetailMike]

There was also a downscaled bowling product called "Bowlingo" that was found at places like ESPNZone and such.  The problem with these is that the pinsetting was accomplished by a string attached to each pin.  The strings get hopelessly tangled sometimes, or so it seems.  I would also think that the strings hinder the natural pin action.

That coin-operated bowling game; did it use an actual "ball", though not a full-sized bowling ball?  The ones I remember had what I best describe as a wide, metallic hockey puck, somehow made to glide with low friction.  They, too, slid over metal contacts in the lane surface to depict the spots of the pins.

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'ActualRetailMike\' post=\'245219\' date=\'Jul 29 2010, 07:07 PM\']That coin-operated bowling game; did it use an actual "ball", though not a full-sized bowling ball?  The ones I remember had what I best describe as a wide, metallic hockey puck, somehow made to glide with low friction.  They, too, slid over metal contacts in the lane surface to depict the spots of the pins.[/quote]


The "older" coin-op bowling games used mini balls -- about the same size as those used in croquet.  I would hasten a guess that the more modern "puck" or shuffleboard-based bowling games became the norm simply because there were less moving parts that would/could break (only the wire contacts on the lane, the pins and the analog scoring system -- no ball-return system to worry about).

[Bob Zager]

[quote name=\'ActualRetailMike\' post=\'245219\' date=\'Jul 29 2010, 09:07 PM\']There was also a downscaled bowling product called "Bowlingo" that was found at places like ESPNZone and such.  The problem with these is that the pinsetting was accomplished by a string attached to each pin.  The strings get hopelessly tangled sometimes, or so it seems.  I would also think that the strings hinder the natural pin action.

That coin-operated bowling game; did it use an actual "ball", though not a full-sized bowling ball?  The ones I remember had what I best describe as a wide, metallic hockey puck, somehow made to glide with low friction.  They, too, slid over metal contacts in the lane surface to depict the spots of the pins.[/quote]

The Mini-Lane that I provided links to, also uses strings for the pinsetting!  I tried playing it recently at a local arcarde, but the strings didn't seem to have any affect on my game.  Just a matter of determining the proper delivery of the ball, and remember that the traction would be different, since the surface is like Formica, instead of real wood, heavily oiled.

The coin-operated machine my family had, included three balls, about ten percent bigger than ones in a croquet set.  It also had a really neat ball return on the right-hand side of the unit!

[weaklink75]

They use the string pin-setter lanes for the 9-pin German version, and it doesn't seem to hurt pin action...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqcKWSWcm6U