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A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of
Bowling alleys contain long and narrow synthetic or wooden lanes. The number of lanes inside a bowling alley is variable. The Guinness World Records confirms Inazawa Grand Bowl world's largest Bowling Center
/ref> Human pinsetters were used at bowling alleys to set up the pins, but modern ten-pin bowling alleys have automatic mechanical pinsetters. Each lane has an overhead monitor/television screen to display bowling scores as well as a seating area and tables for dining and socializing. With a decades-long decline in league participation, modern bowling alleys usually offer other games (often billiard tables,
U.S. Bowling Alleys Database
Sports venues by type
bowling
Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...
is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse
Clubhouse may refer to:
Locations
* The meetinghouse of:
** A club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal
** In the United States, a country club
** In the United Kingdom, a gentlemen's club
* A ...
or dwelling house.
History
By the late 1830s, the Knickerbocker Hotel's bowling alley had opened, with three lanes. Instead of wood, this indoor alley usedclay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
for the bowling lane. By 1850, there were more than 400 bowling alleys in New York City, which earned it the title "bowling capital of North America". Because early versions of bowling were difficult and there were concerns about gambling
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...
, the sport faltered. Several cities in the United States regulated bowling due to its association with gambling.
In the late 19th century, bowling was revived in many U.S. cities. Alleys were often located in saloon basements and provided a place for working-class men to meet, socialize, and drink alcohol. Bars were and still are a principal feature of bowling alleys. The sport remained popular during the Great Depression and, by 1939, there were 4,600 bowling alleys across the United States. New technology was implemented in alleys, including the 1952 introduction of automatic pinsetters (or pinspotters), which replaced pin boys who manually placed bowling pins. Today, most bowling alley facilities are operated by Bowlero Corporation
Bowlero Corporation (formerly known as Bowlmor AMF) is an American bowling center operator. It is the largest ten-pin bowling center operator in the world with around 300 centers, almost all of which are located in the United States. The centers ...
or Brunswick Bowling & Billiards
Brunswick Bowling & Billiards was the business segment of Brunswick Corporation that historically encompassed the following three divisions:
* #Billiards, Billiards was the company's original product line. The segment expanded to include other tabl ...
.
In 2015, over 70 million people bowled in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
Modern day
Bowling alleys contain long and narrow synthetic or wooden lanes. The number of lanes inside a bowling alley is variable. The Inazawa
is a city located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 135,580 in 54,999 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city was .
Geography
Inazawa is located in the flatlands of far western Ai ...
Grand Bowl in Japan is the largest bowling alley in the world, having 116 lanes./ref> Human pinsetters were used at bowling alleys to set up the pins, but modern ten-pin bowling alleys have automatic mechanical pinsetters. Each lane has an overhead monitor/television screen to display bowling scores as well as a seating area and tables for dining and socializing. With a decades-long decline in league participation, modern bowling alleys usually offer other games (often billiard tables,
darts
Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard.
Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...
and arcade games) and may serve food or beverages, usually via vending machine
A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The ...
s or an integrated bar or restaurant. Pro shop
A pro shop is a sporting-goods shop within a public or private-membership amateur sporting activities facility of some kind, most commonly a golf course, where it will typically be located in the country club building. In the case of golf pro s ...
s and party rooms are common.
References
External links
{{Commonscat, Bowling alleysU.S. Bowling Alleys Database
Sports venues by type