by Pukalolo Palolo

Created on: March 20, 2007   Last Updated: April 16, 2007

Bowling has been a favorite activity in the United States for many years. From the young junior bowlers all the way up to the 80-year old retiree league on Tuesday mornings, bowling has offered itself as fun, challenging, and good exercise.

Bowling took a turn for the worst when it introduced new oil patterns for the lanes, in addition to new type of bowling balls, which required twice the money to purchase, and lasted half as long as the previous types of bowling balls. This produced a decision amongst the casual bowler to either cough up the extra dough for equipment or stop bowling altogether.

Another decision was that the cost of bowling itself has skyrocketed. What was once about 50 cents to $1 per game during this 80's and early 90's, it then jumped dramatically over the years, with prices per game nowadays at about $3.25 or more. You can get deals on slow days, but it's still gonna cost you a few bucks. And the ability to practice is important, but not if you can't afford it.

These changes also caused the 170 average bowler to shoot 220s, while the local house pro averaging 210-220 had a hard time breaking 200. The equipment and the lane conditions completely changed the game, and this forced the majority of the better half of bowlers to just give up the game due to cost.

But all that is changing now. The sport of bowling is coming back. The lane conditions are detailed in print for every bowler to look at. The equipment these days are much more durable and the prices have come down considerably. Of course, there are still the occasional $300 ball that comes out, but bowling ball companies have been working hard to provide quality equipment for less.

Junior league bowling (kids 5-18) on Saturday mornings was a huge event where I grew up. With almost 50 lanes, they were filled, three times, with kids. And I'm not from a large city or anything, but it was just something all the kids in the area did on a Saturday morning.

Since the invention of video games, many kids fell out of favor with bowling, simply because it is somewhat challenging to be good at it, and it was easier to sit at home. Plus, with the hours parents work during the work, it became an unfavorable thing to do; to have to get up on your day off and drive your kids to bowling for 2 hours.

It's a shame, as bowling alleys close all over the country, less and less children are doing something on Saturday mornings. The high school leagues are losing kids in the afternoons to something maybe lass constructive. Maybe your area doesn't have a bowling alley close by. Maybe it was sold by some greedy businessman to some grocery store chain and never bothered to build a new one.

But, bowling is fun. There's cosmic bowling for the more casual bowlers, and there's even railings you can put up to prevent the ball from ever going into the gutter, if you so need. While I don't condone these types of play, whatever works to get people to bowl I guess is a good thing.

Adult bowling, whether a competitive league, or just one for fun with people from the company you work for bowling together as a team, or maybe just a team of friends, or however. There's usually a bar at the bowling alley, so relax afterward and have a good time. Maybe even sing some karaoke at some places.

Bowling, as a casual outing, can be just that. A social gathering of friends. Something to do other than sit on the couch. Get out. Move Around. Have a little fun.

Hopefully the new direction the bowling companies are leading to will create a shift in interest, and bowling alleys can make a comeback as a a favorite pastime that America briefly forgot about.

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