I agree and so did usbc, I think usbc sanctioned string pins into a whole different category of sanctioning

@TheHouseBowling that makes the most sense, especially for any bowlers who don't care for them. From what I've seen and heard, the String pins definitely seem easier than the free falling pins, and I suck at bowling😂 but I still like the free falling more, personally.

Strings are in their own separate category... but that's not really the point. Not everyone has multiple local centers to choose from... so if the only place in town goes to strings, then you're stuck with them, and the only sanctioned average you'll have to your name will have an asterisk next to it. This is being shoved down everyone's throat in the name of "saving bowling". The only thing it will save is recreational bowling at $10/ game, for people who couldn't care less what their scores are. This is a giant "fuck you" to anyone who takes the sport seriously.

@@notonyourlife7939 I’m glad to have so many centers near us!

@@TheHouseBowling I'm lucky in that regard myself... but the first domino already fell a couple months back when one of the last independently owned centers around here sold out to some Dave&Buster's style "family fun center". They immediately went to strings, and all the leagues and tournaments packed up and left... several migrating to my home center, lol... we've got leagues 7 days a week now👍. My center is still independently owned, and by all indications they do quite well... but almost everything else around here is Bowlero, and they're gonna force this crap on everybody eventually. And not for nothing, but as a pro do you really want to win or lose a title because a pin Tarzans itself across the deck and takes out a pin that would otherwise have been left standing on free- fall machines? Because sooner or later, that's gonna happen... Nobody competing at your level should have to be at the mercy of these abominations.

Agree why would anyone want to practice on something that no longer is in use? They go rid of them for a reason ehhh bad move IMO.

Dance puppet pins Dance!!!

Ain't no way in hell I'll retire from bowling! I'll just build an at-home bowling alley with 4 lanes

@@lucasjundt7760what a joke must be nice to have that kind of money😂😂ridiculous

@@MsEeyore14 I don't have that kind of money, but if every alley went to string pins, I'd find a way

those stringpins weren't set up properly. they were so short they might as well have been a windchime

I love 220 average bowler, but I hate that he put up that video in the fashion he did. That alley clearly did not set up the string pins correctly. You can see the differences between these pins (which I would expect to be set up properly given where they are) vs those. These pins were not flying like crazy like his were. These looked more proper compared to what I expected from USBC's reports.

@@marwels23absolutely not string pins are an absolute joke and should never be allowed screw the owners into f the companies thinking they are remotely the same it’s an absolute joke you clearly avg 140

@@MrOsmodeus And you think that if strings went into every house tomorrow, that the vast majority of those house would have them set up strictly to USBC spec? Most houses these days can't even pass a normal USBC inspection. A big reason averages exploded in the 90s and 00s, is because house were intentionally ignoring ABC lane prep regulations, in order to put out higher scoring lane conditions, to draw in more bowlers. If a house can loosen up the strings by half and inch, and get higher scores... you better believe they'll do it.

@@deadpolymers3416 then it's not the stringpins at fault is it? if some centres are more concerned with power fantasy than fair competition, don't bowl at them. they hardly sound like they were worth bowling at irregardless of pinsetting machines

Haha

I haven't tried it yet, and I already hate it. Looks like it takes the fun out of bowling.

3 things mankind should have never invented: 1. Nuclear weapons 2. String pinsetters 3. Global warming

They seem more dependable because they're brand new, every moving party wears out eventually and nobody knows what a pain in the butt it will be when when the strings start breaking and the rewind mechanisms start wearing out.

@@stephenwalker6939 All true, no doubt, but when the basic machinery is so much simpler, it usually means that there are less parts to go wrong and therefore greater dependability results. Time will tell, of course. I've been told by the house owner that there are some parts that are prone to wear more quickly than others and that they have a good supply of those things on hand. After 2 years of bowling with string pins, it's been reasonably good / better than I thought at first.

And? Has it reduced the cost to the bowler?

Yep, I guarantee they'll still want you to buy their $300 balls and $250 high performance shoes while you pay $40 per hour to bowl in the dark on string pins.

Yea, lineage will stay the same for a string pin system 1/5 the price of a normal setup. And you can train anyone in 3 days on how to fix them, so no reason to pay an actual mechanic so there’s another cost cut. It’s all about putting more $ in owners pockets and lowering their operating expenses. I hate it, but as an owner in this economy, it’s hard to argue with them. That is if they can replace league bowlers with open bowlers, because 95% of bowlers won’t bowl league on string systems. At least not yet.

@@briguyinsiright!?!?! How dare a proprietor try to make money? Should give it away and go broke. The economics of owning a business and making enough to live on is insane. Then throw in dealing with booze-infused asses everyday, or the horror of something like a slip and fall lawsuit for $1-2M…. Like to see everyone give it a run

My center is switching to the QubicaAMF certified strings as we speak. We have a 20 lane house, 3 full leagues (Tues-Thurs) 2 ladies leagues that take up half, a junior and a pee wee league. We haven’t lost a single league bowler because of the switch. SURE we had a lot of threats over the summer that they would not return, but they all did. The more they are learning about the strings the more they are understanding why proprietors are making the switch. Most league bowlers have absolutely no clue what goes on behind the scenes and what it takes to keep a bowling alley going. Yeah balls and shoes are through the roof but inflation isn’t our fault 🤷🏼‍♂️ and we have to pay the bills just like everybody else. We are looking forward to the “less stress” part of it all. Now we get to put more time and money into other parts of our center. It’s a win win. But yes the game will be different. But as with anything you’ve gotta adapt to change.

So they replace their machines that are already paid for and just need upkeep. I can not see how this is cheaper. A pinsetter that is well maintained is very cost effective to run. And if the string machines are so much cheaper to own and operate why don't bowling alleys lower the cost per game? @@nckjhey

AFAIK most string machines uses string tension to check if a pin is fallen, not a camera. But there is a time limit like when the table comes down on freefall machines and hits pins.

Its not fun even for a regular player

Insurance cost a lot when kids with no experience are pin chasing and servicing machines

The Shocker bowling program didn't make the decision. The Rhatigan Student Center, the owners and operators of the bowling center, made the decision. They get new student employees every year, and the old machines were dangerous and more complex to learn and for a never ending cycle of new employees. It's not ideal, but it's a practice facility. If anything it forces the teams to be more accurate and pay more attention to ideal ball reaction rather than relying on trip fours and messengers. Should make them even more deadly during college competition. Shockers will adapt, as always

My local university is one of the top programs in the nation, but we've had string pins for the last decade or longer. Easy maintenance on a school campus is always gonna win out. Besides, at this level, these programs aren't there to see crazy pin reaction. They're practicing to hone their physical game, not shoot big scores.

​​@@joshg218 if only you can train the better and perfectly, they won't have problems working on Free Falls. You'll be lucky if you can find an Autistic Person like me who loves Bowling and comepletely addicted to Free Fall Pinsetters. In fact, I was about 14 Years old clearing a Pin Jam on an AMF 82-90XL Pinspotter. I wasn't hurt and I wasn't even an employee of my local center when I did that, hands down my best experience and I wanna do it again since I'm 20 now.

It's literally the same thing as arcade games with longer lanes and $300 balls. Of course, don't expect that part to change any time soon. The industry is fine with that, as are the Pros who are on the take endorsing them while gaslighting you into accepting string pins.

exactly.

If you actually watched the video, you would see that it is not the case here

@@binaryanticommunist1882I bet you are a conspiracy guy

@@agoo7581 I watched it beginning to end. What's not the case?

I feel like old school or any place that really have TRUE LEAGUES WON'T AFFORD TO LOSS MONEY. IF YOU REALLY THINK ABOUT IT, now main even an some place like them yeah why wouldn't day lol

Agree

Agreed. I bowled on strings once and it was the worst bowling experience I ever had. Never again.

I dont even like plastic lanes, how the f can I tolerate strings on pins?????

@@davidmedrano7755 huh?

No it's a horrible idea, rhats what family fun centers are for, just wait for you to hit a perfect pocket and almost getting a strick but there is one string pin that keeps the pin from falling over, you will be scared😢

don't knock candlepin bowling it's all we know up here and it's a form of real bowling but it's wicked hard.

I miss candlepin.

And you know candlepin will never have strings attached. ~Greg G 😉

A hundred times this. A _thousand_ times this. Candlepin is REAL bowling.

i've only done tenpin a few times but i've bowled candlepin for over 60 years.@@TheZotmeister

We're beyond recommendations at this point...the USBC has already defined a set of standardized specifications for string machines if a center intends to use them for sanctioned competition ... cable length, the dimensions of the pit, distance to the back screen, among other things.

They're not even good for that. They're good on little toys that parents buy their kids for completely unsanctioned play at home. They do not belong anywhere else, except maybe in a bar or arcade, where there's NO sanctioned play permitted. Once the strings go on... it's a GAME, not a sport.

get with the times boomer

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think that it's now USBC legal.

No... If string pin lanes are the only thing that 'saves' a bowling center from closing... then let the damn thing close. Bowling centers close when one of two things happen. 1.) The ownership doesn't manage their business properly. 2.) The public in that area loses interest in bowling. The USBC, and its predecessor, the ABC, mismanaged the success of league bowling for years, and served the needs of league bowlers less faithfully, year after year, until you got to a point, where over 50 percent of league bowlers now, bowl in unsanctioned leagues. They decided the money paid to the USBC was money up a piggy's butt, and said "Screw this... we'll do it ourselves! We don't need them or their BS!". Now? The USBC is struggling mightily to reverse the trend, and they've got nothing to offer. They're so focused on getting bowling into the olympics (which more and more, are irrelevant, because your average member of the public couldn't give a damn less about the olympics!), that they've let their league and tournament bowling suffer immensely. The chickens are coming home to roost on the USBC, and the best part is... they're the ones loading the revolver with all six rounds, pointing it at their head, and then wondering why they have a new hole in the head when they pull the trigger. They're doing it to themselves! And bowling proprietors are LETTING them do it! So are the manufacturers!! Get your popcorn and get ready for a show... because I think you're watching bowling's total collapse in slow, painful progress.

@@gwencrawford737I can 100% see how this option can allow a struggling center to stay open. If they are on the verge of closing because they can't spend the $500K to install new pin setters and have trouble with a good mechanic this is a viable option. It's still an expensive install! Taking away a $40-60k salary a year is a huge thing to help a center stay alive. The GP doesn't understand how expensive every bit of bowling is to keep up and maintain. Scoring is SUPER expensive and lots of centers need upgrades in that department. Pins are very pricey. Also lots of centers are running into quite aged synthetic lanes...not to mention they have pin setters from the 60s. Lanes are 250k (for a 16-18 lane center) Scoring is 100-200k Strings are gonna be 300k Free fall is double or more over strings New oiling machine 35k Yet league bowlers show up each week and sneak food into the centers and complain about everything they can find. Food too high, beer is too high, bowling too high, house changed the pattern...center employees hate working league nights because they get fussed at all night about nonsense... Not to mention bartenders make the least in tips on league nights.

Not me ill still go

That’s why I think it’s perfect for this center, training center only they don’t have leagues or tournaments!

There was a pinsetter that used a magnet in the head of the pin. The machines were made by Mendes. There are a few youtube videos about them.

Thank you! @@lightingnut

sadly unless somehow someone can come up with making freefalls cheaper and easier to maintain this will be the norm

Better find a new alley

@@itskyyuuuu ours was the only one left next closest normal place it 2 hrs.

Good luck with league bowlers staying

My condolences...

I would say yes, power is less important

it would be very interesting to see some close-up, slo-mo pin action comparing similar shots on both pinsetters@@TheHouseBowling

Shoot it’s barnzy bowling!

I mean, it's still a game of where you need to bowl well, and it's still a game of the best bowler wins, right?

@@marwels23 If you change the definition of what the best bowler is, then sure. The best bowler right now is the guy who can knock down the most pins with no outside interference. Add string to the mix, and eventually players are going to figure out how to best abuse the strings to positively affect their scores. At that point the sport of bowling is forever changed. For it's entire existence it's been about knocking down pins with a ball. Which strings it's about knocking down pins with a ball and the strings.

​@@marwels23 Not the same if pins are attach to something and I already found evidences of the bad things on Strings which made me wanna question USBC about their research because it wasn't enough.

​@@deadpolymers3416you could say the same when they started to change wooden lanes for synthetic ones, when they introduced oil patterns and when balls turned from wood to rubber to urethane to reactive. Its an evolving sport and strings are economically a no brainer for a lot of centers

​@@Jabberwork. there's no strings on the lanes is the difference

Eventually yes, when Bowlero widely adopts them to save money for their centers. Bowlero owns the PBA and they will most definitely have stops at those centers.

I just watched a righty leave a 6-7 today on free fall😅😅 if it means more bowling centers get to stay open’

@@TheHouseBowling you're viewing this through the prism of viability of the bowling center which I believe is flawed. Can bowling centers survive without league and competitive bowling? Open Play does have higher margins so I would say the answer to that is maybe. Can equipment manufacturers survive without league and competitive bowling? Casual open play chucks plastic balls down the middle so I would say the answer to that is a clear no. Which one of those two entities pays you? You have a clear and significant interest in competitive bowling and therefore should be against string pinsetters.

@@AverageLeagueHack League is higher margin. League sells more beer per string.