I bowled maybe twice in my entire life.
My (senior citizen) mother bowls in a league.
My local pro shop doesn’t even stock 16-pound bowling balls anymore. He’ll be happy to order one for you, but he doesn’t inventory them. His inventory consists mostly of 15 and 14 pound balls.
I’m a 69 year old male, 5’8", 180 pounds, and am in pretty good shape. I use a 15-pound ball.
Bowling Alleys around here seem to be the last bastion of relief for indoor smokers.
As best I remember, the last time I went bowling was about 40 years ago at the Cambrian Bowl, which closed down just a couple of months ago due to a rent hike. I still wander into bowling alleys when I’m cruising around–the last three I’ve been to (in Pacifica, Santa Cruz and Pismo Beach) were all pretty busy. Oh, and there’s a new alley at the Bass Pro Shop with an underwater theme which is really cool, and that place is always full.
I’m sorry to see the decline in bowling. I started bowling in 1960. When I graduated high school in 66, I had a 202 average and seriously planned to bowl in the PBA. I bowled in two Pro-Ams, and although I made a few bucks, I seriously got my ass handed to me by the big boys.
I had to stop bowling for nearly 20 years after I came down with arthritis. Thanks to Humira, I’m back bowling in two leagues and am slowly improving my 180 average.
Something you might consider is crown green bowling, where the aim is not to knock down pins but to roll your balls to be nearest the target.
Where (roughly) is that? Even Vegas bowling alleys don’t tend to be smoking facilities any longer.
I took it up a year ago when a friend ask me to join her and her husband’s team in a senior’s league. Once a week, from September to May (they have a summer league which I said no to). The place has 48 lanes and with two leagues of seniors it’s full on our weekday. But the place does seem to run $2 specials on Tuesday nights to try to get people off their couches.
I suppose the seniors are the main thing because of age limiting physical activity and bowling leagues were popular when we were young to get us out of the house on Saturdays during winter.
I just went with my company for our Christmas party, seemed pretty busy.
I love bowling and could do it every day if I could. I’ve never been in a league because I’ve always been godawful at it, but man do I love it!
Don’t let that stop you. I’ve been in leagues before with multiple bowlers who rarely broke 100. It’s usually pretty easy to find casual, fun leagues with handicaps to keep things on a relatively even keel. It’s how I got started, and you’ll be happily sucked in before you know it. Go for it!
That’s interesting (really, 16 pound bowling balls were de rigueur for all serious male leaguers when I bowled) but I was suggesting, tongue in cheek, a 16 pound croquet ball.
I lost my 16 pounder in a move some years ago. I’ve only seen 15 pounders as the heaviest alley balls available since then. I doubt it will make any difference for me now, it was just a kind of macho thing back in the day, but I did throw fast and hard and that little extra probably picked up a couple of sloppy strikes for me.
Here in Rhode Island it is Duckpins, not Candlepins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duckpin_bowling
There are several duckpin facilities in the DC-adjacent part of Maryland. The bowling alley I’ve gone to the most recently is actually half duckpin, half tenpin. Pretty neat!
My local alley has a big glass box with chairs and ash trays for smokers to go in and smoke so they don’t have to go outside.
I used to bowl all the time and was on leagues year round for years. But these days I only go a couple times a year. I still have the same ball from when I started back in middle school.
There are two bowling alleys about equal distance from my house in opposite directions, one of which I pass every day. If they’re open, they’re packed.
In suburban Chicago, I’ve seen several small, traditional bowling alleys in my area close in the past few years. However, another such alley has just undergone a big remodeling project.
Plus, we’ve seen several newer bowling centers open in the past few years; the big difference between these and traditional bowling alleys is that they are more “bar and grill that features bowling” or “activity centers that have bowling among other things” than they are just a bowling alley with a bar:
And, talking with family and friends in Wisconsin (where I grew up), I think that bowling is still part of the social fabric up there, even if maybe it’s not as big as it was decades ago.
To answer the OP question: Yes.
We typically go bowling as a family during holidays, when more family is together, and the lanes are usually packed, sometimes with a waiting list. A local alley just did a complete renovation, so they must see some profit in it.
I don’t know what the situation is during non-holiday times.
I love that many alleys now measure how fast the ball went. I often just go for the highest speed I can, without throwing the ball directly into the gutter or other lane. When it goes for a strike, watching the pins practically explode out of the way is awesome, and I pick up some extra pins from all the chaos. Of course, if I break 120, I’m ecstatic, so don’t take bowling advice from me.
When my kids were younger, bowling birthday parties were a regular.
So, again, to the OP: Yes.
I bowled a couple weeks ago for the first time in probably seven or eight years. When my wife and I were in our 20s we would go about 5 times a year. We both enjoy it, just haven’t had time. But now she’s hooked again and has planned another bowling outing with another couple next week.
The alley we went to in town was completely deserted. I questioned whether they were even open. I don’t know if they have regular leagues or enough kids’ birthday parties, but somehow they’re still going. For now.