# Five Pin Glo-Ball Bowling with 80s Big Hair Music!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 21, 2012, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516 "2012-02-21T11:56:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2012, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516/1 "2012-02-21T11:56:10Z")
So yesterday was Family Day north of 49, and the Piper Clan needed something to do. I suggested we take the Cub bowling, and Mrs Piper thought it a good idea. We dropped by the local alley at 2 pm, but it was booked solid until 5, so we made a booking for 5 pm and left.
Hadn’t been in that bowling alley before, but it seemed pretty normal. Regular lighting, no music playing, just the bang and crash of bowls and pins. As we left Mrs Piper commented, “It was a pretty grey-haired crowd playing there.”
Little did we know.
When we came back at 5 pm, there had been a shift in generation and in ambience. No more fluorescents, no sir! Black lights! Purple glowing people, with natty purple piping on the bowling shoes! (Fortunately, the greyhairs had all left, or else they would have been purple-hairs.) LED flashing lights along the bumpers, changing colour as the balls rolled!
And the music! Video screens for each alley, showing: 80s Big Hair Music! As we came in, it was Lionel Richie, followed shortly thereafter by Jagger and Bowie singing a duet. As we bowled we saw Whitesnake videos! Men without Hats! Foreigner! Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (“I love Rock n Roll!”) A (youngish) Jagger again, in a pink leisure suit, singing Brown Sugar! About the only song from that era that didn’t come on was Timewarp, which was bit of a disappointment, all told.
Piper Cub ignored it all, of course - for him, rolling a ball and knocking things down was the most fun imaginable. Mrs Piper and I, initially taken aback, just settled down to enjoy the weirdness of it all.
Then we went off to see the latest Muppet Movie, to continue the timewarp.
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### Author:  [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516/2 "2012-02-21T13:50:58Z")
Ah yes, Extreme Bowling!
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516/3 "2012-02-21T15:04:43Z")
We used to call it Cosmic Bowling, back in high school. Awesome!
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### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516/4 "2012-02-21T20:25:45Z")
_Brown Sugar_ and _The Time Warp_ are from 1971 and 1973, respectively.
Which, of course, was entirely the point.
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### Author:  [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516/5 "2012-02-21T22:12:23Z")
Sounds like it was a fun time! Certainly a suitable way to spend Family Day.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516/6 "2012-02-22T15:33:32Z")
Five pin? Really?
Around here we have candlepins, which is 15 pins, and the balls are a lot smaller, there are 3 throws per frame, and the pins are not cleared during a frame.
And yeah, it’s gone disco.
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### Author:  [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516/7 "2012-02-22T16:33:04Z")
> [@tdn](#):
>
> Five pin? Really?
[Five-pin bowling](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-pin_bowling). It’s a fun game; and great for kids, since the balls are smaller and lighter than in ten-pin.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516/8 "2012-02-22T16:55:14Z")
> [@Spoons](#):
>
> [Five-pin bowling](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-pin_bowling). It’s a fun game; and great for kids, since the balls are smaller and lighter than in ten-pin.
Ooh, cool! It looks like a combination of 10 pin and candlepin.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516/9 "2012-02-23T01:38:17Z")
The picture on the wiki article is pretty much how the Cub looked delivering his ball - except he was glowing purple-white at the time.
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### Author:  [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2012, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516/10 "2012-02-23T07:51:00Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> And the music! Video screens for each alley, showing: 80s Big Hair Music! As we came in, it was Lionel Richie, followed shortly thereafter by Jagger and Bowie singing a duet. As we bowled we saw Whitesnake videos! Men without Hats! Foreigner! Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (“I love Rock n Roll!”) A (youngish) Jagger again, in a pink leisure suit, singing Brown Sugar! About the only song from that era that didn’t come on was Timewarp, which was bit of a disappointment, all told.
I have to ask–was there the Eurythmics (and Annie Lennox) doing “Sweet Dreams”? Wham doing “Wake Me Up?” Nena doing “99 Luftballons?” Katrina and the Waves doing “Walking on Sunshine?”
If so, I may need to go bowling in your locale. Our local lanes don’t seem to be nearly so much fun.
As for the Time Warp; well, it’s just a jump to the left–then a step to the right… Piper Cub will pick it up easily, I’m sure. 😉
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516/11 "2012-02-26T15:43:08Z")
We didn’t see those ones, but I assume if we had stayed long enough, they would have come up in the rotation!
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-pin-glo-ball-bowling-with-80s-big-hair-music/613516/12 "2012-02-26T17:12:34Z")
I’ve heard those sessions called “Rock and Bowl”.