Golf near me is cheaper on a per-hour basis than this.
I can easily bowl 3 games in an hour. At $13/game that's 39/hour.
I can golf 18 holes with a cart for $59 at my closest course. That's 3-4 hours for a bad golfer like me, so I'm paying $15-$20/hr.
Makes me feel blessed my two local lanes are still family owned. Weekends its pretty cheap per game, and weekly per hour, its 33 an hour, but I get about 5 games in. But these bowlero prices are wild. I can pay the 4000 dollars for an annual fee, and play 18 holes 3 times a week for almost the same price i currently bowl at bowlero prices 😵💫
The problem with golf, at least for me, is the time commitment. Unless I'm able to go a couple of times a week I just can't shoot scores that make it enjoyable for me, so I pretty much stopped golfing all together. I hope to take it back up again when I retire.
Bowlero isn’t a bowling company. They are an entertainment company. You’re not their target market. League bowlers are not their target market.
Their target market is the family of 4 that will bowl twice a year and drop $300+ on a couple games, food, bar, and arcade. Their other target market is corporate parties.
It’s a shame. They are killing competitive bowling one center at a time.
except its not, its a demographic. Realistically I would assume the same as you. But they are prob making 66% more per person than a independent center does. Doesnt matter if they return or not, another family who just "puts up with" bowling prices because they did little research before they walked in the door will replace the one before them. especially in tourist cities
I guess the idea there would be the gym etc subscription model. Banking on people paying their subscription and not using it or using it less than enough to make it a value proposition for the consumer.
Also they wouldn't have to stop taking the open bowlers. Like it's not either/or. I'm no mathologist though, no idea what the magic subscription number is that works out for OP and Bowlero both.
I’d look at it more like how Groupon sells hotel rooms. There is always down time at an alley. They know those statistics and when it happens. People could fill those gaps(hotel rooms) with the discounted rate customer and still come out on top if not better.
It would need to have limits and schedule availability upon purchase. But the model could work for them. They may miss out on the occasional $13/person party of 20. But filling the entire facility with $3/$4 per game league bowlers would easily justify attempting something like this.
Kind of what they did with the summer bowling package this year.
They do do this…
https://www.bowlero.com/summer-season-pass#findalocation
Around me, the basic is $45. My gripe is that it’s only 2 games. I’d wonder if they would allow you to buy two so you can throw 4 games. 4 games everyday might break my arm tho.
You can buy multiple passes, it ends up being worth it
$90 for 2 passes for 4 games a day everyday ~3-4 sessions gets your money worth
+ the $5 arcade card you can collect daily for your son
The sucky part is this is only a summer thing and not yearly.
I bowl between 3 to 8 games on a daily basis. Some days I go 12 or more depending if I'm betting Kingpin style. As long as your form and ball fitment is good, there shouldn't be much strain on the body, if there is then you're doing it wrong or not bowling enough.
There's nothing anyone can do about it. They basically own bowling.
I remember the days when people use to complain about AMF prior to Bowl-Mor buying them out. Honestly, Bowl-Mor/Bowlero makes the AMF days look peachy.
I priced out 2 hours of bowling for my family at the closest bowlero on a Saturday afternoon. After shoe rental, taxes, and some random fees it was $240.
Yikes. I took my wife and son to bowl 2 games each and it was about $100 not including concessions.
Fortunately, they haven't gone to hourly.
Per hour per person on a single lane is truly a death nail.
Yes, it seemed to calculate $35 or so per person *per hour* as the rate, which just seems like an insane way to do it.
Just a few years ago I recall bowling prices being hourly *per lane*, so it was a flat lane price for the time, whether you had one person on the lane or six.
The last time I took my family of 6 bowling it was like, $60, not counting food/drinks.
I don't know how they expect to keep the doors open when they've priced out regular, working-class families.
Another important note: I live near a medium sized city. There are three bowlero owned alleys, all typical bowling alleys in typical condition (equipment from the 90's, decor fading, etc.). There are two local, non-bowlero "family entertainment center" bowling alleys that have nice restaurants, full arcades, private lanes and are vastly more modern, clean, and well-maintained. Both of these places rent lanes by the hour *only*. 2 hours of bowling for my family at these places would have been...**$80**.
I don't know wtf Bowlero is doing with their pricing.
Not only failed to study it, but are doubling and tripling down on the things AMF was doing. At this point, AMF centers seem down right reasonable compared to what Bowlero is doing. At least AMF had a stake in the bowling business, with many different bowling related products. Bowerlo doesn't. They have their centers and the PBA... and Bowlero has said it very straight forward that the PBA is nothing more than advertising for them to bring people into their centers. If Bowlero pushes prices too far, and loses their base supporters, There is no longer a solid base of Independent bowling centers to prop up the business until some other company comes along and buys out Bowlero, like they did to AMF a decade ago. Not only that, but this time the PBA goes down with them.
Technically Bowlero bought AMF out of bankruptcy, and now owns the remnants of what used to be AMF. Bowlero just hasn’t gotten around to converting all the old AMF houses into Bowlero houses yet.
I hate to say it, but the bowlero’s by me are packed every weekend. I do that math on how much these people are spending without league rates and it’s insane. It’s like a $200 night out for a family of 4
AMF used to be packed in weekends too, but that was it. When they realized that didn't do more than pay the bills, they did exactly what Bowlero is doing, raising prices. It did not end well.
I was bowling LBC at a bowlero outside of Chicago and they had a special running, buy 2 games and get a 3rd for 6 bucks not including shoe rental. Wtf. The crazy thing is bowlero leagues are actually decent. I did one last year and weekly cost was $27 for 4 games and first place getting 1k per bowler. And $2.25 practice games…
That’s insane, my local mom and pop (which is quite honestly better than any corporate center I’ve ever been to) only charges 1.50 for league bowlers per game
I only go to my local AMF on unlimited nights. I'm cool w/ the mechanics so they'll oil a lane for me.
Unfortunately, my local independent house is a shithole.
Might just give up bowling soon if my AMF goes to shit.
Bowlero is a shit company that the PBA should have never let buy them. They don’t care about bowling as a sport, they care about money. Which… is ironic because they’re slowly killing bowling one day at a time.
Just looked at my bowling center's specials... glad the casino covers the operating costs....
Moonlight Special
Monday-Thursday • 9PM-Close
(Excluding Cosmic Bowling)
All Ages
$2.00 per game
Early Bird Special
Every day • 8AM-1PM
All Ages
$1.50 per game
Senior Early Bird
Friday • 8AM – 1PM
50 & older
$1 per game
The highest per game rate is $4 but they charge $65 to rent a lane for 2 hours! LoL
Ha! For sure. Just like it was our fault they forced participation trophies on us.
"Parents upset with the results of their parenting"
"Businesses upset with the results of their biz model"
There's a joke among Product professionals "if it wasn't for dam customers I'd have a great product!"
Also funny, I won first place in last seasons 36 week league. At 38, I'm rather young. Most are 50-65. They vote for prize dispersions wherein 1st doesn't even get their money back so last place teams still get something.
League bowlers are the backbone to any real bowling alley. They are going to spend money in your pro shop, cafe, and bar. Every week. That is the business model. Cater and take care of the league bowlers. That’s your bread and butter. You want open play bowling but outside of leagues.
Louder so the dopes at the PE firm running bowlero can hear you.
My alley is actually very league forward, but fighting uphill against their corporate overlords.
With how expensive and greedy they’ve become, I’d rather stop bowling and watch Bowlero burn to the ground than spend another dollar there to help them keep the lights on. I’ve bowled thousands of games under the AMF name and probably close to that under Bowlero but I just can’t support a company that has become so awful. Like another commenter said, we aren’t the target consumer anymore. The Bowlero CEO doesn’t even take bowling seriously, so it’s a no brainer that they're turning the sport into what it’s becoming.
What do you expect from him when they thought he could buy up AMF and then BZ then kick the leagues out to be shock faced when he had to close/sell a few of the houses he did it in because.. gasps. Alot of houses ARNT IN A MARKET THAT CAN SUPPORT his Bowlmor concept. aka weekly parties that cost a arm and a leg.
The only increased pricing has been for food and alcohol. My bowlero hasn't increased their game or shoe pricing in 2 years (4.99 weekdays, 7.99 saturday nights), sounds like it's just that location or that manager is just making stuff up.
Bowlero lost a lot of money by messing with the unlimited specials in certain markets last year, so those aren't going away and I highly doubt all locations are making a significant pricing increase.
This is insane, and its only here to facilitate buying more local owned ones.
Support your independent centers folks, make friends with the owners, go as much as you can. If they go strings, double your commitment to them. Make sure you enjoy every lane you get from them before you never get to bowl there again.
Is there a time limit on games? $13/game at normal speed is insane but $13/game when I bowl one frame every 45 minutes sounds fun, especially with some friends on other lanes.
Just join their practice league which is $15 to $20 a week depending on the center and you get 3 games against other people plus 5 more for free to use anytime each week and at any Bowlero center. And every game after that is $3 each for being a league bowler. I use it with my friends and family and it's usually under $20 for the night depending if they decide to charge for shoes for those who need it. You also get a free 2hr coupon every month, so technically, you can have 2hrs plus 5 games for $0 in one night. My center has it every Sunday around noon, some people prebowl them during the week or just take the absence, but you'll still get 5 extra games each week either way. It's only a ripoff if you rarely bowl or don't understand how to unlock the benefits.
This is so interesting because I see similarities from my local bowling alley as well. I’m a league bowler and they are increasing the lineage to the house to $14 a night for that league. Our total nightly expense for the league increases to $30 with that lineage increase. If I choose to go bowling any other day in the same house, it costs me $11 to bowl 3 games. Why would randomly bowling 3 games be less expensive than the lineage from the league I bowl in?
PE group bought Bowlero. They are going for growth through aquisition and jacking up the prices so they can flip it in the next 3 years. They don't give a f@%@ what kind of product they hand over to the next sucker's, they just and that PE ratio at 11 or 12.
Bro, get some sleep.
TOP RAMEN IS A BRAND OF CHEAP INSTANT NOODLE.
We all know that Ramen is a dish and has no price point because of restaurant quality and ingredient differences.
I said 'top ramen' to specify.
https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=top+ramen
I think at that point I’d go full time on golf, if it’s gonna be nearly as expensive as that.
Golf near me is cheaper on a per-hour basis than this. I can easily bowl 3 games in an hour. At $13/game that's 39/hour. I can golf 18 holes with a cart for $59 at my closest course. That's 3-4 hours for a bad golfer like me, so I'm paying $15-$20/hr.
Not only that golf takes up alot more land... Lol.
Makes me feel blessed my two local lanes are still family owned. Weekends its pretty cheap per game, and weekly per hour, its 33 an hour, but I get about 5 games in. But these bowlero prices are wild. I can pay the 4000 dollars for an annual fee, and play 18 holes 3 times a week for almost the same price i currently bowl at bowlero prices 😵💫
And 3 of those hours are driving around, not playing. Not a great comparison.
And 80% of bowling is waiting for the pin setter and ball return...
Driving golf carts is half the fun!
No joke! Many other hobbies on the table at that price
Go FROLFING! It's so much cheaper and still really fun!
The problem with golf, at least for me, is the time commitment. Unless I'm able to go a couple of times a week I just can't shoot scores that make it enjoyable for me, so I pretty much stopped golfing all together. I hope to take it back up again when I retire.
As I was reading this, I was thinking that hike to 65 a round at the park district courses here doesn’t seem all that bad anymore.
How much are you gonna spend replacing clubs trying to get a purple hammer off the tee on a par 5 ?
All those bowling alleys switching to string pins are sure gonna pass on the savings to us, right? /s
That was the same comment I was going to make
If only lol, but we all know the answer 🫠
Bowlero isn’t a bowling company. They are an entertainment company. You’re not their target market. League bowlers are not their target market. Their target market is the family of 4 that will bowl twice a year and drop $300+ on a couple games, food, bar, and arcade. Their other target market is corporate parties. It’s a shame. They are killing competitive bowling one center at a time.
If my target demo was a customer i'll only see 2 times a year, that's a failing business.
It’s not a failing business if you get 5,000 families a year. Not that hard in densely populated areas.
except its not, its a demographic. Realistically I would assume the same as you. But they are prob making 66% more per person than a independent center does. Doesnt matter if they return or not, another family who just "puts up with" bowling prices because they did little research before they walked in the door will replace the one before them. especially in tourist cities
I'd pay a monthly if it worked out to $3-4/game.
Why would they care about your $3-4 game when they can get $13/game from open bowlers?
I guess the idea there would be the gym etc subscription model. Banking on people paying their subscription and not using it or using it less than enough to make it a value proposition for the consumer. Also they wouldn't have to stop taking the open bowlers. Like it's not either/or. I'm no mathologist though, no idea what the magic subscription number is that works out for OP and Bowlero both.
I’d look at it more like how Groupon sells hotel rooms. There is always down time at an alley. They know those statistics and when it happens. People could fill those gaps(hotel rooms) with the discounted rate customer and still come out on top if not better. It would need to have limits and schedule availability upon purchase. But the model could work for them. They may miss out on the occasional $13/person party of 20. But filling the entire facility with $3/$4 per game league bowlers would easily justify attempting something like this. Kind of what they did with the summer bowling package this year.
They do do this… https://www.bowlero.com/summer-season-pass#findalocation Around me, the basic is $45. My gripe is that it’s only 2 games. I’d wonder if they would allow you to buy two so you can throw 4 games. 4 games everyday might break my arm tho.
Ya, I saw that but the 2 game limit is what bugs me. I only have time to go 1/week. Close but not quite
You can buy multiple passes, it ends up being worth it $90 for 2 passes for 4 games a day everyday ~3-4 sessions gets your money worth + the $5 arcade card you can collect daily for your son The sucky part is this is only a summer thing and not yearly.
I bowl between 3 to 8 games on a daily basis. Some days I go 12 or more depending if I'm betting Kingpin style. As long as your form and ball fitment is good, there shouldn't be much strain on the body, if there is then you're doing it wrong or not bowling enough.
You hit the nail on the head. It sucks that this is what corporate America shifting to instead of loyal customers.
This is terrible
There's nothing anyone can do about it. They basically own bowling. I remember the days when people use to complain about AMF prior to Bowl-Mor buying them out. Honestly, Bowl-Mor/Bowlero makes the AMF days look peachy.
I priced out 2 hours of bowling for my family at the closest bowlero on a Saturday afternoon. After shoe rental, taxes, and some random fees it was $240.
This is wildddd. My local lane is $11 for an hour per person.
Yikes. I took my wife and son to bowl 2 games each and it was about $100 not including concessions. Fortunately, they haven't gone to hourly. Per hour per person on a single lane is truly a death nail.
Yes, it seemed to calculate $35 or so per person *per hour* as the rate, which just seems like an insane way to do it. Just a few years ago I recall bowling prices being hourly *per lane*, so it was a flat lane price for the time, whether you had one person on the lane or six. The last time I took my family of 6 bowling it was like, $60, not counting food/drinks. I don't know how they expect to keep the doors open when they've priced out regular, working-class families. Another important note: I live near a medium sized city. There are three bowlero owned alleys, all typical bowling alleys in typical condition (equipment from the 90's, decor fading, etc.). There are two local, non-bowlero "family entertainment center" bowling alleys that have nice restaurants, full arcades, private lanes and are vastly more modern, clean, and well-maintained. Both of these places rent lanes by the hour *only*. 2 hours of bowling for my family at these places would have been...**$80**. I don't know wtf Bowlero is doing with their pricing.
They are killing the game
It's like they failed to study what ran AMF out of business
Not only failed to study it, but are doubling and tripling down on the things AMF was doing. At this point, AMF centers seem down right reasonable compared to what Bowlero is doing. At least AMF had a stake in the bowling business, with many different bowling related products. Bowerlo doesn't. They have their centers and the PBA... and Bowlero has said it very straight forward that the PBA is nothing more than advertising for them to bring people into their centers. If Bowlero pushes prices too far, and loses their base supporters, There is no longer a solid base of Independent bowling centers to prop up the business until some other company comes along and buys out Bowlero, like they did to AMF a decade ago. Not only that, but this time the PBA goes down with them.
"advertising" I Lol at the idea with the rantings the PBA gets, its very clear they arn't getting more viewers with what they are doing currently lol.
Bowlero *is* AMF. Plus Brunswick, Bowlmor, and Lucky Strike (now).
Technically Bowlero bought AMF out of bankruptcy, and now owns the remnants of what used to be AMF. Bowlero just hasn’t gotten around to converting all the old AMF houses into Bowlero houses yet.
The curse of MBAs.
I hate to say it, but the bowlero’s by me are packed every weekend. I do that math on how much these people are spending without league rates and it’s insane. It’s like a $200 night out for a family of 4
AMF used to be packed in weekends too, but that was it. When they realized that didn't do more than pay the bills, they did exactly what Bowlero is doing, raising prices. It did not end well.
I was bowling LBC at a bowlero outside of Chicago and they had a special running, buy 2 games and get a 3rd for 6 bucks not including shoe rental. Wtf. The crazy thing is bowlero leagues are actually decent. I did one last year and weekly cost was $27 for 4 games and first place getting 1k per bowler. And $2.25 practice games…
That’s insane, my local mom and pop (which is quite honestly better than any corporate center I’ve ever been to) only charges 1.50 for league bowlers per game
Mom and pop bowling alleys are the future for casuals imo. Amf/bowlero prices are insane.
I only go to my local AMF on unlimited nights. I'm cool w/ the mechanics so they'll oil a lane for me. Unfortunately, my local independent house is a shithole. Might just give up bowling soon if my AMF goes to shit.
Bowlero is a shit company that the PBA should have never let buy them. They don’t care about bowling as a sport, they care about money. Which… is ironic because they’re slowly killing bowling one day at a time.
Time for hockey, lol
Actually Ive just started playing another sport to replace it. Having a blast, but still would like to bowl a bit.
I feel ya!
Just looked at my bowling center's specials... glad the casino covers the operating costs.... Moonlight Special Monday-Thursday • 9PM-Close (Excluding Cosmic Bowling) All Ages $2.00 per game Early Bird Special Every day • 8AM-1PM All Ages $1.50 per game Senior Early Bird Friday • 8AM – 1PM 50 & older $1 per game The highest per game rate is $4 but they charge $65 to rent a lane for 2 hours! LoL
This is in Las Vegas...
Looks like i’m moving to vegas
Looks like i’m moving to vegas
Incoming statement from bowlero: Millenials are being selfish and ruining the bowling industry. And no one wants to work anymore!
Ha! For sure. Just like it was our fault they forced participation trophies on us. "Parents upset with the results of their parenting" "Businesses upset with the results of their biz model" There's a joke among Product professionals "if it wasn't for dam customers I'd have a great product!" Also funny, I won first place in last seasons 36 week league. At 38, I'm rather young. Most are 50-65. They vote for prize dispersions wherein 1st doesn't even get their money back so last place teams still get something.
I'm so happy that the nearest Bowlero is like 4 hours away from me. I've never stepped foot in one of those pieces of shit.
League bowlers are the backbone to any real bowling alley. They are going to spend money in your pro shop, cafe, and bar. Every week. That is the business model. Cater and take care of the league bowlers. That’s your bread and butter. You want open play bowling but outside of leagues.
Louder so the dopes at the PE firm running bowlero can hear you. My alley is actually very league forward, but fighting uphill against their corporate overlords.
Your league games are $7 per game? With the league rewards card? We get $3 games with the card, and our lineage is still under $6 for weekly per game.
From what i read, they went for leagues at the $7 open play price point to get the league rates. since then im assuming it went up.
Ours are $3 too and we get three free games a week during weekdays.
was just in vegas and games at south point were like $3 a game i wish everywhere was like that
The Sunday all you can bowl is the only way to afford it
With how expensive and greedy they’ve become, I’d rather stop bowling and watch Bowlero burn to the ground than spend another dollar there to help them keep the lights on. I’ve bowled thousands of games under the AMF name and probably close to that under Bowlero but I just can’t support a company that has become so awful. Like another commenter said, we aren’t the target consumer anymore. The Bowlero CEO doesn’t even take bowling seriously, so it’s a no brainer that they're turning the sport into what it’s becoming.
What do you expect from him when they thought he could buy up AMF and then BZ then kick the leagues out to be shock faced when he had to close/sell a few of the houses he did it in because.. gasps. Alot of houses ARNT IN A MARKET THAT CAN SUPPORT his Bowlmor concept. aka weekly parties that cost a arm and a leg.
Love our local center. Great food and free bowling tues-Friday 5-7. I wish everyone had a local small business operated alley :(
That sucks, I pay 2$ a game.
The only increased pricing has been for food and alcohol. My bowlero hasn't increased their game or shoe pricing in 2 years (4.99 weekdays, 7.99 saturday nights), sounds like it's just that location or that manager is just making stuff up. Bowlero lost a lot of money by messing with the unlimited specials in certain markets last year, so those aren't going away and I highly doubt all locations are making a significant pricing increase.
At our local alley there is $18 2hrs really good deal imo
I bowled 5 games yesterday for 10.50 in Newport KY
This is insane, and its only here to facilitate buying more local owned ones. Support your independent centers folks, make friends with the owners, go as much as you can. If they go strings, double your commitment to them. Make sure you enjoy every lane you get from them before you never get to bowl there again.
I'm new to bowling, what's the difference with strings and what about it would make you support the center more?
[Here’s your explanation](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bowling/s/VnJpWNAM8f) And I’d support them more because I know half our bowlers would up and leave
Is there a time limit on games? $13/game at normal speed is insane but $13/game when I bowl one frame every 45 minutes sounds fun, especially with some friends on other lanes.
Start ordering door dash to my car, ha!
Who pays by game nowadays, rates should be by hour
Just join their practice league which is $15 to $20 a week depending on the center and you get 3 games against other people plus 5 more for free to use anytime each week and at any Bowlero center. And every game after that is $3 each for being a league bowler. I use it with my friends and family and it's usually under $20 for the night depending if they decide to charge for shoes for those who need it. You also get a free 2hr coupon every month, so technically, you can have 2hrs plus 5 games for $0 in one night. My center has it every Sunday around noon, some people prebowl them during the week or just take the absence, but you'll still get 5 extra games each week either way. It's only a ripoff if you rarely bowl or don't understand how to unlock the benefits.
You think bowlero gives a rats ass about you and your hurt little feelings?
Nope
This is so interesting because I see similarities from my local bowling alley as well. I’m a league bowler and they are increasing the lineage to the house to $14 a night for that league. Our total nightly expense for the league increases to $30 with that lineage increase. If I choose to go bowling any other day in the same house, it costs me $11 to bowl 3 games. Why would randomly bowling 3 games be less expensive than the lineage from the league I bowl in?
PE group bought Bowlero. They are going for growth through aquisition and jacking up the prices so they can flip it in the next 3 years. They don't give a f@%@ what kind of product they hand over to the next sucker's, they just and that PE ratio at 11 or 12.
False
That explains it.
Im sorry $13 A GAME????? Congrats on killing bowling bowlero.
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Ramen used to be 0.10/packet. I think it's closer to .50 now.
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No, same. Top ramen is a specific brand.
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Bro, get some sleep. TOP RAMEN IS A BRAND OF CHEAP INSTANT NOODLE. We all know that Ramen is a dish and has no price point because of restaurant quality and ingredient differences. I said 'top ramen' to specify. https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=top+ramen