(long post, I tend to ramble)
Just starting to bowl again (never had been much more than a weekend recreational bowler) and was reading through posts on the issues of lane conditions, shot patterns, people quitting, complaints etc on here and a couple of other forums and an idea came to me.
When I think back as a kid when my choice of going out entertainment was putt-putt, bowling, movies or arcades I remember all the miniature golf places around had several courses and they were usually of different difficulty levels. Frankly the most difficult course at the places were usually the ones that were packed with a line. Interesting that the assumption in bowling is that a difficult pattern that causes scores to drop will drive recreational players away...I think it's more the lack of visual or any signs that the lane got tougher that leads to frustration and quitting.
Wouldn't everyone be served if lane proprietors did x number of lanes an easy high scoring house pattern, then a mid level pattern, and a difficult pattern perhaps they change the difficult lanes regularly or some such. Then they could do some color coding of the lanes (ala different color tee boxes in golf) scoring screen background colors would probably be easiest and non permanent, with painting ball returns or some such being more costly but more noticeable. Then customers who wanted harder conditions could request them, it would also be something for beginners to work towards and a glimpse of the difficulties involved in different conditions. It also opens up the ego stroking of people who go in for it when they can do well on difficult patterns and others see it.
I think one issue that is probably frustrating is you can't see oil, and many people don't know what a pattern is, or how it effects the game. Truth be told I had no clue about it at all until deciding to get a little more serious and picking up some books and reading some websites, there sure aren't any signs about it at any bowling alley I've ever been to. Sure I knew there was that machine they ran over the lane that oiled it every so often, but I had no clue it could be done in different ways to have an effect on the game. So when a person encounters a harder pattern (unknowingly) see their scores drop, it would be kind of similar to a golfer coming up to his favorite corse he played at regularly, shooting a sorry score before realizing they had lengthened all the holes and hadn't updated the par ratings or the yardeage signs (far fetched and still visual but a roughly quivalent feeling I'd imagine). He didn't actually get worse and he'd have a better appreciation of his lower score if he knew he was playing on tougher conditions.
Would it be that difficult for bowling alley owners to implement something like that? It would create variety in the game, visible achievement/focus cues for bowlers, and bring to light or open the door at least to educating people when they are asked if they have a difficulty preference...and they respond "whats the difference". And if sports like skiing are any indication if they get a standarized coloring scheme opens up a new line of macho merchandising. Shirts like "I bowled the Double Black at Wild Bills and lived to tell about it" "Real Bowlers do it hard" etc etc.
Ski resorts don't thrive off the traffic on their green runs, no high speed quads to the top of the bunny hill...the blues and the blacks are what people work towards. But they are marked so people have a visual sign of difficulty, and a better sense of accomplishment that they are improving.
I know I for one prefer the challenge of something more difficult. On the other hand if I throw a crap score I get annoyed at myself. If I got that crap score knowing I was actually being challenged it would be a much easier pill to swallow. I know I would have appreciated some of the difficulty in bowling all along had I had the knowledge that lanes could be oiled differently to influence challenge. I, and I'm sure I speak for the majority of recreational type bowlers, just assumed line it up, throw it. If it didn't hit the pocket I did something wrong, as hey it's a bowling lane as long as the boards aren't chipped, broken, out of level, or warped, and the ball is round and fits then it's all the same. With those presumptions it just seemed like a "game" that required practice and luck, but mostly you had a knack for it or not. Now knowing what I know I have more appreciation for the sport, pity it took the work it did and all those years of ignorance to get to that point, when an ingrained system into the sport such that I suggested would have made the challenge that much more evident on day one.
