As Sawbones stated earlier, I seem to have become the kiss of death for bowling alleys.

The house I had called my home house for over 20 years closed June 2003. It had been coming as you could see the continued decline of league and open play. When they started a road construction project that pretty much blocked it off the owner gave up.

Most of the leagues that remained were moved to another house about 1 mile away. It too was an older house but had been upgraded with synthetics about 7 years ago.

Well they are going to close this house in the fall and they want to move all the leagues.

They are building a new state of the art facility with an entertainment center attached. 8 lanes will be dedicated to cosmic/open play and 24 to leagues, electric indoor go cart track, billiard room, arcade, etc. I have heard, on at least the cosmic lanes, the fascia for the pinsetters are actually TV screens that they can show videos on.

The downside is that it is about 5 miles from the current center and they are raising prices, significantly. They are looking at about a $2 for 3 game increases in fees although they are currently unwilling to state a fixed price.

There is another center actually closer to me that we could move our league to for approximately the same price we are currently paying. This center has been completely remodeled in the last 5 years and is currently hosting the WIBC national team events. The only downside to this house is that it is very high scoring (if you want to call that a downside ). They also have wood approaches (yeah).

Do you go to the new place with all the bells and whistles and pay the higher price? Part of my fear at the new house is that with all the other activities going on it will not feel like a serious bowling alley.

Or do you go to the established house with a lower price and a known environment?

Which house do I go to and put out of business this time?

With all the choices of bowling centers in town, you should be able to find 1 that you like.  I miss the old place as well.  It was not modern, but it had a great owner that treated the place like a bowling alley meant for bowlers.  I don't know which came first, the decline in the bowling alleys or the lack of league bowlers.  

IMHO, the new place will not welcome serious bowlers.  It is designed to be a day-care for parents to waste money on their spoiled brat kids.  Dad said he was at a KC entertainment facility and stopped counting the number of $50 bills that parents kept feeding these sugar-hyped monsters running wild.  He wanted to just bowl, but couldn't stand the noise or the prices.

If you think your bad streak of closing places down will continue, I hope you move to the new center.

Oh come on Pinbuster...just go hit high-score central err, I mean Flight Lanes.  That place made CountrySide West seem difficult.  

Or is Flight the one that is going to close?  

I have to admit, I preferred the approaches at Thunder, but I preferred the space at NorthRock.