Something crazy happened a few days ago at my local bowling alley.

I'm sure all of you at least once or more have experienced the ball getting stuck in the machine - and the staff had to go behind and fix it to get your ball back.

Well, This has happened to me a few times, but this time it was different.


I threw a few balls and at one point the ball never came back, so i waved the staff over as usual, they went behind to fix it - but they never found the ball.

My ball was simply gone, lost, disappeared.

They spent 40 minutes searching behind the machines and around (in case it flew out and rolled away).
They opened up the Ball return machine, and also the Capping next to the gutter.
They searched under the lane as much as they could with flashlights.

But they just could not find it, The owner said he never experienced this or ever heard of something like this during his 40 years as working there.

There were a few witnesses to this as well, and i never left my lane during any time.

He spent some time yesterday again, and nothing.
As I understand, you can only see a restricted area under the lanes, and that my ball maybe is out of sight?


Do you guys ever heard of something like this? Any ideas?

My problem now is that i want a new ball from the bowling alley as i'm not responsible for the ball disappearing.

I bought the ball 2,5 years ago when it was newly released, I know it's not worth as much today but they should still give me a new ball for the same amount I bought it for, as i shouldn't pay a new one with my own money..

Would you agree?

The closest I have came to this was many years ago:

I was practicing; and my ball didn't come back.  so I got the employees to look for it.  wasn't in the machine or in the back.  its gone.  throw another ball; and same thing.

ended up starting taking things apart to look for it, and took off all the gutter caps to find a pin had been picked up by the ball return and came about half way down the lane before the pin came off the belt and logged in the ball return.  that pin knocked by 2 bowling balls off the return belt, but not too far out so they were easily retrieved.

as for a replacement; I think this one of those cases that a center should do what is necessary to make you whole. 

 This happened here once. The ball track under the return had come loose, and the balls were falling off and rolling away under the lanes.

 We found a really skinny kid and offered him $5 a ball to crawl around with a flashlight under there and retrieve them.

 He found our three. He also found about 20 house balls that had "disappeared" over the years and nobody knew were down there. Kid made a pretty good haul, and we found some really old house balls.

I've never had this happen to me, but I do recall that when older bowling alleys in my area were beginning to be torn down in the late 1990s it was not uncommon to discover balls underneath the lane beds.

I don't believe they owe you for a new ball. You have had the ball 2 1/2 years with that amount of wear and tear.

At best they owe you a ball of equal value or maybe a certificate for $75 off on a new ball in the proshop.

Was practicing a few years back and my ball didn't come back.  Had maintenance search around back then pulled up gutter caps and still couldn't find it.  My ball somehow ended up in the bucket for the 10 pin.  Mechanic said he had never seen anything like it. 

I don't believe they owe you for a new ball. You have had the ball 2 1/2 years with that amount of wear and tear.

Time has nothing to do with how their equipment handled your ball when it is back in the pits. If their equipment did anything to damage the ball, they are responsible for it.

At best they owe you a ball of equal value or maybe a certificate for $75 off on a new ball in the proshop.
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You are assuming that a given bowling alley has a pro shop. I've bowled at plenty of alleys where there is no pro shop at all; one in particular is a 100 mile drive to the closest pro shop.

BL.