Funny you mention city slickers - I live outside Indianapolis, but only bowl at one house in the city - and it is my least favorite of the 3.  The other is an immaculate 16 lane house with great owners.  They have put a lot of $, sweat and tears into the business and it shows.  They are 35 miles from me, but I make a point to patronize their business.  Buy all of my stuff from their pro shop as well. The third is a 10 lane house that was originally a 6 lane (I think) put into an old downtown building.  Later, they acquired the building beside it and expanded to 10.  Guess I'm weird, but I kinda enjoy the small town rowdy bunch - they're a lot of fun.

Sorry to hear you've only got one place to play - just don't ask me to join your side pots if I see you at a tourney!  The wife might not be too happy when you send me home broke!

Bones - What part of Missouri did you grow up in?  I lived in Lamar for the first 6 years of my life before moving across the border to KS. Maybe it's the small town upbringing that draws me to these type of places - reminds me of home.

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9-

Why, WHY won't the last one just fall??  It's WIGGLING for cryin' out loud!!

I have three houses within a 1/2 hour drive in Georgia. Canton(Brunswick), Roswell (Brunswick), and Woodstock (AMF).

Canton to me has the easiest shot, the best service, the best price, and the best equipment, however, the smoke residue sticks to your body to the point I go straight home and shower. This facility recently hosted a PBA South Regional tournament.

Roswell has a tough shot. I always bowl 20-25 pins worse there than Canton, but the smoke smell is almost non-existent even during non-smokefree sessions. It's brighter and more colorful than Canton.

Woodstock is a craphole. My ball always ended up getting scratched and dinged, the ball return and pinsetters work horribly, and they have bad prices. I also recently read in our local paper that there snack bar got a 65 rating from the health dept. That's out of 100 possible. I don't bother going there anymore.

Edited on 5/22/2003 6:33 AM

9,
Living in the Chicagoland area, I have many centers from which to choose, most of which are thirty minutes or more from my house.  I live in Evanston, which is on the lakefront, home of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, among other things.  I suspect that is the reason that there are no bowling centers in Evanston, since only recently was liquor allowed to be sold within the city limits.  Also, the north shore of Lake Michigan is inhabited by the golf/tennis/yachting set - no bowling.  There used to be several centers in the immediate surrounding communities to the west and south, but they seem to have all disappeared.  I bowled for years in a 10-lane establishment (I could never actually bring myself to call it a bowling center) in Skokie, just to my west, which put out decent lane conditions and had a very small-town atmosphere.  It was owned by two brothers who also bowled in just about every league.  Everyone knew everyone else and prices were reasonable.  The biggest problem there was walking in and not being able to see past the end of your arm due to the smoke in the place (slight exaggeration ).  It was also basically a neighborhood bar with ten lanes in the back - no pro shop or food service, either.

Anyway, the place where I bowl now, and also work part-time, will be difficult to top if I ever have to move on.  The ownership and management are extremely knowledgeable and they are friendly, as well.  It is run for bowlers by bowlers.  The proprietor is an eight-time PBA champion (3 national, 8 regional) and active PBA senior player.  His staff consists of people who are all bowlers, mostly at a relatively high level.  The operations manager is a former PBA player, who is one of the members of the team that is currently leading the team all-events category in this year's ABC tournament in Knoxville.  Our head mechanic is also a former PBA player who is in several local halls of fame and still bowls pretty darn well - he was the first bowler to shoot 300 in two different sport leagues in different centers.  I think you get the picture.  Anyway, these guys, along with the rest of the staff are very friendly, as well.  The proprietor spends a lot of time in the center and knows all his bowlers, which is not bad, considering it is a 40 lane center, filled with leagues every night.

As far as camaraderie is concerned, most everyone knows most everyone else.  Even though the center is located in a suburban environment, and it is not a small center, the atmosphere is very "small town."

The center itself is spotless and the machines, along with everything else in the building, are maintained in perfect working order.  The proprietor will not have it any other way.

9, I think everything you said is true - everything goes hand-in-hand.

BTW, we will be hosting a PBA tour event in the fall, as we did last year.  Last year's event was quite an experience and I look forward to this year's event.

RW (THB)