There’s a bowling revolution in play, and not all bowlers are willing participants. In fact, a few are on strike, and it’s all because bowling alleys across America are getting rid of traditional pinsetting machines in favor of a string-based system.
In hindsight, it seems obvious to this American: attach strings to the tops of bowling pins so they can be yanked upward into holes that settle down the action so that the pins can be reset. In fact, European bowling “houses” have used string pinsetters for decades, instead of lumbering machinery that needs regular maintenance and costs several thousand dollars a month to maintain.
Recently, the U.S. Bowling Congress recently certified these string pinsetters for both tournament and league play, to the dismay of many bowlers. The problem is that the physics of pins suspended on strings affects the game more than you’d think. There is no satisfying crash when the ball hits. More scientifically speaking, obscure forces such as the radius of gyration and the coefficient of restitution make it so the tethered pins go flying around differently than those that are allowed free-fall.
Hundreds of participants during the testing phase reported that bowling to the strung pins felt off, less active. And, perhaps most alarmingly, the players noted occasional spares that occurred because the strings crossed. But the U.S. Bowling Congress recently published new research claiming that the differences are negligible. But as we all know, there is theory, and then there’s operation.
Have you ever heard of candlepin bowling? Those machines are just as difficult to maintain.
I saw strings on pins for the first time in the past year. I didn’t like them.
Go on…. (opinions really don’t matter – facts matter!)
Not really, when it comes to spending your cash one place or another, if you don’t like the way one place does it. I agree, just looking at the strings reminds me of something a kid would get for Christmas and not real bowling. Not that we opt much for bowling as recreation anyway, but that would be the final spike in the coffin for me.
“The customer is always right… In matters of taste” This is one of the instances where that phrase is actually accurate.
If it negatively affects the enjoyment of the GAME they are playing (not working in a lab, not building circuits or robots) it absolutely “matters”
While the primary motivation seems to be cost-related, there are several playability aspects that have been studied in depth by the USBC. These studies mainly focus on scoring dynamics and how these machines could potentially change the game.
However, there’s a crucial aspect of string pinsetters that may not have received as much attention yet – maintenance and operational reliability. Based on my experience with European bowling lanes, where the setup is quite different (different number of pins, shorter lanes, different pin arrangements, etc.), string pinsetters can present unique challenges.
One of the most common issues observed in Europe is the tendency of the pins to get tangled over time. This leads to frequent interventions during matches, sometimes even requiring the players or bar clients to step in to resolve the issue. This happens despite the European setup being seemingly more conducive to the string system due to factors like pin arrangement.
The USBC’s studies have provided valuable insights, especially regarding string lengths and pinfall dynamics. Yet, the practical, day-to-day operational challenges, particularly those related to pin entanglement, may not have been fully explored. These issues could potentially impact the flow of the game and the overall player experience.
If only they used quantum strings – then we could have quantum entanglement (across lanes!)
What if the strings were attached to the bottom and pulled down through holes in the lane to reset? If they were completely slack before rolling the ball, there should be much less of an effect on the falling/flying physics.
the strings would catch other pins easier when they are knocked into the air. Also you still couldn’t have a spinning pin. IMHO that would be worse
Put holes on the lane so the ball will bounce randomly?
Also the ball will roll over the string after the pin got knock down?
It’ll work if we fire the ball from a canon.
LOL
How would you handle the 2nd frame, where the fallen pins need to be cleared, and the remaining ones left upright? With strings on the top, you note which pins were left standing, clear them all, and only lower the ones that were originally standing. Also, the holes in the floor and the strings coming out from them may affect the ball trajectory.
Couldn’t you replace the string with a magnets at the top of the pins and in the lifting system? All you need is a line of force to attract the pin head into the general area, then draw it deeper into a hole for perfect alignment. Someone must have tried it at least.
The problem would be getting the magnets close enough to the tops of the scattered pins.
You mean the problem should be people with pacemakers must maintain a 500ft distance :D
The sensors know which pins remain, they’re all picked back up and only the remaining pins are lowered ofr the 2nd frame. So knocked pins are not in the way, and neither are the strings etc
My local alley has pins on strings and yes it is different to real bowling. There is far more randomness, when you perfectly hit the pocket it is a coin toss whether it will be a strike. The strings catch pins you didn’t hit sometimes. Pins can’t spin or bounce the way they used to. Splits that used to be hard are now impossible because the string won’t let a pin reach far enough across the lane. We’ve had tangles a couple of time but far far rarer than problems with the old pinsetters. For casual/convenience play overall they are a good compromise but for serious competition a huge step down.
I’m sticking to Wii bowling!
This should be given a different name. Like bumper pool…..String Bowling?
I won’t play in an alley with such a setup. Maybe if it’s a party, but if I’m paying cash to play the game I insist on the tried and true.
I was actually just thinking about the training mode on Wii Bowling where you throw at ever-increasing numbers of pins and was thinking something like that in a physical alley would be a lot of fun!
So – you didn’t pull?
A disappointing night out.
That and getting virtually no pay for working your a** of for people with extremely high expectations.
I’m in Europe. I’m by no means a professional bowler, I do have my own ball though and nobody else I know does. I have NEVER seen the string system and I’ve been to plenty of bowling alleys.
I can definitely see how it might change the game somewhat though.
Yeah I can only assume these stories (I’ve seen variations from a couple of different sites) are all sourced from the same place, which has that weird comment about how European bowling alleys have used this for decades. I’ve bowled in a bunch of places here (Ireland) and a couple of other places in the UK and Spain, and never encountered these strings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-pin_bowling
It seems there might be a bit of confusion regarding the type of bowling being discussed. In Europe, alongside the traditional American-style ten-pin bowling, there is a different game known as ‘Jeu de quilles’ (in French) or a similar name in German. This isn’t the same as the American bowling that is prevalent across Europe.
‘Jeu de quilles’ often features in bars or pubs with one to six lanes, sometimes only two or even just one. This game is distinct from American bowling, not just in the number of pins or lanes, but also in terms of equipment and gameplay. The quilles (pins) are often set in a diamond formation, unlike the traditional triangle setup in American ten-pin bowling.
In these European variants of the game, string pinsetters are commonly used. The use of strings in ‘Jeu de quilles’ is different from what’s being considered by the USBC for American bowling. It’s important to note that when we talk about the string system in the European context, we’re referring to these local variations of the game, not the standard American ten-pin bowling alleys that you might be familiar with in Ireland, the UK, Spain, or other parts of Europe.
here in german but to show this isn’t a random game https://www.wnba-nbs.de/fotos-videos/
Can confirm this.
As a European who has seen many bowling alleys, I have never seen one where the pins were attached with strings.
So I highly doubt this statement that it is normal in Europe.
I’m in Europe, I don’t particularly like bowling. I have seen and bowled at places that have string systems for resetting the pins. Usually they’ve been in places not dedicated to bowling but with disparate attractions. There’s a place near my home town that has a petting zoo, soft play for the kids, skating, table tennis, and bowling (probably other things too, but I’ve not been for years). They obviously need quite a lot of staff, but minimising their interaction with the bowling machinery is probably beneficial for the business.
Likewise, never seen this in the UK. But we’d assume bowling meant 10-pin bowling.
French-style 9-pin setups are rare – but those I’ve seen have been entirely manual affairs, usually down the alley next to a pub.
I always considered pin resetting mechanisms with strings as the “old” machines. Bowling places with modern lanes and machinery tend to use string less machinery. (at least at my place here in germany)
Seems way worse. The crashing, “destructive” feel of bowling is what makes it interesting. If you don’t care about the sensory aspect of bowling, why not just play videogames?
I’ve casually bowled for ages and only in last year or so have I seen the strings thing, and that only once. I’d guess new construction may install them but hard to imagine replacing existing machines with new ones- the financial and maintenance benefits being probably minor enough not to offset buying, say, 50 new machines and junking the old ones. I think HaD even had an article about one girl in middle America running an entire bowling alley that’s how thin the profit margin was there.
Anecdotally too- I didn’t much care for the strings version. Maybe it’s because 30+ years of doing it the other way and I’m old and don’t like change but, qualitatively the pins felt flat, didn’t bounce around much and really seems to have a lot more random outcomes than the usual semi-predictable non-tethered pins.
“about one girl in middle America”
The State of Maine is definitely not “middle America”!
B^)
Most of the USA prefers to erroneously call our mid-east States between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers “midwest” or “middle America”, which they haven’t been since the country started expanding past the Mississippi. Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico should be called midwest because they’re the States actually in the middle of the west.
I miss remembered an article from a long time ago. Busted.
It makes no difference to me, my ball always goes down the gutter!
Strings on pins sounds like a cheap plastic kids toy approximating ten pin bowling. Pin setters are complicated mechanical analog devices to distribute the downed pins to the correct location . Seems an X-Y gantry with a Z pin setter under digital control would be better. Arduino, steppers, aluminum rail, … I bet HaD readers could design a system in a week.
A delta pick and place machine with AI probably could do the job, but the AI part would require software.
A simple catch basin with a bottom that’s sloped, with troughs to align the pins, large enough to hold all ten pins, would be all that’s needed along with an ABB Flexpicker style pick and place with a pin head gripper able to pick up pins in two orientations. A simple computer vision setup trained to recognize the head ends and which way they’re aimed would round out the pinsetter.
When a Flexpicker can do things like visually sense and sort pancakes by size and pick and place them into packages of very close to the same weight, handling 10 bowling pins over and over should be simple.
I don’t know what traditional pinsetters use to sense which pins are left standing. Before electronics they must’ve had some amazingly complex electromechanical system.
These days it could use tiny magnets in the pin bases and Hall effect sensors in the lane. Or optical sensors set flush with the lane surface. Could use computer vision. How about a few carefully placed lasers and optical sensors, flashing the lasers on briefly after the ball has been detected having passed through?
I practically grew up in a bowling alley laying on top of the machines and watching the unending mechanical dance of the pinsetters. These machines are masterpieces of the art form and I have no doubt that a repurposing of modern industrial equipment like you propose would be orders of magnitude more expensive and complex than the machines already out there.
Fun fact re “before electronics”; the very first fully automated pinsetters were incredibly complicated electromechanical machines with hundreds of sensors and programmed with relay logic. They were so unreliable and impossible to maintain that they were redesigned to an almost completely purely mechanical design which just goes and goes, year after year. Electronics only came back very gradually over decades.
Pins on strings seems to be more of a fun-fair bowling lane thing where they use it for portability. I’ve never see those things in a real bowling alley – always at some traveling circus or a carnival where it’s obviously used because a full pin resetting mechanism would be too complicated to re-assemble every time they move to a different location.
Aluminum vs. wood bats, grass vs. clay tennis courts, etc. etc.
Yes, it’s a slightly different game. Yes, it’s almost the same game.
For me, string pinsetters will do for bowling what redemption games do for arcades.
An alternative approach would be to have a trap door the empties all of the pins, after the players turn, below and then returns to position to allow for fresh pins from above. Sorting the dropped pins to be the right way up is simple, due to the fact that they are narrower at the top than the bottom.
I have seen string pin setters at a Hollywood bowl in the Uk
Most people have no idea how the USBC made manufacturers change the back ends, kickbacks, string length, ball doors, etc. Unless you have bowled on a USBC approved string pinsetter, you haven’t seen the changes first hand. When the USBC conducted its latest test scoring, it came from all leagues across th country bowled on the USBC approved strings. Thousands upon thousands of bowlers over tens of thousands of games. It ended up 0.6 of a pin less than freefall. Less than one pin in average. Changing the string length to 54″ and NOT restricting the pin flight was a huge change. Find a local house with USBC approved strings, grab something to drink, sit back and just observe. Is it perfect? Nope. Is freefall perfect? Nope. Next time you walk into a free fall center, ask the 59 year old mechanic how much longer he will be working and if he has a B mechanic and pinchaser ready to take his place when he retires? Odds are his answer is a resounding no. There are very few up and coming mechanics that want to work on pinsetters for $28.00/hour. If one is mechanically inclined, they will become auto mechanics, aircraft mechanics, a/c technicians, diesel mechanics where they can make $80K per year. Bowling center owners will have some hard choices aver the next 5 years. Good luck finding someone to take his place.
10 million new people have walked in to the country, they might need jobs.
How many times did they test a 7-10 split with the strings VS bowlers who can knock that down most of the time?
Opportunity!
Build a bulletproof robotic pin pick and place machine. Those Rube Goldberg clockworks are obviously EOL.
Most places that have reported this story miss a bit. String pins have been approved only *as an independent category* for the next year. How or whether string vs freefall will be compared to be evaluated. There is a substantial difference in performance, even with the new specifications:
— USBC’s lab data indicates strike percentage on string pin bowling will be 7.1% less than when using free-fall pinsetters.
— This could result in average differences as large as 10 pins or more.
Additional testing is needed to determine if a conversion between string pinsetter competition and free-fall is reasonable.
https://bowl.com/news/usbc-certifies-string-pin-bowling-as-independent-competition-effective-august-1,-2023
It’s a different game. It’s called kegel or Nine-pin bowling.
Kegels, strings…Is this some new form of tug of war?
At last , we have found a use for string theory