Github bro. Github.
Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s
201–210 of 375 posts
Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
My local center in a big northeast us city is very cheap during the week, and reasonably priced on the weekends. Surprisingly, even their food and alcohol is priced lower than what you’d expect - cheaper than the sports bar down the block. No idea how they make money, but my kids love it and I love being able to get a good beer while I spend time bowling with my kids.
I think this is the key metric. Get people in the door. Sure you can jack up prices on food and drink. Sure you can fleece the people who do come, but everyone who stops coming "because it's too expensive" is lost forever. The alternative is to create a space people want to come to. Yes sell food & drink. Being "good value" helps that. Being expensive fights it. While yes, the flashy electronics is cool, do people co…
> Can you create a space people want to come to?
Over many years I've tried to work out where a positive vibe comes from (mostly at food and beverage places).
My current theory is that a good vibe is an emergent behaviour from the customers.
Obviously poor managers/owners can make a toxic place (but negativity is a completely different issue from creating positivity). I've witnessed many owners think they can create a vibe, but then crash and burn (especially when taking over somewhere with an existing vibe). They often don't seem to understand how they failed (maybe have excuses that don't ring true). Starting or buying a business requires ego, but too much ego leads to mistaken self-belief.
I'm sure a wise manager can encourage a vibe to grow, but actually it seems like the customers drive the process.
Maybe it's just a human thing that like-minded people create spaces for themselves.
I watched the vibe at one place radically shift from tradies to more gentrified customers. Same owners and staff. I also suspect I'm just not good at it myself, so I lack the skills to even see why someone is good (and might not even understand if they try and explain to me).
Anyone else tried to grok how a good ambience grows? Is there some standard for learning it?
Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s
#203Wow, this sounds super amazing! If you find the time to take some pictures or put it in a blog post, that would be amazing :)
Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
We just charge a flat rate with shoes included. We do $5 / person or $25 for a whole hour for larger groups. Wanted to take some of the advanced calculus out of the price of bowling, yknow?
My local bowling alley charges $130 for shoes and 1 hour of bowling for 4 people off-peak. That scales up to $220 peak rates (e.g. Saturday night). It’s in the middle of a major city so it’s a different market of course, but the pricing difference is striking. No pun intended.
Lucky Strike across from San Francisco’s baseball stadium prices like that, ouch.
Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
We just charge a flat rate with shoes included. We do $5 / person or $25 for a whole hour for larger groups. Wanted to take some of the advanced calculus out of the price of bowling, yknow?
What is wrong with you, you’re going to ruin capitalism not caring about maximizing profits.
In capitalism, any intentional non-maximization of profits is philanthropy. Nothing wrong with that.
Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
Appreciate the good answer. Out of curiosity, ofder of magnitude how much would a person need to be bowling to get good enough that choice of shoe matters?
Socks with no shoes are good enough for amateurs. Maybe even better than the worst bowling shoes. I'm not sure where the level of shoes matters is crossed, but socks gets that a lot farther than street shoes.
Don’t drop the ball on your toes! It happens...
Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s
#207woah! that's cool
Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s
#208Did you consider using canbus? esp32s can handle canbus, and it would simplify the topology.
Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s
#209Really interesting stuff! If you're looking for bowling animations I'd look into https://youtu.be/ZXpETSoNWxY Made me laugh.
Also came here specifically to make sure this was posted. I'd pay good money to go to a bowling alley like this with friends.
Re: Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s
#210Awesome work! I would love to see this documented or at least a video of how everything works, not just to see the electronic setup, but to get a look at the mechanical internals of a 70 year old bowling machine.