171–180 of 375 posts
Serious and maybe stupid question, also note I don't live in the US. Is this really needed? If you put a scoring pad and a couple pencils in each lane would your customers say "what is this shit", turn around and walk out?
In high school, I was invited every time even tangential friends wanted to go bowling because I was the only person who knew how to keep score on paper (the nearby lanes didn’t have electronic scoring). And that was over 30 years ago.
However, as the class nerd, I knew how to score a game. My parents used to take us as kids. And fortunately, that was on the test. :-)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having grown up in a small midwest town in an R&R desert, I think the canonical answer is a liquor license.
I've always wondered about these when I see bars in tiny towns in rural parts of WA, OR, ID because the only way to get home is to drive drunk (I seriously doubt that the locals are organizing designated drivers for carloads of intoxicated people, and no taxi services exist). It seems they just take a gamble on not crashing and not getting caught by the local law enforcement.
Really interesting stuff! If you're looking for bowling animations I'd look into https://youtu.be/ZXpETSoNWxY Made me laugh.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which could be removed, which I, a customer, would very much enjoy. Bowling prices are absolutely insane these days. Haven't been in over 10 years. Related, nearly all of the bowling lanes in my area are empty, except for birthdays/work events.
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.
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 come for that? Does it make it more fun? I just saw the ball with my own two eyes. Does an animation make it better?
What brings in a family? Work colleagues? Teenagers on a date? What brings in more competitive folks? Is there progression? What makes my friend group go once a week? Why do housewives want to hang out there at 11am? How to catch the bored teenagers at 3pm in the afternoon?
It's not even just about bowling. Can you create a space people want to come to?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How are you handling bowling shoe rental?
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?
Right now I'm working on adding LED + DMX DJ light control - I kinda want to be able to order LED strips to "chase" a ball as it goes down the lane or back up the return. I plan on triggering laser-light shows and such with the DMX controller. Eventually, I want to allow a customer walk up to the lane, tap to pay and start bowling immediately, too. Kiosk-ize bowling alleys, yknow? I'm pumped. So much room for activit…
I'll throw out two quick suggestions for you: - DMX kinda sucks but it's manageable. Cabling isn't cheap, it really wants shielded 120 ohm cable. If you do go that route, don't cheap out and use Mic cable or Cat-5, you'll be chasing ghosts forever. - However... Art-net is an absolutely brain dead simple protocol that you can run over WiFi or ESP-Now if you don't care about it being perfect, or over Ethernet with an E…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> retrofitting very old machine tools with modern motion controls. I have a friend who has automated an old food production line. Eg peanut butter making, Muslie roasting etc. With no background in programming he got machines hooked up measuring various things - eg peanut butter levels with ultrasound, roast temps, rotation rates. Zero version control and eyebrow raising methods but massive improvement in safety and…
I suspect this is where our AI agents will really come to shine: helping people who might have a technical bend but are not programmers do cool things.