The day after the day after Christmas (no, that's not a typo. I mean two days after Christmas), at a loss for something to do, we decided to try out the new, swanky bowling alley at one of the local malls. Did you ever think you'd see "bowling alley" and "swanky" in the same sentence? Neither did I. This one is called Strike and it's part hip, new bowling alley, part night club. You know this because the place is so poorly lit, all the bowling pins glow under black light and no one under 21 is allowed in after 9pm. But it was the middle of the afternoon, so we didn't have much concern about that. Turns out, we should have been concerned, but more about the astronomical price of bowling than the clientele. Actually, the hooker-esque Santa dresses on the female employees were pretty suspect too. Very short, very low cut, fishnet stockings. Between that and their fabulous "holiday pricing", we should have turned around and high-tailed it out of there, but the kids were so excited to be there and we're suckers...even at $35/hr and $5 for each pair of shoes we had to borrow and that'd be...uh...four. Right. No pro bowlers around here.
Each lane even has its own waiter to bring you doubtlessly overpriced food while you play. Besides, if you have to eat, it'll take you longer to play. Cha-ching!
Honestly, the kids' enthusiasm almost made this very expensive little venture worthwhile. And the place has some really cool features, like retractable bumpers on the lanes that you can program to come up only for certain players (like the kids) and a portable "chute" that the kids can roll the ball down to get it moving in the lane. They loved that. And Mam jumped up and down like an insane whirling dervish every time she knocked even a single pin down. 
Smunch was similarly thrilled...especially since he kicked all our butts with an astonishing 168 score. So, he had bumpers and a chute. So what?We'll be going back to our regular, dirty ol' bowling alley next time around. I'm still blown away that we paid $50 to bowl for 45 minutes. We won't go back and I won't recommend Strike to anyone else, but it was fun.
1 comment:
Totally cool place, but I agree. Very expensive. We actually went there for a birthday party, so we didn't have to pay for anything (other than all the games R. wanted to play....holy cash) but anyway. Yeah....super spendy. Besides. Bowling is meant to take place in a gruby 'ol pickle selling place anyway! Just like roller skating!
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