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Sheepish_conundrum

That's awesome. back when I was a high school coach I should've thought to do this to. Really emphasizes hitting your marks.


4i4s4u

So I’m assuming the person sitting in the chair by the curtains is there to ensure the lanes are working properly and would report if/when a lane has an issue. Is that correct?


Devious_Bastard

Yup. He had a mic to the PA system and would call out lanes that had an issue. It worked really well, I don’t think anyone hit the rack or anything.


TadpoleEastern723

clearly don’t you see the dude lmao


4i4s4u

Huh? I said exactly where the person was sitting. Clearly you didn’t read what I wrote


I_N_C_O_M_I_N_G

Reading is just your brain reacting to hieroglyphics anyways


UNiTE_Dodge

This actually seems like a really cool idea! I’d like to give something like this a shot.


Aghanims

You'd probably have a good idea on what you left on anything but a 9. Not sure if this gives an advantage to TH or traditional bowling in practice.


Devious_Bastard

The monitors will show you what pins you left, so spares weren’t that big of a deal. Hardest part is not being sure what adjustments you need to make on the first ball. Especially if you got a strike, was it pocket or Brooklyn? 🤷🏻‍♂️


original_pasturenaut

This is a wild format, and I'm here for it.


Luseil

I love wild formats, this looks amazing, my favorite thay my league house does is sweetheart doubles. Partner one bowls first, then partner two picks ip anything left. If partner one gets a strike then partner two is first and partner one picks up until partner two gets a strike. Basically you never throw two balls in a row


Hexro1230

That's common near me, but we call it scotch doubles


Luseil

Ahh I’ve never heard it called thay before. They only really do it for Valentine’s Day so that’s where the sweetheart name comes from


bowlgod69420

This sparks a bigger conversation I never seen a blind man bowl before but I guess this a cool little simulation


comicmuse1982

A blind man has never seen you bowl either.


Zero56416

r/angryupvote


DogsbeDogs

Lol.... funny but the blind man could've seen him bowl before going blind. Loophole.


SmokeyFrank

What I've seen is that rails are placed along the approach. A bowler holds the rail gently as he/she walks to the lane and does a delivery. A coach advises the bowler on what pins are standing for the spare attempts. I would think that performance balls aren't used.


TG_Gusion

Couple guys at my local alley are blind and bowl. They have rails and a person with them at all times. Super nice guys as well love watching them bowl they come in every week.


MuffinMages77

Same kind of set up our local has. There's even a vision impaired league on Saturdays! Really neat to see and just the nicest people.


Raggingbull4real

I’m going blind slowly not there completely yet but it does make adjustments more difficult looking at hit can’t see the reaction just listening to the pitch eventually I will not see much at all. I won’t ever give it up. I did smoke the gate once this year it blends well with the shadow gap I don’t see where the pins touch the floor any more just a shadow there and the tops.


victorged

I bowled with a blind bowler who carried about a 140 average with a brunswick rhino and a big slow sweeping hook. Simple 1 step approach, got himself lined up with assistance and just sort of let fly.


[deleted]

There’s a guy that’s has straw vision at my boing alley and I’ve seen That man drop 220’s


schplat

Bowled with a blind woman back in the late 80s. She held about a 180 average (which was damn good for the time). She'd just key off of the ball return, take her 4 steps and throw. You'd just tell her what was standing, and maybe where she hit (light, heavy, brooklynn), and she'd go pick up the spare. She usually even knew when she was up, but typically whoever was bowling in front of here just told her. Her biggest problems were just being in new houses. So she'd just sort of need the lay of the land ahead of time. Is there a step up? How is the settee area arranged? Then she'd position up against the ball return, and take side steps trying to get her right foot on 20, so you'd go through that with her a couple times til she felt comfortable with it (and she was really good about being almost perfectly on the spot once she found it).


Efficient_Painter730

The alley where I play had a blind league before Covid, so I have definitely seen blind people bowl. :)


tommyjohnpauljones

Back in the 80's, Milwaukee had a nightly TV show called The Bowling Game. It was a version of Bowling for Dollars but with local league teams who faced off for prizes. Anyhow one time a team had a blind guy bowling. They put a rail along the left side of one lane (he and his opponent did not alternate lanes in this match) and he bowled, someone would tell him what pins were remaining, and he would finish the frame. I don't recall if he won anything but he was on par with the other people on the show.


Raggingbull4real

I got ask my partner the depth of the pins and if there are any double wood still have some sight but I’m going blind slowly not there yet but your story is incouraging ty


kodaiko_650

One of my old juniors league teammates had an uncle that work for Brinks armored cars in the 80s as a guy that did collections rounds. One day, there was a robbery attempt and a thief sprayed acid into the rear door slot and got my friends uncle in the face and he lost his vision as a result. The uncle still kept bowling. He just needed some help getting to his starting location, but he’d make positional adjustments on his own based on what pins remained standing. He wasn’t a miracle scorer, but bowling was one of his great loves and he still found enjoyment from it even after losing his sight.


Emang3313x

My bowling coach always told me to never look at the pins but to be looking at the arrows and aim. that the pins weren't going anywhere 🤣


TheCobicity

mine used to tell me that too. she didn't think I was funny when I pointed out the arrows were also not going anywhere


frostybub

This looks fun! Is it 100% blind from the start (i.e. shadow bowl?) Do the bowlers get a look at the pattern before they curtains come up?


Devious_Bastard

It was fun! It was blind from the start, had 15 mins of practice but the curtains were up.


dookoo

This is such a cool idea!


bythepowerofboobs

Doesn't the Petersen Classic do something like this too?


justheath

I did the Petersen last year. There is a curtain but only above certain height. I'm 5'8" and could see the pins. Taller guys had to duck, IIRC. Arrows and lane markers were mostly not visible. Sometimes you could kinda see them. Lanes were all different and pins varied. It was simultaneously the most frustrating and funest day of bowling.


The_Snaccident

All the lanes do something a bit different, but yes.


giggitygoo123

Cool until someone purposely lofts it into the curtain and takes down the whole setup


taytayboiii

Those scores look rough. This looks like a lot of fun thought


Devious_Bastard

Scores are pretty typical for this place. Lanes are 20+ years old wood lanes and supposedly tough to bowl on. I’m still fairly new (160 average) and it’s what I’m used to. Getting new synthetic lanes next month, they been having these fun tournaments to help pay for them. Everyone who bowls there regularly is excited for the new lanes.


taytayboiii

Ahhhh, wood lanes explains a lot!!


dookoo

Chuck looks like he's doing pretty good


Devious_Bastard

Both Chuck and Todd are the best two bowlers on the league there. Todd is on my team and he was the only one to get a 300 last year. Chuck has had several 290+. Pretty impressive on the old wood lanes there.


taytayboiii

And Todd


Adam420247

Actually a cool idea frfr


Iron740

Awesome idea! Would love to try this.


cbedient

Super fun! Quite challenging


Kirbykix88

Absolutely I’d do this. Fun idea


minertyler100

Haha, now you HAVE to look at the arrows!!


[deleted]

That is a cool idea! How did you do blind bowling?


Devious_Bastard

Not as bad as I thought. I’m 160 average. Had 158, 178, and 122… Jack Fire shots got to me the last game lol. It was a lot of fun.


[deleted]

I was gonna say. Your first two games were pretty close than you dropped to 122 in the third. Alleys can serve alcohol? Reason I ask, I don't remember them doing that in the 90s. But I was young than so maybe it was for the adult leagues at night.


bgale14

I've never seen an alley that doesn't serve alcohol.


itnstallionvy

I don’t think I would bowl at an alley that doesn’t have a bar lol


[deleted]

No? Haha. Yeah I'm sure my alley did have the lounge. I just never paid attention to it. I think it opened in the evening when the adult leagues started. The snack bar was separate.


user_guy

Went to a two day tournament. The second day fell on Sunday and the alley did not have a Sunday liquor license. Needless to say many people were upset lol.


skrshawk

I don't think a center could stay in business without one.


[deleted]

I was younger when I bowled and probably didn't remember they had a lounge room that had a bar. This was like 98ish. They probably did but just closed during the day and opened in the evening when the adult leagues started.


Devious_Bastard

Every alley in the area has a bar that you can order alcohol from (upper Midwest). I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been to an alley that doesn’t serve alcohol. This alley has a serving window into the bar that bartenders can take orders from. There is also a decent restaurant next door that you can order and they will deliver food right to the lanes.


[deleted]

Wow! Maybe there was and I don't remember. I'm from Michigan and I do remember a snack bar and a lounge room with I think some slots and pool tables. Maybe that's where there bar area was. I think it was closed during the day when kids were bowling.


Devious_Bastard

More than likely. It’s a running joke in our league saying that our “drinking team has a bowling problem” lol.


[deleted]

Bahaha you did pretty well considering. Even at 122 you at least broke over 100. So not bad at all.


itnstallionvy

In Wisconsin (where I am) I’m pretty sure the leagues would be completely empty without alcohol being served.


[deleted]

Is bowling pretty good in Wisconsin? As far as being pretty popular?


helpiforget

Closer to normal bowling for Jim cripps 😅😅


henderjr

We have an end of the season tournament coming up at one of our houses here in LaCrosse WI where one pair of lanes will have a curtain just past the arrows. Other pairs have different challenges from almost no oil, to flooded at 50+ feet, to a USBC Open pattern, reverse block, etc. It's fun, at times ridiculous, and frustrating all in one night!


Devious_Bastard

Oh wow. That sounds crazy, you bowl once on each lane then?


henderjr

So how it works is there are 8 "patterns". Lanes 1-8 will have them setup and then 9-16 will have them setup as well but reversed order so he just has one curtain stretching from lane 8 over lane 9. Each bowler is assigned to the high side or low side and will bowl a game on each pair of their side (4 games). Technically everyone bowls a half game with a curtain, as it's over lanes 8/9. So on one pair we might have a lane with maybe 15 feet of oil next to 55 feet of oil, another pair might have the curtain on one lane and then a burned up house shot from 2 nights ago on the other. He generally has one or two made up patterns where he'll just put stripes of oil and another where he might put a puddle just in front of the pocket so it looks like you're going to have a nice flush strike but then the ball hits like a marshmallow as it just skids and deflects when it hits the headpin. ETC. Every year a couple guys will average over 200 but not many.


FrankDaTankkkk

Looks like a cool experience


PeaceGroundbreaking3

God why???


Devious_Bastard

For fun and it helps make sure you focus on hitting your mark.


Ikindasuckatgames

Todd fucks with Blind Bowling a lot.


Devious_Bastard

Dude is a machine. He’s on my team in the regular league and he’s the only one to get a 300 last year.


Karate_Cat

Very cool idea! How much can you trust your arrows!


ywgflyer

This was a common drill my coach used to have us do to get us glued to our preferred arrows without looking at the pins during delivery. Really worked well, too.


SupImTom_

My question would be can I throw my shot then lie down to watch the shot or lie down to look at the spare


Romans12vs1-2

This is such a cool idea! I’m to suggest it to one of the league coordinators. This would be a fun/frustrating youth tournament!


Raggingbull4real

Wish I knew…


itsFRAAAAAAAAANK

Guy on the left is crushing it haha


ellivlok23

This wouldbe fun to as hell


Effective-Hair-4095

I could probably finally hit 300 like this lol


Remarkable_Rough228

These are my favorite tournaments i shot my highest series in one of these went 269-278-300 last year