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Comment by vikbez | Hacker News Reader

Lol, nice! It depends on what you mean by "owning a bowling center," but it looks like there are at least two of us into this :D

I bought a really old fully mechanical (and automated!) mini bowling lane. It works without a CPU, except for the score display, which originally used a 1970 Intel D8749H (MCS-48)!

Just like yours, the only thing that turns this machine on is a single relay :D On my model, I also get feedback on the pin status and a "ball received" signal, so I can trigger the scoring.

I dumped the firmware and replaced the display PCB with a more recent DIY PCB with an Arduino that speaks a modern, documented protocol. It's now compatible with ScoreMore software, and I can do a lot more with it.

Here are some pictures and more info on the Bowltech forum (you should post your stuff here too!):

* https://www.bowltech.com/forum/small-scale-bowling/small-sca...

@vik8 on discord if you need :)

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I love it! I actually looked at integrating with scoremore myself, but once I crossed into hardware world, I still couldn't get over how much fouling alone cost. $750 / unit and they're -ancient-.

Definitely will post on bowl-tech as well. I'm just new enough to have a lot of that new-guy anxiety around posting OpenLaneLink there yknow? Those guys know -everything- about this stuff.

Well, it's because those guys knows everything that they'll notice the little things you might have missed :)

Have fun first !

Is the fouling functionality more complicated than one would assume? From a naive perspective, it seems like it would just be a simple photo-eye sensor

Can you explain the significance of the single relay? My car starts with a single solenoid.

That one relay is the only connection between the pinsetting machine and the scoring system.

The pinsetter is either "on" or "off", there are no other states to manage. Once it's on, it runs indefinitely: it sets the pins, clears the alley, resets the remaining pins, and repeats the cycle, all without any external control.

On mine, I do have some "feedback info" on which pins are down + a signal to "when" to score points, but this is optional as you can also write your score manually if you have no scoring computer system.

When I was in a junior league we were at a relatively recent vintage alley and once in a while it would glitch and reset the pins twice in a row. I bet the relay stayed closed too long.

Yeah this $100k system with all its expensive add ons is there to push a single button.

Well, and to display your score.

This is an AI app from the 1950s! Developed by Rube Goldberg who fully intended to vibe code the scoring part later. </sarc>

Point of clarity: my </sarc> remark was not in reference to the original post and project (which I love!).

It was in reference to this comment (which I should have pasted):

> Yeah this $100k system with all its expensive add ons is there to push a single button

But at least now I know why the lane near me just has a physical button next to each lane (and manual scorecards)

> Can you explain the significance of the single relay? My car starts with a single solenoid.

Your car also starts with a single relay... that drives a solenoid and a motor.

I’m just going to say I am going to find a way to be the third person in your bookclub. This is so cool!

Hah! I remember playing a couple times in one of those Alf Minibowling machines in Madrid in the early/mid nineties... It's a string machine, isn't it?

Kind of funny that factory is in a small town next to Zaragoza...

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