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Comment by Huppie | Hacker News Reader

Back when I was in school I interned at a company installing bowling lanes / machines. Even back then it was fairly simple technology, no cameras or speed measurement yet, just some inputs from the machine as to what pin-cords had been pulled out (i.e. what pins fell down) translated to some simple animations. I remember the screens being just a simple VIA motherboard running DOS + their software from a compact flash card.

Sounds like a great project to work on given how cheap both hard- and software is becoming. Wishing you all the best!

N.b. The forces in the machines can easily break hardware so be sure to move it away from the machine if possible, and otherwise protect it appropriately.

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In the US tethered pins with cords aren't really a thing, instead most bowling alleys use mechanical pinsetter machines. These machines are large, complex, and expensive (see here for a video on how they work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iod6uwUGM2E ) which is why he's talking about the equipment being 70+ years old- with the revenues most bowling alleys make, it's not economical to replace a pinsetter instead of maintaining the current one. This also means that the alley needs to have a mechanic on staff to keep the pinsetter running smoothly.

The way the machines detect the pins is still fairly simple. The assembly that puts the pins into place moves down after the ball is thrown, and has sense switches above each pin that detect which pins are still standing.

Pinsetters scare the everloving fuck out of me.

I did a bit of work for a bowling alley 30 years ago. The guy that had just bought it wanted their 1970s computers brought up to the spec of the 1990s ;-) He'd retired from an incredibly well-paying job offshore so was well and truly familiar with working on large electrical machinery on oil platforms.

Day one - before he even turned the main incomer breaker on in his new bowling alley - the very first thing he did was sit everyone down in the dark and silent cafe and explain the idea behind and importance of LOTO. He didn't want to see anyone near any of the machinery without it locked out and tagged out, ever, for any reason, not even near it. As I recall the phrase "never work in this industry again" was used several times.

It's worth noting that playing on string setters vs free-fall setters is quite different. The string alters how the pins move when they are hit. There's not really a "one is easier", it's more a different technique.

String setters are on the way. They’re far cheaper to buy and run.

Bowlers hate the idea, but bowlers hated synthetic lane surfaces, urethane lane surfaces, and even lacquer surfaces before that. They also loved their old urethane balls, super soft plastic and dodo balls. All those changes went into place against the wishes of the bowlers, but that didn’t matter. Economics wins, every time.

String setters are on the way.

> Economics wins, every time.

Indeed, it does. I wonder if anyone has ever correlated those changes to the decline in bowling popularity? It'd probably be difficult to verify how much of an impact it had (if at all) when there are so many other factors contributing to the decline.

Yeah, I remember seeing both kind of machines. IIRC For the competitive scene string setters were (are?) a no-go but we installed plenty string-setters on holiday parks because they're just more economical.

I remember some classmates interned working on new / different firmware for the machines you're talking about though. Fun project for an internship!

Unfortunately it is becoming more and more common for US alleys to use the pins with cords systems. Many lanes will actually upgrade to this system and I feel it is a mini tragedy in a way. I am very happy to see this because it gives me hope that there might be alternatives for bowling alleys who are considering the string based systems.

I'm disappointed that the USBC is starting to certify tethered pin setups, though it is fortunately a separate category of competition. The pin action is wildly different.

Same here. We're running Brunswick A2s that are just ancient, and they're buggy... but I wouldn't trade them for strings if I had them given to me, honestly.

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