Olivette Lanes

decent local bowling spot was here for a kids birthday party and it had a number of football games on some of the screens in empty lanes plenty of parking and staff were pretty attentive and helpful when getting stuff unstuck when kids would go too soon can go by time or by game food and alcohol also available

I'm a senior, 75 years old, who was looking for a low key bowling league. I found a really fun one that met that parameter at Olivette Lanes. This is about as stress free as it gets. For starters, I didn't have to wait for the next "bowling season." I emailed the bowling alley and they said they had a seniors league that meets on Wednesdays, and to just show up at noon whenever I wanted to start. I went the following Wednesday and spoke with "Miss Mel" at the counter. It was just $7 for 3 games and she signed me up and told me I'd be on lane 4. I changed into my bowling shoes and put my ball on the rack. Shortly thereafter, a man named Jim showed up and then a woman named Ruby. They were my "teammates." Now for the zero stress part. It's a "just for fun" league. You don't compete against any other teams, you just bowl for fun. They don't put out weekly stat sheets, and there's zero pressure to score high games - just what you put on yourself to meet your expectations. The reason the bowling cost is so low is that they don't give out prize money, however, there are many ways to win money. If a purple pin appears in the number 1 slot and you knock it down on your first turn you get a quarter. If you score a strike with the purple pin in front you get 50 cents. I know it's not much, but it's fun to win those quarters. They also sell 50/50 tickets and call out the winning numbers throughout the afternoon, another chance to win some money. Some of the bowlers do poker. You pay $3 into the pot, and get a card for each strike or spare. At the end of the game the winner is the person with the best poker hand. The people I have met so far have all been super nice, and I felt comfortable right away. The staff are all very nice as well. That's why I keep coming back week after week. When you bowl lousy people commiserate with you, and when you do well they cheer you on.