Mouse Trap Lanes

Mouse Trap Lanes is a pretty nice bowling alley. It’s clean and aesthetically pleasing. It has a LOT of potential. It’s certainly well suited for novice, non-​regular and non-​serious bowlers, but unfortunately, that’s about ALL that it’s good for. I don’t recommend it for serious bowlers or anyone trying to improve his/​her game.
The only reason I came was for their $ 2 games on Tuesdays. But it was hardly worth it. First, the place was decidedly understaffed. It literally took 5 minutes to find a worker, who was multi-​tasking trying to get food ready. The counter was unmanned and there were LOTS of kids (mostly middle school age girls) on most of the lanes and hardly any adults to speak of to chaperone. They were constantly running around the place, chasing bouncy balls, wandering into other lanes, etc. It didn’t help that the alley is so small (only 12 lanes), but I understand. Nonetheless, very distracting and this behavior should not be tolerated for the sake of other bowlers. I guess traditional lane courtesy is a thing of the past with today’s younger bowlers.
The lanes were very slick and challenging, very difficult to score consistently and the pin action is nowhere near as good as it used to be here. Quite frustrating! But as a bowler, I know to take all that in stride, challenge can be a good thing, and try to work around it. I placed a small rosin pad on edge of lane just 3 ft past the line, as a technique to try to aim for 2^nd arrow and hit the headpin. I’ve done it at other bowling allies without any problem. (Even pros and/​or coaches may suggest this) However, I didn’t appreciate one of the staff (who obviously doesn’t understand the importance of practice in bowling) saying I couldn’t do that because it was a «tripping hazard.» Hello!!! How can it be a tripping hazard when you’re not supposed to walk on the alley anyway! I could see if I was walking on the lanes and tracking oil on the approach (like little kids do), lofting or damaging the playing surface, or bringing in outside food/​drink (which incidentally I witnessed today; a big no-​no here and at most bowling allies) or did anything else inappropriate. It’s not like I used a bulky apparatus as a practice tool over the lane, for which I could see needing to ask permission. Of course it’s not much of a surprise because there never was a pro-​shop there either in all the nearly 20 years it’s been open, which most «serious-​bowler-​friendly» bowling allies have. Sorry, but if they don’t rethink such incompetent and absurd unwritten petty rules, I will NOT be back!!!

Small bowling alley but it does sell food and has a bar.