So just as a precursor to what is coming up I want everyone out there that is an actual good bowler to just humor me. Our league is blessed by accidentally having a group of folks that are all at around the same ability level. We have no outliers such as people who are routinely bowling over 200 and honestly, if someone like that tried to join our league we probably wouldn't let them compete because no one else would have a chance. This situation hasn't arisen yet and I doubt it will. In the meantime I speak for everyone in the DUMBO league when I say that Thursdays are now everyone's favorite day of the week and we really look forward to it.
It doesn't look like it from this picture but we had so many people in attendance that we occupied nearly every single lane that was functioning. We do everything we can to not place people against the walls or those damn support beams in the middle because at least for me, the presence of these things throws off my game and others have agreed with this notion.
If the time does come that we have to place someone there we first ask for volunteers and then if we don't have enough of those, it is determined by a randomizer app that I downloaded. We are a democracy after all.
Here is what is at stake. The belt is for the current reigning champion, which just so happens to be yours truly at the moment. The two silver medals are for the tag team champions (two people bowl on the same team and alternate shots), the chicken chew toy thing is called the "Gobbler" and it is for the last person to bowl 3 strikes in a row - which is something that very rarely happens with us; the gold medal is for the highest score ever bowled by anyone in league play and that number is currently 178.
I nearly lost the belt yesterday and it came down to the 10th frame of the 2nd game that decided everything. There was a frame, that had I not picked up the spare, I almost certainly would have lost. My opponenet, "Craphat" can be seen in the picture above as he is concentrating extremely hard. My first game was a terrible one and I finished with a score of 104, which is more than 30 points below my average. Thankfully, a different person turned up for round two and I marked in 5 of the first 6 frames including 2 strikes in a row. I finished the second game with a score of 158 and I don't remember what my opponent had but it was in the low 130's.
The way that you win the belt is by having the best combined score from 2 games. I only won the overall score by 5 points despite bowling the daily highest score of anyone in attendance.
Basically, if I hadn't dominated in the 2nd game the belt would have a new home but instead it is on the shelf at my house at least for another week.
On the other side of the support beams, we had plenty of more people that were there. We had nearly 20 people in total and while that would probably not be considered a big group in one of those massive bowling alleys in the States, we nearly filled the place and there was only 2 functioning lanes that we were not using in the entire place.
One of the best things about all of this is the fact that all of us come from different walks of life and other than the lanes, most of us don't regularly hang out with one another. We have retirees, entrepreneurs, crypto-traders, online teachers, restaurant owners, and restaurant workers: In the lanes, we are all equals.
I got to keep the gold medal as well because no one came close to defeating my all time singles high score of 178. I was well on my way to beating my own record in my 2nd game but all it takes is a few "dead" frames to ruin your momentum and in the middle of my game I had 3 open frames and once you do that it is all but impossible to break 178.
Other than the current champs, the tag-teams are decided by an app at random. I was randomly paired with a guy that while inconsistent, is also a powerful bowler. That is our score on the bottom there. 160 is a tough score to pull off and even more difficult when it is up to your partner to clean up your pins if you leave any behind on the first ball.
So at the end of the day there was a bit of moaning because I now have 3 of the possible 4 awards in the league but that stuff can be taken away at any time. A few weeks ago, I didn't have any of them. Even if we win next week in tag team bowling (a feat that has only been accomplished 1 time since you do not get to choose your team members) the medals will be vacated a week later since the rule is that if you are not there to defend your championship, you are forced to vacate it.
Yesterday's bowling session was followed by our regular watering hole, and that turned into going to two more of them after that.
It has become so popular because for 3 games of bowling, shoe and ball rental, the total cost of this entire 2 hour outing that most of us consider to be the highlight of the week cost a grand total of just over $4 a person. I have no idea what bowling costs back in the west, but I would imagine that this probably wouldn't even get you a single game.