automatic scoring

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Automatic scoring, for over a decade a staple of tenpin bowling, has made its way into the candlepin arena. Beginning with the Vacationland Bowling Center in Saco, Maine in the fall of 1991 and continuing today in other centers, computers have recorded and added scores without the assistance of the bowler. Let's take a look at some of the pros, cons, and idiosyncrasies of automatic scoring systems in candlepin bowling.

Automatic Scoring - At A Glance

Several companies have made their way in and out of the automatic scoring business, three of which I will talk about in this next section: Mendes, Pro-Score, and Brunswick.

MENDES
Mendes, a French Canadian bowling company, manufactured pinsetters and automatic scoring systems for just about all types of bowling, including candlepins. Their system gives the closest-to-equal amount of control between the bowler and the proprietor. Using a simple touchscreen system or computer console, bowlers can clear deadwood by turning off the ball detector, correct scores, and input name and average information. It also allows bowlers to re-rack the pins and replay frames, as well as handle gutter fouls.

However, Mendes recently went out of business. But their product line has been purchased by an outside entity, who will most likely continue to provide support for the Mendes system.

PRO-SCORE
Pro-Score makes an almost completely automatic scoring system for candlepin bowling. Almost everything is controlled by the front desk, including name input, scores, etc. There are very few buttons for the bowler to push and, therefore, a slightly easier experience. But there are a few problems. The front desk has to fix problems with scoring, as well as other issues. While it runs almost completely free of interaction with the bowler, it can make mistakes.

BRUNSWICK
Brunswick Bowling, famous for Cosmic Bowling and Frameworx, makes an autoscoring unit for candlepins similar to its tenpin counterpart. It allows bowlers several options through its touchscreen interface, such as changing names, the frames view on the overhead, etc. Unfortunately, the animations seen in the tenpin autoscorers are absent in the candlepin units. As well, it can often take a few seconds longer for the camera to read the pinfall and signal the pinsetter to re-rack. But it works decently well for a company more experienced in tenpins.

The Good

In a world dominated by technology, automatic scoring brings an age-old pastime, bowling, into the Information Age. No longer do bowlers have to mark scores on sheets of paper with big fat pencils. People are free to socialize and run to the snack bar or the restroom while the computer does the nitty-gritty work for them. Bowlers can sit back, relax, and cheer on their teammates while they bowl.

Autoscoring also opens up the game of candlepin bowling to a new clientele - people who have never gone bowling before. These people can simply lace up their bowling shoes and roll without having to learn how to keep score. Too, the animations that autoscoring often provides entertain bowlers, congratulating them when they throw a strike or ridiculing them when they roll a gutter ball. When people see and use the autoscoring systems, they no longer will think of bowling as an antique game stuck in the 1950s in dark, dungy basements.

Bowling center owners can find autoscoring to be a boon to business. Not only can they keep financial records with ease, but they can also manage leagues on the computers. The systems take a huge burden off the owners' shoulders and leave them free to make contact with customers on the lanes, improve customer service and cleanliness, etc.

The Bad

Unfortunately, automatic scoring has a great deal of drawbacks. One of the most apparent is the auto-reset. The pinsetter is no longer controlled by the bowler with an automatic scoring system. Once the bowler completes the box and the camera scans the pins, the pinsetter automatically resets. Therefore, the bowler must wait until the pinsetter is finished cycling, turn off the camera, clear the deadwood, and turn the camera back on in order to deal with a pin that rolls out of range. A bowler throwing a ball down the gutter to get rid of the errant pin will inadvertantly cause damage to the pinsetter sweep and the mechanism itself.

Speaking of pins, the automatic scoring systems sometimes make mistakes in scanning the pins on the deck. For instance, a pin that slides a few inches off its original position on a slippery pindeck may be scored as "down" by the computer. As well, pins can fall just before the sweep comes down and may not be counted. In some instances, the system counts rolling pins as balls thrown by the bowler! And the scoring systems make no differentiation between a gutter foul and a legally thrown ball, allowing a dishonest team or bowler to benefit since they may not fix the computer's mistake.

But probably the worst of the autoscoring problems is that it doesn't let you roll any warm-up boxes! Sure, a few centers program their systems to allow two free warm-up frames or a few minutes of time before the computer begins scoring, but those are few and far between. Most centers want every box to be paid for, so they don't let you even throw a single ball before you start paying. Or, before league play, they might charge bowlers who want to roll a practice string (usually less than the regular rate).

Conclusion

Automatic scoring, like any technological innovation, has its ups and downs. It is rapidly becoming a part of candlepin bowling. Much work remains to perfect automatic scoring systems. Until that happens, bowling centers would do well to approach the new technology enthusiastically, but with caution.

References

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