Can Bowling Become Cool Again? Cheyenne's Derby Lane Says "Absolutely."

CHEYENNE — Brian Rico has always thought that bowling is cool, even when the sport was in a downward spiral.

Rico didn’t really get into bowling until he was 18, but eventually bowled for the University of New Mexico as part of a competitive team. After he joined the Air Force, he kept right on bowling because he found it helped him integrate into new communities.

“It was just one of those things where it was another family that you kind of grew into, no matter where you went,” he said. “If you were a bowler, it just kind of fit naturally.”

When he retired from the military, it was natural he started thinking about opening a bowling alley, even if the perception at large is that bowling is a bit old-fashioned.

“I wanted to do something different, and I was really tired of Cheyenne and F.E. Warren selling Cheyenne as, ‘Oh Denver and Fort Collins are right down the road. You should come to Cheyenne,’” Rico said.

That made him wonder, why couldn’t the cool places to go be in Cheyenne instead?

“I want to keep Wyoming money here,” he said. “I want to keep families here and not having to travel all the time.”

It was during this phase as he was looking for investors to help build his dream bowling alley that he heard about a project that Gillette-based 307 Horse Racing was heading up that might fit with what he was trying to do.

They had bought the old Montgomery Ward building at 1510 E. Pershing in Cheyenne for a gaming parlor. Once the gaming parlor was built, though, there was a lot of extra space left over.

So, Rico cold-called 307 Horse Racing to talk about his dream of opening a bowling alley. Right off the bat, first and foremost, he knew he had to explain why bowling is actually in again.

A Bowling Renaissance

Bowling’s been in something of a decline since the 1980s, for a combination of reasons. In some ways, it was a victim of its own success.

As more people joined the bowling crowd, things started to get expensive. League fees, food, drinks, proper shoes, the right ball.

Before too long, it all added up to something that became too expensive for middle class pocketbooks, especially in an environment where inflation has been outpacing wages.

Then video games and the Internet popped onto the scene, bringing more entertainment options than ever — at a much lower cost — without the need to consume all the fried foods and beer or soda that have long been a staple of so many bowling alleys.

Before too long, bowling started to feel dated, and not just to young people.

But bowling has some amazing staying power.

In fact, its had die-hard fans keeping it alive since ancient Egyptian times. That’s right, researchers have found evidence dating back to 3200 BCE, suggesting that Egyptians had a game like bowling, about the same time they began using written words.

In 1500, the sport of bowling became so popular in England that King Henry VIII outlawed it for all but the nobility. He felt peasants shouldn’t be wasting time and money on bowling, but should focus instead on something more practical, like archery.

In America, bowling has had a long history of roller coaster rides up and down again. It’s even survived prohibition in Connecticut, which still has a law on its books banning 9-pin bowling, passed in 1841 to curb gambling that had become associated with the game.

Bowling alleys added the 10th pin to get around the law, and that’s been credited with creating today’s 10-pin bowling.

High-Tech Resurgence

People like Rico, who learned the sport as children and have continued to love it all along, have helped keep the sport alive in America despite its decline.

Rico realized love for the sport isn’t enough. The sport had to evolve with the times, and he had to bring that revolution into his dream. That’s made high-tech bowling a big part of what the newly opened Derby Lanes in Cheyenne offers.

“The technology factor is a big deal,” Rico said. “Having the LED screen and that ‘wow’ factor of letting bowlers have a different experience, other than just bowling, other than just throwing the ball down the lane,” he said. “And one of the things that we have in our center is called HyperBowling.”

HyperBowling is where video games meet bowling. It’s an epic, physical experience that’s fast-paced, fun and challenging.

“Basically, what happens is you select that type of game on the screen in front of you at the bowling lane, and bumpers actually come up on the lane,” Rico said. “And they’re colored. You have to hit a particular part of the bumper with a particular color, and it gives you bonus pins on the number of pins you knocked down.”

If that sounds a little bit like an arcade game, that’s because it is. Except, it’s a physical arcade game, where, you, the bowler, try to sling the ball from place to place.

“There are four different games of HyperBowling, and there’s 12 levels within each game,” Rico said. “So, it just adds a different element than just throwing the ball to try and get a strike or a spare, and it becomes a little bit more interactive with parents, grandparents, and kids, all alike.”

With HyperBowling, the bumpers aren’t just a feature for little kids to prevent those disappointing gutter balls. They’re a new feature for a new game of bowling that works better for all age groups.

“It just adds a different dynamic,” Rico said.

There are also a variety of specialized skill games people can choose for their lane, all of which makes bowling of today more like a choose your own adventure.

It’s Less Expensive

A side effect of all these new games is a completely new business model, one that’s making the game a lot less expensive. Gone are the days where bowlers were paying by the game. Now they pay by the hour for their lane.

“We just have so many different experiences,” Rico said. “So, we let them choose their experience based on the time limit that they’ve paid for.”

That makes for some pretty affordable options for families, like the Pony Pins, for example, where a young man named Cooper Goodman was enjoying a weekly bowling outing with his dad Bryan and Uncle Matthew on Wednesday for a mere $14.95 per hour.

“Oh biscuits!” Cooper exclaimed when the ball he tossed down the lane failed to strike any of the pins.

Cooper ended up using the exclamation quite often, which had his dad smiling.

It’s something Bryan said his son learned from his mom.

“Nut-uh,” Cooper insisted. “I learned it from you, Dad.”

What Dad particularly likes about the Pony Pin lanes is the customization. The lanes are also smaller, as is the bowling ball — just right for a 5-year-old’s hands.

“You can program the game for each player, too,” Bryan explained. “When you put in the player names, you can say whether you want the bumpers or not.”

That helps him to unobtrusively level the playing field a little for Cooper, who doesn’t get as many gutter balls. That makes it more enjoyable for everyone.

“It’s just something fun we can do together,” Bryan said. “And since it doesn’t cost a whole lot, we try to do it about once a week.”

Scholarship Money Up For Grabs

Pony Pins, Duck Pins, regular league play — the new options are already drawing in hundreds of bowlers, Rico said.

But gone are the days when leagues dominated Friday and Saturday night play, boxing the public out on the few nights most people have a little time and are looking for something fun to do.

“We do have leagues on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights for adults, and then our children’s leagues are Saturday mornings,” Rico said. “But we will not have leagues on Friday or Saturday nights, so the public can be involved.”

One of the things that has particularly heartened Rico is how many youths he is seeing at Derby Lanes, who are clearly having a great time.

“Bowling being cool again is really more about the opportunity it presents the youth,” Rico said. “That’s the real highlight. If I can appeal to a younger generation with the technology side and make it cool again, maybe I can bring them over to the competitive side.”

That opens up new opportunities for coaching them in the competitive sport that he still loves.

“There’s a lot of mental toughness that comes with the sport,” Rico said.

And there’s also a lot of scholarship money up for grabs, for those who excel.

“Last year alone, my son, in a span of three months had earned a little over $3,000 and my daughter was close to that,” Rico said. “My older boys, they each started a little later in bowling, but, when they went to school, they had about $4,000 in scholarship money.”

That opportunity is something many parents don’t know about yet, Rico said.

“They think the sport is just recreation, but it’s a real sport,” he said. “It’s as much a sport as anything else.”

And it’s a sport that youths can start almost as soon as they start walking, Rico added.

“Our Pee Wee League is for the bowlers who need bumpers,” Rico said. “So that’s generally your 5 and under children.”

From there, youths advance to bigger leagues as they grow up, where they’ll learn not just the fundamentals of the game and the proper form, but science and physics as well.

That science involves oil patterns, originally put down on wood bowling alleys to prevent wear and tear. Since then, it’s involved into a complex part of the game for expert bowlers to assess carefully during a game.

“There’s a lot of science involved in bowling. I can really geek out on that,” Rico said. “And we will put down very difficult oil patterns for the children to try and figure out how their equipment best works and how they can score higher. The oil pattern is what makes competitive bowling what it is, and most people don’t even realize it’s there.”

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.