I remember going tru the garbage in back of the bowling alley and looking for old pins they were throwing out. I took the pins to high school wood shop and put the pins on the leight to scrape the plastic off and then made lamps from them.

my dad was a pin boy at an alley here in Michigan in the 1950s. He has described the job a few times in the past to me but I could never visualize how he was able to consistently get the pins in the perfect triangle layout. Now I have a good idea how it was done.

@cooldog60

3 жыл бұрын

When I set pins there was a peddle we would step on and steel pins came up we set the pin on them the pins had holes in the bottom.

Pretty cool to have pinboys but synthetic lanes and mostly synthetic pins. But with such a scenario, I would think they also wouldn't bother oiling the lanes!!! That would make for a simplified low-to-no-maintenance operation.

I live in Chicago, and I have passed by Southport Lanes. I never had a chance to bowl there, though. My understanding is that it is the only bowling alley in Chicago that hasn't upgraded their equipment with automatic pinsetting. Nowadays, most bowling alleys have both automatic pinsetting and scorekeeping.

@1761Charlie

2 жыл бұрын

But it does look like they have synthetic lanes and approaches.

Ever wonder why bowling pins have a hole in the bottom? The first house I set pins in didn't have racks at all but each pin spot had a round metal plate with a hole in the center. Under the pin deck was a rack with ten spikes and when the pinboy wanted to set up pins, he'd stick his foot in an opening on the back of the pin deck and step on a pedal which would send the ten spikes up through the deck and the pinboy would then set the pins on the spikes. When he was done, he'd just pull his foot out and the spikes would drop back down and he'd jump back up on the ball return to stay out of the way. Simple, huh? BTW, candlepins have two holes in them, one on each bottom.

@FastMikie1

2 жыл бұрын

That's the way it was when I was setting pins at the local alley in Glenside, PA. Do you know of a video of this process?

@1761Charlie

2 жыл бұрын

@@FastMikie1 Not the I know of . . . but everything is on KZread so I'm sure if you search, you might find it. If you do, please let me know. Cheers!

i did this many years ago, but i was lucky we had the b-10. after putting the pins in, you pulled the string and down it went electrically driven.

Great short.

Seems kind of wrong they use synthetic lanes in such a place.

@drummachine434

5 жыл бұрын

Synthetic pins also

@PinoyBowlerGS92

2 жыл бұрын

Imagine having Wood Lanes and they’ll end up like that Ethiopian Bowling Center that scraped their Poor Maintained 82-30’s for Pin Boys and have Wood Lanes that were too worn out.

They are now using Brunswick Red Crown pins. Yes, pinboys used to be just boys. But there are child labor laws now. And worker saftey laws! They do it well, recreational bowlers, and keep everyone safe. They are having some leagues on Mon & Tues night, just started, maybe I can see how they handle the pinsetting. 1 person per 2 lanes seems safe - place to hide. 1 person per lane, now that's the bad old days & a lot of hoping up & down and dodging pins.

My grandfather did this job when he was a kid in Quincy. Must have been in the 30s

I hope you continued in filmmaking / documentary making!

Positive note never have to call in for a ball return, dead wood, or a 180.

I would so love to be a pinboy. I have ALWAYS wanted to do that.

@drummachine434

5 жыл бұрын

Same

@cooldog60

3 жыл бұрын

I did it when I was a kid. I liked it.

Should I use virtual gravity nano?

sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sadly, Southport Lanes has closed.

how many dollar per hour its pay?

@cooldog60

3 жыл бұрын

When I was setting pins in the early 60ies we got 8 cents a game for Duckpins and 12 cents for ten pins.

@left4dead2game9

3 жыл бұрын

@@cooldog60 ok ty for infos

@1761Charlie

2 жыл бұрын

When I set pins, we got 10 cents per game plus tips . . . plus . . . free bowling when there were no customers. I used to bowl 40-50 games per week. Got good enough to be leadoff on my high school Varsity bowling team.

u need to change the light it is going wow that a old house so when r they going to get auto pin spotter and get new pins ok go get amf pins they are the best pin on the market

@VinylToVideo

5 жыл бұрын

"when r they going to get auto pin spotter" .. they're not, that's part of the charm of the place. Bad enough they have synthetic lanes.

Brunswick B-1 Semi Auto Pinsetter With NO PINDECK MASK = A Useless Brunswick A-2 With Bad Rake

same with me, we had the b-10 so much easier

u need to change the pit light it is going to bee out soon lol

This was a very interesting video but historically pinboys used to be a lot younger (between 10 and 16 years) and they had to move a lot faster. These guys are slower than molasses in January. Pinboys had to be fast as bowlers would get impatient and sometimes they would try to hit the pinboys with a bowling ball on purpose.

@VinylToVideo

5 жыл бұрын

Now they'd have a lawsuit on their hands and be kicked out of the place, and rightfully so.

@chuckschafer942

Жыл бұрын

PINBOYS WERE FASTER THAN THE MACHINES

Hi im from 2017 and these comments on the bottom are old As F*ck. XD

@killiangray

7 жыл бұрын

Elite PixelWarfare Hahaha they sure are