E-dition No. 1,018 • Friday, August 24, 2018
Editor: Bob Johnson (bjibob@aol.com)
QubicaAMF World Cup Draws 80 Countries and Counting
More than 80 countries have confirmed their intention to send competitors to the 54th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup, which will be held at Sam’s Town Bowling Center in Las Vegas, Nov. 4-11.
Among the participants will be Mel Oates who, as Mel Isaacs, won the title for Wales in Portugal in 2000.
“We are absolutely delighted that Mel will be with us again this year,” said Anne-Marie Board, QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup Manager. “She was a great champion and also took part in 2001 and 2002.”
At the moment, Oates is the only past champion who will be at Sam’s Town this fall, although several countries have yet to conduct their elimination competition.
Several of the players have competed a number of times. Sue Abela, who won the Sportswoman of the Tournament prize in 1991,will be representing Malta for the 13th time, while Northern Ireland’s Kevin Horton will compete for the 11th time.
There also is a tradition of family connections. Husband and wife Hela and Khaled Meziou of Tunisia will be on hand for the ninth and 10th time, respectively. Israel’s female competitor will be Sara Aviram, whose son, Or, won the title in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, in 2013.
Among those to watch surely will be the United States pair of Kyle Troup and Shannon O’Keefe, while noone would discount the Australians, Sam Cooley and Rebecca Whiting, both of whom have made it to the round-robin final in the past.
Andres Gomez of Colombia will be looking to improve upon his last two appearances, when he finished third in both 2007 and 2012.
“The staff at Sam’s Town Bowling Center is so helpful and welcoming that I am sure our competitors, coaches, officials and guests will all have a wonderful time in fabulous Las Vegas,” Board added.
Information on the world’s largest annual international sports event may be accessed at qubicaamf.com. The Bowling World Cup website contains facts, photos and statistics from each of the previous 53 tournaments, as well as bulletins and news for the current year. It will be updated as news becomes available. It also will be the official site for daily results during the tournament. Fans also can keep up to date on the 2018 World Cup on Facebook and Twitter.
BPAA’s Entertainment Center Management School Nears
The Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America is continuing to accept registrations for the 2018 School of Entertainment Center Management, set for Sept. 30-Oct. 5 at the International Bowling Campus in Arlington, Texas.
The school is programmed for those who are or could become high-level operation managers in bowling-anchored entertainment centers, as well as those looking to add ancillary revenue streams to their business. The curricula includes courses such as:
* Game Room Operations
* Sales Force Selection and Supervision
* Group Event Promotions
* Food Operations
* Bar Operations
* Bowling 2.0
* BEC Operating Best Practices
* Laser Tag Operations and Marketing
* Staff Selection and Training
* Effective Packaging
* Organized Play in Entertainment Centers
* Managing Managers
For further information, go to: http://bpaa.com/bowlinguniversity/management-schools/entertainment-center-management.
Michael Haugen Jr. Signs With Storm Products
Storm Products has announced the addition of Michael Haugen Jr. to Team Storm.
Haugen has won five PBA Tour Titles, including one major: the 2008 Tournament of Champions. He also has earned three PBA50 titles, including one major at the 2017 Senior U.S. Open, along with numerous PBA Regional titles.
“I’m glad to join Team Storm and be on Bill Chrisman’s team.” Haugen said. “He does a lot for bowling — not just the tours. He supports all bowling from youth bowling to military bowling and more. There’s probably not a company or a person that gives back as much as [he does] in our industry.”
Prior to joining Team Storm, Haugen chose to throw Storm and Roto Grip products exclusively on the PBA50 Tour.
“The majority of my bag has always been Storm and Roto Grip,” Haugen said.
Haugen recently locked up 2018 PBA50 Player of the Year honors, just one season after being named PBA50 Rookie of the Year.
“Storm is excited to add Michael to our team,” said Gary Hulsenberg, Vice President of Business Development for the company. “He has been very loyal to our brand over the years as a free agent, so it’s a natural fit to make things official. He has a great understanding of our equipment, our culture, and what we stand for. He will be a great teammate.”
For some time now, Haugen’s goals and plans have been focused on the PBA50 Tour. Though he felt he wasn’t as competitive week to week as he would have liked on the PBA Tour, he feels he’s competitive every week now.
“My first goal was to make every cut on the [senior] tour,” Haugen said. “My second goal was to win more. I won two tournaments this year. I also made six [championship round webcasts] versus four the previous year. My final goal was to be Player of the Year.”
Haugen is now busy traveling to regional events until the conclusion of the PBA50 Tour at the PBA50 Storm Invitational, Sept. 28-30. He is also excited about returning to the PBA Tour.
“I love to compete,” he said. “I love to test myself against the best players in the world. I like going to different cities and meeting new people and trying to energize and grow the sport. I really enjoy that.”
‘F2FEC’ Will Return to The Broadmoor in 2019
The “Three Amigos” have announced that The Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, Colo., will serve as the host for the 5th annual F2FEC gathering of the best-of-the-best in the entertainment center industry.
More than 225 thought leaders and influencers from the family entertainment sector will gather March 5-7, 2019 to share in a three-day conference experience dedicated to fostering relationships and stimulating collaboration that sparks opportunities among owners, operators, manufacturers and suppliers who are passionate about the industry and willing to invest and share financial results, challenges, strategies for success and outlooks for a sustainable future.
“The attendees who have experienced any of the past four conferences understand how moving and truly unique F2FEC is for everyone involved.” said George Smith, the “Amigo” ambassador and President at Family Entertainment Group.
Added Ben Jones, “Amigo” and FEC Specialist at Live Oak Bank: “Each year we seek to find an intriguing venue to stage the experience, and we found that and more hosting ‘Soul’ at The Broadmoor [this year], making the decision to return easy and exciting.”
“Amigo” Rick Iceberg, President of CJ Barrymore’s, emphasized that “F2 is about people and The Broadmoor showed us that they, too, are all about people. Their leadership — including Maureen Carter, Bridget Glazer and Ann Alba — and the entire staff provided us with unprecedented care and attention to detail.”
Planning for F2FEC is supported by a diverse and dynamic group of volunteers from all aspects of the entertainment center industry. For more information, contact:
* Rick Iceberg, CJ Barrymore’s — rick@F2conference.com; 810-444-2222.
* Ben Jones, Live Oak Bank — ben@jonesdetroit.com; 248-371-0700.
* George Smith, Family Entertainment Group — geosmith4756@gmail.com; 630-240-8261.
Successful Trade Show Season for Ace Mitchell
Ace Mitchell Bowlers Mart wrapped up its trade show season with record turnouts and an exciting new venue. With trade shows in Akron, upstate New York and metro New Jersey, Ace Mitchell hosted 356 guests from nearly 200 bowling centers and pro shops.
“It’s incredibly humbling to be respected and appreciated by so many great customers,” said Ace Mitchell President Jeff Mraz. “It seems like every year we see more new faces. I always wonder how we can top last year’s shows, but somehow we keep doing it.”
Bolstering turnout this year was the new venue for the show in upstate New York: the Del Lago Resort and Casino in Seneca County. The two-year-old facility boasts state-of-the-art amenities and a smoke-free gaming environment, with numerous bars and restaurants on the premises.
The Akron and Del Lago shows catered to both bowling centers and pro shops, featuring a wide variety of products that the full-line distributor carries.
“The Ace Mitchell trade shows are always a highlight of our summer selling season,” said Brian Graham, Vice President of Consumer and Aftermarket Products at Brunswick Bowling. “We can always count on them to support our full line of products. They are truly a partner in the industry.”
The Akron trade show was a three-day event, featuring a demo day, bowling tournament, trade show, catered bowling party and golf tournament. The show at Bowlero (formerly Carolier Lanes) in North Brunswick, N.J., was smaller, with a tighter focus on pro shop and consumer goods.
Planning is underway for next year’s shows, with the Ace Mitchell team looking for new and innovative ways to deliver more value to its customers. For more on the company, visit acemitchell.com.
Smart Buy Program, FetchRev Part Ways
The Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America and FetchRev have agreed to end their Smart Buy partnership after 18 months.
Both parties have agreed that the partnership was restricting to FetchRev, which found it challenging to identify an appropriate price solution for its evolving product.
BPAA’s Smart Buy Chairman, Andy Bartholomy, said: “The pricing structure that FetchRev has introduced over the past few months is a hurdle we cannot overcome. We wish them well and hope they will continue to be a valuable part of our bowling industry.”
Fetch Rev’s CEO, Brandon Willey, said that “in the coming months, FetchRev will be announcing a number of exciting changes, including a huge announcement in mid-November at IAAPA’s Attractions Expo in Orlando. As we lead up to this announcement, we will be implementing a few changes, the first of which was our mutual agreement to end our partnership with Smart Buy.”
For more information contact BPAA’s Director of Member Benefits, Amy Arcuri, at 817-385-8430 or amy@bpaa.com.
QubicaAMF Veteran Carl Clauck Passes Away
Carl Clauck, a long-time service representative for QubicaAMF’s pinspotter customers, passed away recently, Ray Jordan of Tenpintec tells the BJI Cyber Report.
“For a very long time Carl was the voice on the end of the phone when you called with a machine problem,” Jordan said. “He knew everything there was to know about 30s, and similar with 70s and 90s,” referring to the various pinspotter models.
“One of his favorite places was ‘the play room’ at the plant in Mechanicsville, where new product ideas and machine modifications were tested,” Jordan added. “I had many late-night phone calls with Carl as we worked on getting some of our Tenpintec products into their system. And I got to spend time with him at his desk at in Mechanicsville. We at Tenpintec owe a lot to Carl.”
Jordan described Clauck’s passing as “very sad,” but added: “The one silver lining is that he was always very generous with his time and shared his vast knowledge widely and willingly. So all is not lost.”
16-Lane Pla-Mor Lanes Is a Big-Time PBA Host
A BPAA-member center in a small, rural Ohio town has become a “must stop” on the Go Bowling PBA Tour.
By all standards normally applied to a PBA tournament, the PBA Xtra Frame Kenn-Feld Group Classic shouldn’t even appear on the radar screen. But this weekend, the 11th annual edition of the PBA Xtra Frame Tour event returns as a “can’t miss” event on the schedule of many of the PBA’s top stars.
Held in Coldwater, Ohio, a community of just over 4,000 residents, and hosted by Pla-Mor Lanes, a 16-lane facility renowned for its challenging scoring conditions, the Kenn-Feld Group Classic will again feature a sold-out field of 96 PBA members, including defending champion Rhino Page, a number of other PBA Tour champions, and a sprinkling of PBA Hall of Famers.
The entire tournament will be live-streamed by PBA Xtra Frame on FloBowling, and will include a new FloBowling option that will allow subscribers to watch the action on all eight pairs of lanes, from start to finish, Saturday and Sunday.
“Because it’s a small rural community, and held in a 16-lane center where it’s hard to knock down 10 pins, if you win, you feel like you’ve conquered something if you win here,” said PBA Central Region Manager Bobby Jakel, who manages the tournament. “You can shoot 230 on one pair and 150 on the next. That’s the nature of the center.”
That basically describes the challenge for the players. It features all of the tests of skills players will find in a U.S. Open, but in a smaller scale. But there’s another reason PBA members like to go to Coldwater.
“The proprietors (Rick Hartings and his father, Linus) are just amazing people,” Jakel said. “The whole community is great. It’s a special event.”
Because Pla-Mor Lanes is a 16-lane facility, small by PBA tournament standards, a special schedule was created to accommodate 96 players: 32 bowling eight qualifying games each on three different squads on Saturday, with the top 32 advancing to Sunday’s final rounds.
“A number of PBA tournaments have adopted the eliminator format that originated in Coldwater,” Jakel said. “It’s a format that is based on the idea that the more pins you knock down, the longer you stay in the tournament.”
Sunday’s schedule begins with a four-game cashers round for Saturday’s top 32. Based on 12-game totals after the cashers round, the top 16 will bowl three more games. After the Round of 16, the top eight based on 15-game totals move on to the Round of 8, in which they will bowl two more games. Based on 17-game totals, the top four will compete in the stepladder finals.
Last year’s win, followed by a victory in the U.S. Open, helped Page secure the “Best Bowler” award at ESPN’s annual Espy Awards ceremony. A win this year could help contenders in the PBA Player and Rookie of the Year races.
Mix established champions into a field of talented young players who are out to make names for themselves in PBA competition, and you have the makings for an exciting conclusion to the PBA’s 2018 Xtra Frame Tour season.
Business Briefs…
* Skidmore’s Holiday Bowl in Albuquerque, N.M., has undergone a major modernization project that, most recently, gave the appearance that the center had closed since the front parking lot was torn up. But an electronic message board — located right below the center’s original Route 66-style main sign — directed drivers to use the east entrance and park behind the building. To view photos of the center’s interior, go to: https://www.holidaybowlabq.com. The center is known, among other things, for its extensive selection of high-end vodkas.
* Guests at the bowling center in Laurinburg, N.C., soon will have new bowling balls — 140 are on order — and new house shoes to use. It’s part of a refurbishment project being undertaken by the new owners of Laurinburg Bowling Alley, Mike Hill and his family. The center, formerly known as Martin’s Bowling Alley and more recently as Laurinburg Lanes, also will be getting new paint and new monitors above the 20 lanes. Read more about the project here: https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/news/17459/local-bowling-alley-is-getting-a-makeover. Laurinburg is a rural community in southern North Carolina, 43 miles from Fayetteville and Fort Bragg
* Bowlero Corp. is planning to open a new Bowlero location at the Atlantic Station development in Atlanta in mid-2019. The company is taking over a 36,000-sq.-ft. space that has had several occupants through the years, including Fox Sports Grill, The Diner, Kinnucan’s and Ten Pin Alley. Plans call for the usual mix of Bowlero attractions, including 30 bowling lanes, a digital gaming area, and lots of shareable food-and-beverage selections. Report: https://atlanta.curbed.com/2018/7/30/17630036/atlantic-station-bowlero-midtown-bowling.
* The next LASERTRON Conference will be held Sept. 11-12 at the LASERTRON Entertainment Center in Rochester, N.Y. Beth Standlee, CEO of TrainerTainment and a regular contributor to Bowling Entertainment Center (BEC) magazine, will be sharing her knowledge on how to hire and train a group sales candidate. Mike Cairns of Live Oak Bank also will be in attendance, sharing information on financing a center modernization or new center. Also on hand will be Todd DeMott of Intercard, as well as Scott Gilmore from Betson.
* The 20th annual CineShow, a regional trade show conducted by the Theatre Owners of Mid-America, is scheduled for Aug. 29 in Dallas. The movie exhibition industry has been evolving much like the bowling industry, with many theatre owners creating theatre entertainment centers, some of which include bowling lanes. For more on the show, go to www.cineshowusa.com. Brunswick is among the event’s sponsors.
* A second “Angry Birds movie is scheduled for release in 2019, and a television show also is planned — both of which should help keep the brand fresh. “Angry Birds Bowling” is among the games included with Brunswick’s Sync scoring system.
* Cinemark, a major player in the theatre industry, and Player One Amusement Group are now working together, with P1AG installing, operating and servicing all gaming equipment in Cinemark theatre complexes. Select locations also will be upgraded with new and enhanced offerings.
* Lakewood Theatre, a long-shuttered movie theatre in East Dallas, Texas, will soon reopen with a bowling/bar concept known as Bowlski’s. There’s presently a Bowlski’s operating in El Jebel, Colo. Although the business model of the theatre will change, plans call for the building’s iconic neon lighting to be retained and restored. For a preview of what the folks in East Dallas might have in store, check out the Bowlski’s website at http://www.bowlskis.com.
Other News You Can Use…
* For several PWBA members, this week’s QubicaAMF PWBA Players Championship in Plano, Texas, is the most important tour stop of the season. Plano Super Bowl is the host center for the third major of the season and the final stop in the race to qualify for the season-ending PWBA Tour Championship. CBS Sports Network will televise the stepladder finals live on Saturday at 5 p.m. Eastern. More: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/pwba-players-championship-to-determine-finals-spots-in-tour-championship/.
* Anthony Simonsen got creative to win his fourth career PBA Tour title in the 10th anniversary PBA Xtra Frame Gene Carter’s Pro Shop Classic at Mid-County Bowling and Entertainment Center in Wilmington, Del., on Sunday. Simonsen, who normally plays the lanes from the right side, resorted to a reverse hook, bowling like a left-hander and targeting the 1-2 pocket, to defeat left-hander Matt Sanders, 216-194, for the title. Report: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/simonsen-uses-backup-ball-to-win-fourth-pba-tour-title/.
* Ron DeFrance, the host of the “Bowling for Dollars” program on WHAM in Rochester, N.Y., during the 1970s, has passed away after battling cancer. DeFrance was known for his welcoming personality and for asking each guest, “Who did you bring with you?” It was a question fans often would ask him when he was out in public. DeFrance was 82. View a video tribute — including footage from Rochester’s “Bowling for Dollars” program — here: https://13wham.com/news/local/proposed-addition-for-the-inn-on-broadway.
* The Hurst Public Library in Hurst, Texas, is hosting an International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame exhibit through September. The exhibit includes a wide array of items from the museum’s collection, including bowling games.
* The guest this week on Phantom Radio is pro bowler Bryan Williams. To listen to the conversation, go to: https://kegel.squarespace.com/phantomblog/2018/8/22/bryan-williams-phantom-radio.
* CONTACT: Please send business news, event information, etc. to Bob Johnson at bjibob@aol.com. For breaking business news, visit bcmmag.com or bowlersjournal.com, and “Like” Bowling Center Management and Bowlers Journal International on Facebook. BJI Cyber Reports are now archived at bcmmag.com.
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