The bitch of it is I can see both sides (my dad used to run a little 8 lane house). Heat/Cool/Lights/Water, plus the investment in the real estate and equipment, payroll, taxes, maintenance, insurance... it all adds up pretty quick. Even at $4 a line I doubt they were getting rich.
On the other hand, as a bowler $4 a game seems expensive.
Let's drill down and break it out. What does a frame take to bowl? A half minute for a strike? 90 seconds if you have to shoot a spare? If my math is right, then;
A 300 game would take 30 seconds * 12 rolls = 360 seconds, or 6 minutes.
$4 (400 cents) / 6 minutes = 66.67 cents per minute. $0.6667 per minute * 60 minutes = $40 per hour.
A 300 game will cost you $40 per hour, to put it into a context we can all relate to.
A 150 game (5/ every frame) would take you 90 seconds for 10 spares, plus 30 seconds for the fill ball. So 90 * 10 + 30 = 930 seconds or 15.5 minutes.
400 cents / 15.5 minutes = 25.81 cents per minute. $0.2581 per minute * 60 minutes = $15.49 per hour.
A 150 game will cost you $15.49 per hour. A total bargain considering you got to play almost twice as much (21 throws vs. 12) for only 38% of the cost ($15.49 vs. $40).
Now then, doesn't $4 a game sound a bit more reasonable?
