City’s final free-fall pin-setter being replaced

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This article was published 22/07/2014 (4159 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The end of an era in Winnipeg bowling is set to strike.

Rossmere Lanes, located at 1042 Henderson Hwy., is replacing its free-fall pin-setting machine with the standard string five-pin setting machine. Rossmere was the last alley in Winnipeg using the free-fall system, and Carman 5-Pin Bowl is the last business in Manitoba using it.

Rossmere owner Jamie Newton purchased the business last September. He has been employed at the alley since 1986 and has managed the business since 1996.

The Island Lakes resident, 43, explained Rossmere was able to keep its 20 machines serviced by using parts from machines no longer needed by other alleys as they made the conversion to the string setting machine. However, with only about a half-dozen free-fall systems currently active in Canada, parts are harder and harder to come by.

“The pin-setters haven’t been made since the 70s,” Newton said. “As other centres had changed, we were taking their parts, because there was no market for them.”

Newton added maintenance will be easier with the string system, as there are far fewer moving parts to service. The string setter operates with a pulley system, while the free-fall machine runs with electric motors and air pressure.

The other advantage to the string system is each machine needs only five pins in circulation at a time, while a free-fall system needs 22. Staying out of the free-fall machine will reduce wear-and-tear on the pins, and Newton doesn’t expect to need to buy pins, which run about $50 apiece, for quite some time.

As well, each pin is returned to the same position in the string system, which isn’t the case in a free-fall system, which allows for a level of uniformity when a pin is struck.

“You’re always shooting at the same five, so, in theory, the reaction should always be the same,” he explained. “In free-fall, one pin could be dead — but that’s more the elite bowler talking.

“The common people coming in, playing today and having fun, it doesn’t matter.”

On the other hand, the nature of the string system can restrict the pins in some ways.

“(In the free-fall system), when you hit the pin, where you hit it is where it goes,” Newton said. “In the string (system), there’s a cord holding onto that pin, so that’s going to restrict the motion, to a degree.”

Newton acknowledged the move hasn’t been popular with longtime bowlers, but added they understand the need for change.

The first half of the new machines were expected to be functional by July 22, while the second half of the machines were expected to go live by early August. Half the machines came from St. Vital Bowl when it closed, while the other half came from a lane in southern Ontario. Work began the week of July 7.

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