Bowlero Brief:
Save adult friendship from extinction
with bowling night at Bowlero.
Adult friendship is on the verge of extinction.
The world needs Bowlero, now, more than ever, because adult friendship is on the verge of extinction.
For decades, as a society, our average number of friends has been steadily. Then, like with so many things, the Pandemic accelerated that process. Now, Americans are facing a crisis of friendship. We're lonelier, angrier, and straining our relationships with our significant others because we don't have enough friends to lean on. Boo.
How do we put an end to this crisis? We go bowling.
Bowling is the perfect activity for maintaining adult friendship.
Because everyone knows how to bowl.
Because bowling is fun, even if you suck.
Because bowling is fun, even if everyone else sucks (see photo).
Bowling is structured for friendship: dinner parties require too much conversational labor, and movies leave no space for conversation at all. Golf? Nobody knows how to do that, and it's frustrating even if you do. Axe throwing? Forgettaboutit.
Bowlero means bowling, but better (but it's not artisinal).
Bowlero is the happy medium between being all about the sport and being all about the bar scene. You can buy an IPA and some souped-up bar food, but they're not attempting to cater to anyone's sense of irony or be a music venue that happens to have bowling. Bowlero loves bowling, and wants you to love it too, but they have decent food, drink, and an arcade in the even that you don't.
Bowlero occupies the middle space between the Bowl America model (primarily about the sport) and places like the Brooklyn Bowl, NYC ; or Rock 'n' Bowl, New Orleans (primarily about the bar scene).
What Bowlero bowlers taught us
We conducted some person-in-the-alley interviews at three bowling alleys around Richmond, Virgnia. The two key takeaways were:
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Bowling is about friendly, non-judgemental competition and camaraderie. We heard from 'serious' bowlers that they loved the chance to compete, to get better, but in
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Bowlers are like voters: they have a plan to do it. Everyone we talked to who wasn't there for a birthday party or work function responded to our question, "Why did you come bowling?" with "It's bowling night." Obviously this would be true of league bowlers, but we talked to plenty of people who
Everyone
Creative inspiration: a thought starter, a photo gallery, and a playlist.
Because everyone knows how to bowl.
Because bowling is fun, even if you suck.
Because bowling is fun, even if everyone else sucks.
Bowling is structured for friendship: none of the anxiety of forced conversation at a dinner party, or the lack of catch-up time of going to a movie.