These photos were taken over the weekend when I was at the Chalet, but with my lousy camera-phone. The big difference between this chalet and the previous one we had for my nephew, W.D.’s Birthday was I was there...hee hee hee….I wasn’t sick like the other time so I went for the sleep-over party.

My look-like-me niece, Z.Y. and my 2 boys woke up earlier than the rest. So with me, the big kid around, no time should be no-fun time. So got them washed up and brought the 3 of them for a McDonald Breakfast and then went straight to bowling! Not for me, its for them!

Orchid Bowl @ E!Hub.

Located at Downtown East, the nerve-centre of bustling activities. This 32-lane bowling centre comes with the first-in-Singapore Miniature Bowling for the Kids!

 

Here the kids were observing how the adults do it while I was changing my S$10 note into S$1.00 coins.

Each game of 6 frames cost S$2.00. I know how addictive bowling can be so my idea was for them to have just 5 games.

They took turns, not on each game, that would be too long for them to wait. So they took turns on each throw. Super fun for them to play and for me to watch! *laugh*

The lanes are about 3/4 the length of the normal adult bowling alley. So even if your kid is as young as mine, their small push should be strong enough to roll the ball to the end of the lane.

The GOOD thing about these 2 mini-bowling alleys is the Gutter-Preventer (that’s what I call it).

There is a lower chance of having a disappointed kid, whose bowling ball kept going into the gutter.

The Gutter-Preventer (see the luminous yellow strips at the sides) will help the ball to stay in lane to at least hit a pin or two.

It stretches over 9/10 of the lane, so there is still a chance that the ball will drop into the gutter at the very last minute before it touches the pins.

If you have a kid who is pretty good at bowling, you could PUSH DOWN the Gutter-Preventer to make it more challenging for him/her too. Yes, it’s optional to pull-up the Gutter-Preventer.

The BALL comes in one weight with NO finger-holes, which I think is good, to prevent finger-fracture for the small-fingers. So its really pick up and throw, oops! I mean roll! There are 5 balls shared by the 2 lanes.

But there was something that kept spoiling the fun. If you bring kids that are young like my boys, 3 and 4 years old, you may encounter this :

Sometimes when their ball’s motion is too zig-zag and it dropped into the gutter just before it touches the pins…there is a high chance that it may stopped rolling and stay in the gutter. (See photo on left)

In this case, you got to either throw another ball by the gutter to push down the ‘stuck’ ball, which result in a foul, because 2 balls are sensed by the sensor; or you got to throw another ball at the pins, in this case, the ball that is ‘stuck’ remained ‘stuck’ there, till you use a long umbrella to push it down, which was what we kept doing towards the end, where the kids’ strength was decreasing significantly after so many throws. *Laugh*

The mini-bowling alley doesn’t have a ‘sweeper’ like the ones in the adult’s alley, so there is no way the ‘stucked’ bowling ball could be swept away.

The pins are on strings. After every throw, all the pins, be it dropped or not, will be raised and then the sensor will put down the un-dropped pins captured from the previous throw.

Though there are imperfection, I still think its a great idea to have the kids in mind when the bowling alley was built for the adults.

Oh, there’s another good thing, the toilet is just beside the mini-alley, so if you’ve got a kid who is half-way through his bowling game and needed the toilet, Never Fear – ‘cos the Toilet is Near! *Laugh*