Outdoor 5-Pin Bowling Alley

Growing up I was in a bowling leagues here in Canada and through I don't bowl anymore, I have a nostalgic love for the game. Now that I have kids and I find my joy in being creative and building things, I thought this was a good project. I have previously used instructions from this site in making an arcade cabinet and that gave me the bug to do more.

My objective was to build a lane that you could operate with one person and could be done from the end of the lane. This lane has a gravity fed ball return and a string based reset system that you can control individual pins and keep them up and out of the way while you throw your next balls. In doing my research I found a few well made 10-pin lanes, but due to the number of pins, they couldn't be individually controlled and you end up having to reset all of the pins at once.

This guide won't go into too much details on the specific sizes I used because 1) I don't have them all documented. 2) This worked for my space and won't likely be exactly the same. I will walk you through my process and what I have done that worked.

This project probably cost me just over $400 Canadian.

Some basic measurements:

• Ball diameter 5" 
• Pin diameter 5" 
• pin height approx. 12"
• Pin hole for string 0.25"

Copy of the 5-Pin Google Sheets Score Card can be found at the following link (updated):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GlGQppuK3z7xNO1R1sbGs04vhj9c0TwK0Q9pTgKyLBI/edit?usp=sharing

I'm listing the items I used, but you can either find things cheaper or more expensive depending on how you want to approach this project.

Building Material:

• Skids (Or something for the base)
• 2x3s (for structure. Cheaper than 2x4s)
• 2x2s (for ball return / gutter and any other framing)
• 1x3s (used them to keep the ball from going off the sides of the gutters)
• Plywood - 3/8" (used thinnest I could get away with to save money for the actual lane. 1/2" is definitely recommended)
• Plywood - 1/2" (for the pin setter to give structure)
• Some form of water proofing (I used the cheapest solution I could find. It helps water proof wood. Not sure how well it will work and will need to be applied yearly.
• screws (ranging from 1.5" to 3" depending on the application.
• Rope - 3/8" (fits into the pins) I purchased 100ft and cut it down to about 30ft once I had it all setup.
• 1/2" or 3/4" Electrical Conduit (used for the rope guides for each rope to be able to reset and not have them get all tangled. Conduit was also used to help guide the rope up from the pin in the resetter.
• Conduit Clamps for the size of conduit you use. (Used to hold the conduit horizontal on the supports).
• 4" PVC Pipe (I used couplers to connect 2 pipes together. They weren't cheap but didn't have to modify them in any way.
• Rubber Mats for the ball to hit at the end of the lane.
• Washers to better hold the rubber mats (they will take a beating and you don't want them ripping off).

Tools:

• Drill
• Circular saw (you should be able to do it all with a circular saw)
• Mitre Saw (makes easier straighter cuts)
• Table Saw (not all that important)
• Jig Saw (to cut out holes for pins to reset into)
• Tap Measure
• Level
• Pencil
• Paint Brush and/or Roller if you are doing any decals or applying any water proofing

Other:

• Pins and Balls (Luckily I got these free from a bowling alley that was closing. I would reach out to a local alley and ask if they have any old pins / balls they don't need. I know the lane I got mine from had quite a few. I have 5 pins and 3 balls)
• LED Lights (I actually haven't added them yet, but I'm planning on using LED strip lights that are USB powered and use a portable battery to light up the underside and make it fun for night time bowling.
• Toolbox to hold the balls and protect them.
• Scoring system. If you want a way to keep track of actual games, I created a Google Sheets (using a template I found online) that allows up to 4 players to record what they got on each ball and it then does the math to calculate your total. I am planning on finding away to mount a tablet out there for such special occasions.

This is the most important step because if it's not level, then it's going to be a challenging game. I found scrap skids around town. All free. Most industrial areas will have them at the side of the road. The challenge is finding the right height. I had to redo and modify some of the skids to ensure when put together they were all the same height. I decided to keep the width of the lane the standard 40" skid width. This meant no cutting and reconnecting them to be smaller or larger. This saved time and money as well.

Skid Size - 40" wide x 48" long x 5.5" high

For my build I stacked 2 skids high making the total height approx. 11". This gave me enough height to allow for the ball return to function and have the ball be gravity fed and return to the approach. I screwed the skids together to keep them from shifting.

For the length of my lane, I had a restriction of how long my driveway was. I was able to get a total of 6 skids lined up on the 48" (4ft) way, allowing me to make my lane 20ft long with a 4ft approach to stand and throw the ball. This was also convenient as plywood is sold in 4ft (48") x 8ft (96") sizes. This meant that I needed 3 pieces of plywood.

I cut off 8" off of every piece of plywood, painted arrows to make it look more authentic applied the water proofing liquid to both sides and let it dry.

I overlapped the plywood so that there was about 2" over the next set of skids. If the skids were not perfect lined up this would help so that there wouldn't be an uneven surface. Using the 1.5" screws, I affixed the plywood base to the skids.

This was when I could bust out the pins and have the kids give it a try! ....That might have been a mistake. They loved it and had me be the pin-monkey!

I knew that this was going to be a challenge. I also knew that I had to allow for water and tree gunch to fall through. This is where I would recommend using the 2x2s for the gutter and ball return. The left side is flat and works like a standard gutter. The total width is 6" (the ball is 5") and the ball will roll nicely between the edges of the 2x2. I placed supports every 2ft to help the entire thing together and supports to the ground. They are screwed into the skids just below to plywood. I used 1x3s to make a lip and prevent the ball from jumping the gutter. You don't need it to be very high.

The right side works as the ball return. I don't really have measurements as to how high to make it. I started at the height of the left gutter where it ends at the back, then made the back slope down to the right size and when I through I had enough momentum I tested to see how fast the return would work.

I cut angled pieces to place in the corners to redirect the ball around the track and out the ball return. I then used more 1x3s to make guards / bumpers to keep the ball from missing the gutter (this is seen in a later photo once the project was basically complete. The balls come back to the approach and hit a stopper ready for the next throw. Note that in my current setup the ball does sometimes get stuck in the corners. I have to find a solution to help keep it moving. Conduit would work better as a a track, but cost was a factor in using the wood.

At this point the total width of the project is approx. 53" (40" for lane + 6" x 2 for each gutter + 1/2" for each the 1x3 to keep the ball in play)

I have no idea what to call this. But it's an important piece as this stops the ball on a soft surface when it's thrown at high speeds. I framed the back with two 2x3s for each leg. This will be part of the pin setter. I took a 8ft 2x3 and cut it in half, so the height is 4ft. I used a 2x4 to mount the mats. I tried different setups, but found that if you have it angled where the ball will bounce downward, it usually goes into the ball return. At first I had the surface of the mat angled upwards slightly and the ball bounced back onto the lane all the time. I used washers on the screws to keep the rubber from ripping as once you have a hole in it, it rips easily. I had to buy 2 mats and double them up to get the whole width. The mats are also attached with some slack to the bottom of the back ball return.

This was the part that I had in my head, but didn't know how well it was going to work. I took two pieces of 1/2" plywood. One I used for the 4" PVC couplers. I outlined the pipe, drilled a hole on the outside the circle, and then used the jigsaw to cut out the circles.

On the second piece I cut out holes just big enough to fit the pieces of conduit that I cut and sanded down to feed the rope through. I had a tube of PL construction adhesive lying around and glued the pipes in.

I then mounted the smaller hole plywood piece about 6" higher and on an angle so that rain water will run off.

Unfortunately I don't have much in the way of dimensions on this one. I believe it was roughly 4ft long and allowed for the 5 pins to sit where they should.

I ran each of the pins with the rope, making a knot inside the pin to keep it from coming out. And then ran the rope through the two sets of holes out to the top.

I purchased five 1/2" electrical conduit and mounted them (see photos) to 2x3 supports (mounted to the gutter/ball return and the fence. Then I ran the rope through each other them mirroring the setup of the pins. Left pin at the bottom conduit and right pin at the top. I left about 3 ft of slack for the pins to move when they get knocked down and knotted the ends so that they couldn't get through the conduit. I used the conduit clamps to mount them.

Originally I had the idea of using a hook to keep the pins up. 1 hook for each or some way to tie off each of the ropes. I quickly came up with the wooden 2x2 with slots cut into it the width of the rope. I ran it over a table saw twice for each slot (2 blades widths) or about 1/4" and the rope slides right in and the knot keeps the pin from dropping down. You can grab just the pins you knock down and lock them in place to throw your next ball. Resetting them is as simple as grabbing all the ropes and letting them down gently.

The balls are kept in the toolbox to keep them dry.

And that's it. I hope that you can take inspiration from this and come up with better and more awesome designs. Please let me know if you make your own and would love to see what you did! It is extremely satisfying to hear the ball roll on the lane and hit the pins. The sound alone makes it worth the while.