It's nearly the final frame for 5-pin bowling in Windsor, Ont. — at least for now
Windsor's Playdium Lanes shuts down May 31, however, owner says 5-pin could start up elsewhere
After almost 80 years of strikes and spares, Windsor's Playdium Lanes is about to shut down.
On Friday May 31 the final frame at the Wyandotte Street East location will be bowled. And with that, the possible end of five-pin bowling in the border city.
It opened in 1946.
Owner Mariano Meconi took it over from his uncle in the 1980s.
He says finding someone willing to take it over proved unsuccessful.
"Nobody's making a fortune here," he said.
WATCH | 5-pin bowlers prep for final frame at Playdium Lanes in Windsor, Ont.:
"We've looked to try and pass it on to family or certainly a five-pin enthusiast, but it's a lot to take on. And not to mention the value of the real estate. For me to jump out and not get what I was offered, [would] probably be insane from a personal standpoint."
Meconi says the bidding farewell to the legendary alley will be a tough pill to swallow.
"I've been here 44 years. Everybody I know, except for a few, are bowling related. It might be a month down the road, but I'm going to notice.
Is that it for 5-pin bowling?
Meconi says the closure of Playdium means an end of an era, but not necessarily the end for five-pin bowling long term in Windsor.
"I do have an arrangement with a couple of fellows here in town who are intent on starting it up elsewhere. If it goes through, they can have the equipment."
According to the bowling alley's longtime owner, he knows exactly what they're looking for — just in a different, undisclosed location.
"They're very specific. They want the machines. They want the lane surfaces, they want the balls, the shoes, all that stuff. It's quite a leg up. But I don't want to speak on their behalf."
Meconi says participation in five-pin bowling was at its height when he took over in the 1980s.
"There was a blue haze of cigarette smoke all across the centre. At the end of the night, we walked around with a five-gallon bucket emptying ashtrays and it was a busy time back then."
Then participation and interest in bowling, in general, dipped, he says — turning a corner after 2019.
"The last few years families have been looking for a reasonable thing they can do once a month instead of once a year at the big birthday party place here. We're priced such that they can afford to come once a month if they wanted to."
With files from Amy Dodge and Bob Becken