Seattlest Bowls, Part 6: North and East of Seattle

And now for a whistle-stop tour of some suburban bowling houses...

With 50 lanes under one arched roof, Kenmore Lanes is the area’s biggest bowling center (if not the state’s). Besides its mounted giraffe and elephant heads, it also has a cardroom, which could be its undoing. The Kenmore city council’s recent cardroom ban was met with a lawsuit by the alley, claiming it can’t survive on bowling alone. The venue’s fate is now in legal limbo, but Kenmore should remain open in the interim, and we hope long afterwards...

Robin Hood Lanes in Edmonds has the coolest outdoor sign of any area bowling alley, yet its cream/pink/maroon interior is the area’s dullest. And, disappointingly, the only other Sherwood Forest reference is its lounge’s name, the Friar Tuck Inn...

Shoreline’s Spin Alley is the only place we’ve seen with a full-serve post office behind the front counter. Suspended above its 16 lanes is a booming sound system and four giant TV monitors. We’re not sure what they show, ‘cause we haven’t actually seen ‘em turned on. Despite a recent, near-thorough renovation, the place still has the same old, beat-up lanes...

Mill Creek’s Brunswick Majestic Lanes is the only local “Brunswick Recreation Center.” Except for the front counter’s turgid fish tank, the franchise is mostly outfitted with Brunswick gear, including the Ballworx ball polisher and Score King pins. With its 40 street-level lanes (unlike the traditional “sunken” lanes) and plastic Brunswick furniture, the place feels more like an ‘80s airport food court...

We like the new lanes and ball returns at Kirkland’s recently renovated and rechristened Tech City Bowl, but the abundance of glass brick and the orange felt on the pool tables is a bit much. We bought our shoes there, but its steep prices ($5.60 a game!) keep us from going back...