When people think about bowling, they mostly think about birthday-parties or teambuilding-evenings with colleagues. Bowling is the perfect activity for a large group of people with different kind of interests. It does not matter how old you are or where you come from: Most people enjoy to throw a ball at some pins. But as positive as this all sounds, for many young people bowling also got the image of being a little boring. With your family or colleagues it is a nice activity, but with your friends you rather have an exciting night in a bar or clubs in Berlin.
Partybowlen
Because of the tendency described above, a specific sort of bowling was created a few years ago: With the so called partybowling you play a normal round of bowling but also get the opportunity to win shots for you and your friends. It is the perfect solution because besides games, young people love to have some drinks together.
This partybowling turned out to be a good strategy and most bowling alleys are totally crowded again in the weekends. Because you play with your alley against other alleys you have to work together and this brings some extra dimension to your night out with friends.
Strike Lanes in Berlin
During the weekends, Berlin is ruled by young people. So off course most of the Bowling Alleys in Berlin are also offering party-bowling. One very new and cool place to play bowling in Berlin is called Strike Lanes. This bowling alley is located at the third floor of the shopping center Alexa, so it is very easy to reach from both stations Alexanderplatz and Jannowitzbrucke. After experiencing party-bowling in different bowling alleys, I have to conclude that Strike Lanes definitely has the most various and creative games for their visitors. Below you can see a few of the games which are offered:
Formula 1
With every strike you or your friends throw, the race-car of your alley comes a little further on the “race-track”. Formula 1 is played for more than one “lap” and the alley who is the fastest car in most laps gets the free shots.
Touch Down
Try to throw a Strike, Spare, Double Strike and a Splitter as fast as you can (together). Not an easy game, especially because of the splitter.
Speedy
On the screen you can find achallenge and the amount of points which can be earned with this challenge. The assignments change from time to time and the alley with the most points in the end gets the shot (Example: “Spere = + 20 points”)
More than just Bowling
Besides the very cool games, Strike Lanes also has its own dancefloor and a personal DJ. The first time I wanted to play bowling in Berlin, the bouncer(!) of the Strike Lanes asked me to show my ID and made a small problem about my sneakers (??). Afterwards I understood that this had to do with the people who stay partying in Strike Lanes till long after midnight. It is not without reason that the website of Strike Lanes indicates that there are no clear closing hours in the weekends. Besides the dancefloor you can also have a nice dinner in Strike Lanes or chillout in one of the relaxing areas. Strike Lanes iS a bowling alley in Berlin who has only recently opened. The photos at the bottom of this article give you an impression of the new and stylish design of the bowling alley (and club/bar/restaurant).
Practical Information
The costs of a night of bowling in Strike Lanes depend on the day and time you want to play. If you, like described above, want to have a partynight with some friends and start with bowling, the price is 28 euro an hour. But, in comparison, an hour of bowling on a Tuesday afternoon only costs 12 euro an hour. When you wanna play bowling in Berlin, you can decide yourself what you want to pay.
Address: Gruner Strasse 20 (3rd level)
Public Transport: Station Alexanderplatz
Costs: 12 – 28 euro each hour
Website: www.strikelanes.de
