Bowlplex, Brighton

I really like bowling. Though this center is modern and has a good potential, I dont like it. There are only 4 seats per lane and a tiny table. 2 of 4 times ive been to this center we had big troubles with the scores (counts wrong, often pins fall down before the throw) and the staff wasnt really trying to help us. For the price of ~11 quid for two games I expect to have at least one staff member who has more technical knowledge than the avg consumer.
I just go to the bowlplex because of its monopoly.

Ever since I was a student, bowling has been one of my favourite ways to have fun. This was such an excellent value place for us to go when I was at university, as they do a student deal on a Sunday where every game of bowling (usually £3.99 or thereabouts) is £1.99. This is probably where I regret the loss of my student card the most. If you’re going at peak time (Friday or Saturday) then the games are just over £5 each. On those nights they also do a “meal deal” for £12.99 which includes two games of bowling and a McDonald’s-style fast-food basket. Most definitely not to my taste, but a nice idea nonetheless.

If you do happen to take advantage of the student-aimed Sunday cheapness, that’s when they have their karaoke night. Bowling was the favourite pastime of my student radio station, URF, so karaoke was always immense fun as it served to fuel our love of cheesy choons. First Wetherspoons for cheap drinks, then bowling, then belting out 90s pop-punk hits until they chucked us out at closing. Fabulous.

If your games of bowling are over to quickly and you still want to exercise that competitive streak, then you can head to their pool tables in the back room – full size tables that charge for the time you use them, not per game. It’s not particularly expensive and students get it half price with a valid NUS card (although they ask for a returnable £20 deposit for the balls and cues). A word of warning though – the bar staff do ID militantly, so take some with you or you won’t even be allowed inside the bar or pool table area.

While some staff members are really friendly and up for a laugh and a joke with you (which is how they should be in a place like this), the rest just stand around looking bored and grumpy.

All in all, you’ll have a great night of tacky, loud fun. And for the record, I have the bumpers DOWN. Oh yes.

Pricey Pricey Pricey!! A good Location with excellent facilities but the price is way to high. Not to mention everytime that you play you have to call the people over to fix the pins. Always breaking down.

For playing pool, this isn’t a bad venue to do it. The tables are large with relatively good condition equipment available. For students you can get a discount on the hourly rate and there are no membership fees. It can get quite busy, and at weekends they sometimes have a DJ which can make it quite noisy too, but for young people it makes for a more fun evening.

I go here quite often to play pool or go bowling with mates. Its massive inside, with its own games arcade, restaurant and bar. It is very clean inside and lots of bright lights to enhance ur experience. The prices for bowling are cheaper during the day and even cheaper for students. Good place to go for a laugh.

You’re pretty much garunteed to have fun there. The service fromn staff there is good, nothing special, but nothing to compplain about. The prices can be excessive, but thats what you get for being the only bowling alley in the city. There’s alot to do in the building which is good. Its always nice to play a few arcade games afterwards or get a bite to eat. Its in a perfect location, near all the restuarants and bars you could want and lots of parking and bus access.

Having just experienced rather poor service at the restaurant (see Frankie & Benny’s Brighton) our party of 12 headed to the Bowlplex.

When we arrived we found only one person on the desk, dealing with customers wishing to pay and handing out shoes. I felt really sorry for the people in the queue behind us.

There was a DJ playing music mostly from the 60’s & 70’s, but with a few modern ones mixed in.

We were allocated two lanes next to each other and started to sort out teams. Meanwhile I overheard the DJ ask a question, saying that the first person to answer correctly would win a bottle of “bubbly”. I immediately walked up to him, gave the answer and walked away with a bottle! It wasn’t anything special, but hey, the evening was begining to look better.

As the evening progressed we were beset with a few technical problems with our lanes, resulting in numerous visits by the three members of staff, and culminating in them moving us to the two adjacent lanes. However they were both helpful and pleasant at all times. And we saw an unusual way to bowl - the manager held the bowling ball in the palm of his hand and just launched it down the lane resulting in a strike! Followed by another. He gave up after the third when he only got nine pins down. To say we were impressed would be an understatement.

We spent and enjoyable hour and half in here, and the technical problems didn’t really detract from the experience. It certainly made up for the meal.

Only four stars, because I don’t really go in for loud music. I prefer it to be loud enough to hear (and sing-a-long to) but not so loud that you have trouble talking.

The Bowlplex is very modern and very big bowling alley. It was great fun and wasnt really expensive. There was a room for each thing. There was a pool pit for playing pool, there was a seperate bit for the arcades. There was a huge part of it for the 26 bowling alleys, and there were several food stands. There was a bar and the lighting was very retro but modern. The arcades had good video games and would suite everyone. If you visit the Marina then you should definately try the BowlPlex.