Twentieth Century Bowling

Though this is not a modernized bowling alley, they are very friendly and alot less costly than their competitors. I would rather bring my family here.

twentieth century bowling is old and beat up but is more family environment then the other two bowling places in ames and is cheaper the staff will help you out with any questions you have about thee score keeper but they also put out instruction sheet how to run it yes the bowling ally is run down but other big bowling ally in ames is very bad services.

I went to Twentieth Century because my friend was coming back from national guard and we wanted something fun to do! So we chose bowling at this place and they some how added an extra player and we just wanted that one deleted. Anyways we called for assistance and the lady came back and I told her "We only want to delete this last additional bowler." She told us to hit clear bowl clear, so we did and it deleted ALL of our scores. We continued to play and when we returned our shoes and started paying the woman told us we played 2 game!? So we had to pay double of what we wanted to pay!!! So of course I made a fuss and tried reasoning with her about it but she would not do anything. She told us it was our fault. So I was very dissapointed with this place because after that my friend and I did not have enough money to continue the night as we planned. I felt terrible for her.

We are new to bowling because my sons got a wii and fell in love with the bowling game. We put our six year old in the kid‘s league here on saturday mornings and couldn‘t be happier. Kelly is very helpful and accomodating and our son‘s bowling coach Barry has been great with our boy. We love the family atmosphere of the place. It could use updating as far as the decor and balls but I don‘t care about that part since i‘m not there for fashion. I‘d rather go somewhere that my family and I can enjoy eachother and not the fancy equipment or couches.

My experience with this bowling alley was just horrible and i will never go there again and i suggest you don‘t either, save your money and go somewhere else. The bowling balls were beyond chipped and in dire need of replacement. The prices are outrageous for the service you get, the employees don‘t seem to care if you are there or not. I can definitely see why there was only 4 other people there when we were. The snack bar is a joke you would get better quality buying out of a vending machine. They was out of everything, how can you have a snack bar with no food to speak of. Anyways, save your time and money and don‘t go there, the place needs to be torn down.

AWESOME!! I love 20th century, it seems so "homey" there. no matter what

I only bowl occasionaly, so as far as I can tell the lanes are good enough, but if you don‘t bring your own ball then expect to use one that looks like something out of a Fred Flintstone cartoon...they all look like someone took a hammer to them and just started chipping away.
They have a lot of lanes with bumpers so a good place to bring the youngsters.
The last time they updated anything was in the early 80‘s and it looks like it, it is definately dated.
And the people behind the counter act like they don‘t care if you are there or not, not exactly friendly service with a smile.

This was one of the worst experiences I‘ve had bowling in the past 10 years. The lanes are shabby and run down (with ancient-looking screens and scoring), the balls are beat up and on multiple occasions almost cut my hand, and the staff started closing down the building an hour early while we were still inside (Shut down all the lanes and started turning off lights).

If you want to bowl, go to the Memorial Union. This place might as well just roll over and die.