it was probably well overdue for those lanes to shut down. They were probably there since the city was founded. The good thing about bowling pin-setters is that the technology is very simplistic and in 120 years, hasn't changed a great deal. There's no reason to change them. it's like an old pickup truck that every mechanic in the world can work on. No reason to complicate an already working system. But other things break down over time that are very expensive to maintain such as that oiling machines, the wood itself, and the underground ramps that bring the ball back to you that there isn't really any access panel to. Wayne Lanes probably eventually put in scoring machines but that likely wasn't cheap either. They probably looked at their upkeep and figured it would be cheaper to just start from scratch than to keep maintaining it.

Also bowling has become crazy expensive in the US so smaller guys probably have a tough time keeping up. It's like movie theaters now from what I have heard from friends that live in USA, almost all the lanes are owned by a handful of companies whereas they used to all be family-owned businesses. Now I will admit that I don't know if that last part is even true but when I see the prices to bowl in USA compared to here, it kind of makes sense.