section33

6 ms·

1.
by section33 1mo ago
I plan on taking some soon. I actually had some video I was recording when my ESPNow mesh went haywire the other day (antenna came loose from the pinsetter node)
2.
Show HN: ESP32 Bowling System technical write-up(nicholas-a-hall.github.io)
1 points by section33 1mo ago|4 comments
3.
by section33 2mo ago
Oh totally. I actually thought about exactly that. I'm basically thinking "this -will- fail at some point, so when it does, I want to be able to replace a failed unit very rapidly." I'm tinkering with an auto-provisionin
4.
by section33 2mo ago
Yep, USBC. You're exactly right, they do have pretty precise requirements for sanctioned league play. But casual 'open' bowlers don't care about that stuff for the most part. So if we're not running a league, we can
5.
by section33 2mo ago
It can, yeah. For that reason, I only allow myself or Brunswick-certified mechanics to touch our pinsetters. We run old Brunswick A2s that were built in an era where 'safety' was practically a bad word, y'know? These machines
6.
by section33 2mo ago
I did a capitalism, but I messed it all up!
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by section33 2mo ago
Sorry, I'll have a blog up soon. Wasn't sure there'd be any interest! That link is so weird... it's definitely referencing this HN post, but those codeblocks in there... That's an interesting piece. Looks like their
8.
by section33 2mo ago
No, but he is within driving distance from us!
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by section33 2mo ago
Believe it or not, cameras are exactly how the existing system works. I can do it now with OpenCV, but I've thought about looking into doing the same thing with mmwave radar instead. I think the radar route is more data-rich, but obvio
10.
by section33 2mo ago
My original, handwritten post was 5600 characters. I used claude to truncate it down to the 4k limit. I assure you though, I had initially gone off on an extremely detailed diatribe about it.
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by section33 2mo ago
You're not wrong, though I will say that I haven't forgotten it's a social space. The social aspect is why I bought it in the first place. In my mind, the kiosk terminal is there for convenience. We get a lot of people who A)
12.
by section33 2mo ago
Oh yeah. We even have one lane pair the auto-scoring isn't working, we just can't assign most people to either lane. The machines themselves work fine, and we do have a way to bypass the failed unit - but for the generations that
13.
by section33 2mo ago
Same here. We're running Brunswick A2s that are just ancient, and they're buggy... but I wouldn't trade them for strings if I had them given to me, honestly.
14.
by section33 2mo ago
We're holding pretty steady at $3400-ish / month on open bowling alone. No leagues yet, no snack bar yet, no beer yet. It's not FAANG income by any stretch, but it's doing -so- much better than I initially expected!
15.
by section33 2mo ago
I love it! I actually looked at integrating with scoremore myself, but once I crossed into hardware world, I still couldn't get over how much fouling alone cost. $750 / unit and they're -ancient-. Definitely will post on bowl
16.
by section33 2mo ago
Not that I know of! My market research shows something like < 3500 remaining bowling proprietors in the US, down from 12k in the 60's. I think the lack of alternatives is just a matter of being super, super niche -and- a legacy indu
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by section33 2mo ago
Totally - we've got notifications wired in though, so our counter instantly knows "lane so and so needs such and such shoe sizes"
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by section33 2mo ago
We just charge a flat rate with shoes included. We do $5 / person or $25 for a whole hour for larger groups. Wanted to take some of the advanced calculus out of the price of bowling, yknow?
19.
by section33 2mo ago
Right now I'm working on adding LED + DMX DJ light control - I kinda want to be able to order LED strips to "chase" a ball as it goes down the lane or back up the return. I plan on triggering laser-light shows and such with t
20.
Show HN: I replaced a $120k bowling center system with $1,600 in ESP32s
2935 points by section33 2mo ago|359 comments