Now the concept of Duckpin bowling itself is a pretty cool spin off of regular bowling, but this place specifically is stuck in the past aesthetically and even attitude and culturally. I went here many years ago as a child but never bowled until an adult despite living in the Washington DMV area all of my life. The man at the information desk was snarky, rude, and did not even look at us upon our arrival and stated how numerous people come in there thinking that it is regular bowling when it is duckpin bowling. I did my research and stated that I knew that it was duckpin bowling and thanked him. He was just bitter, miserable, uninviting, and unwelcoming and just gave off the non-progressive vibe of the place. The other gentleman who worked with the food section and general upkeep and customer engagement was a lot nicer. The bowling alley and the restrooms need overhaul. There are no dividers between men urinals, one of the sinks were missing a knob, and the stall lock was broken, these all contribute to the dull, dated vibe. The alley itself is bland. It does not need to have all the bells and whistles like Bowlero/Lucky Strike club/lounge style bowling experience, but a paint job and other major updates to have the place have more modern appeal would work wonders. The clientele is not diverse and does not reflect the enormous diversity of the White Oak/Silver Spring area and had me thinking I was out in Westminster or somewhere in Carroll County that is conservative and not as progressive, diverse, and welcoming but more exclusive type of vibe. I am not surprised by other reviewers who called this place out for its discriminatory vibe and dated, non-progressive feel. I am not a competitive/hardcore bowler, so I will stick to the Bowlero/Lucky Strike experience for the casual fun but with a much more modern, progressive feel, vibe, & culture. read more

White Oak Duckpin Lanes - Bowling Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

Had a great time with the family. Food was great. Lanes we old time. But it was great read more

White Oak Duckpin Lanes - Bowling Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

My eight-year-old daughter's friend hosted her birthday party here. It's quite the drive from Washington, D.C., but it was a fun party thanks to the incredible staff. A man named Alan was so helpful, fun, and made every detail of the birthday stand out. The space is very old school, but it adds to the appeal. There are a number of lanes. Set up like bowling, you use a much smaller ball. There are a few arcade games, restrooms, and a food stand. read more

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Repeat after me: small balls are fun! We came here for toddler, friendly bowling, and we had a good time . The place is a blast from the past, it looks like a place straight out of the 60s. They don't even have automatic scoring and you have to score, it's that vintage. At approximately $20 a hour a person a lane, it's worth it. So duck pin, bowling utilizes small balls. They don't have the holes in them for fingers and they're really easy to hold. Most of these balls have a lot of little nicks from years of banging in the gutters, but they're still fine to hit a strike with. They have gutter ramps here so it's great for kids. Service was great. The shoes were falling apart but that's fine. The one slice of pizza that we got here was shockingly really good and extra cheesy. Not bad for $3.50.! Because I didn't have my physical license (it's on my phone) with me, I was unable to purchase any alcohol. So be sure to bring your real ID in real form. Definitely coming back for cosmic bowling. read more

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This place is great. It's a locally-owned, old school, no-frills bowling alley and that's the way I like it. They don't take reservations, you have to keep score yourself with a paper and pencil, there are only basic food and drink options (including fairly cheap beer), and there are a handful of arcade machines. It's $30 for an hour of bowling at one lane (up to 6 people) and $5 for shoe rental. My group of three, which hadn't been bowling in years, took about 35 minutes to play a game, so we got through almost 2 games in our allotted hour. For two of us, it was our first time with duck pin bowling, and we enjoyed it more than regular ten pin bowling. We like that you get three rolls and the balls are all the same weight. We even enjoyed scoring by hand. The fancy computer score keeping at newer lanes seems nice, until you realize it actually takes longer to bowl a game because the computer has to pick up the pins and clear the lane between even roll, even if you didn't hit any pins. read more

White Oak Duckpin Lanes - Bowling - Bowling Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

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My family and I stumbled upon this place! We were looking for affordable bowling options and found this facility. Unbeknownst to us, this isn't traditional bowling. The pins and balls are smaller and there aren't holes in the balls. Even so, we had a lot of fun and would definitely return! 2 hour play time included pizza and drinks for up to 6 people. read more

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Oh snap! I didn't know duck pins still around. So happy to see this I had to walk in. read more

White Oak Duckpin Lanes - Duck pin bowling - Bowling Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

Old school, clean, great staff, good food. Joined a league and got hooked on the fun, the exercise and the commraderie of the league members. read more

Amazing time here! Love the vibe and staff was very helpful. I can't wait to go back and bring some friends. It's family friendly as well.

This place rocks!!! Like walking into a time warp. Small balls are better!!!! (But more frustrating}

Great family fun. Love duckpin bowling. Super friendly staff. Multiple mechanical glitches on our lane but we were easily moved to another. Good vibes despite alley gremlins. read more

Duckpin is the only kind of bowling my wrist can handle, and the blacklights of cosmic bowling were cute. The balls have lots of tiny divots from years of being hurled into gutter edges, but the various weight options kept my wrist comfortable throughout the evening. Scorekeeping is optional and by hand; since we were being social, we allowed each other an extra roll here and there-- great practice that landed me two legal strikes and one spare by the end of the night. Full pour of Angry Orchard ran $5, so I may as well have opted for the pitcher to break credit card minimums; the snack bar items are pretty gross (a few fries were still cool from the freezer) so include food in your pregame plans. Bathroom was reasonably tidy, even towards the end of the night. Staff members are friendly, and happy to loan you a sharpie to mark your plastic cup. read more

White Oak Duckpin Lanes - Fries & grilled cheese. - Bowling Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

A bit of a trek for us coming from Virginia but worth it! We had a great family/friend evening. The staff was helpful. It was a bit challenging keeping score without automation- but it was entertaining and good for the kids to put math into practice without a computer. read more

Looking for a throw back to the past in duckpin bowling then this is your place. Great place for family, friends, even date night. Clean, large with new floors but the antique old machinery is still in place. The staff was exceptionally nice and helpful. They made us feel like we were at home. Our pizza could have been cooked longer but fries and everything was on point. I would definitely recommend and be back again. read more

It's a straight forward Duckpin bowling alley. Nothing fancy no eat-tertainment concept. Bumpers are available for kids.

Took my son out for the day. I like the bowling alley and the miniature bowling balls. I do bot like how run down the alley and bathrooms are. It seems like on weekends, holidays, senior days, and league days the place has a really decent crowd. I hate that the environment detracts but I will try to keep visiting their. I like to support local businesses. Hopefully they will get renovated soon. Customer service is good. I have not tried the food but i have seen plenty of people eating there. read more

When I walked in, I thought, maybe it's supposed to be ironic. It's not ironic. This place is right out of the early 90s but with modern prices. The food options were atrocious. But that's okay because no one should bother eating the Elios pizza and 7/11 style Nachos. They've got miller, bud and all the regular beers everyone that likes beer stop drinking after college. I can't believe this place is near DC. Oh right- the lanes. It's all manual so you have to hit a button to clear your pins. You have to record scores on a piece of paper like it's 1950. And the Projectors do not even work. Dc folk: go to the Eleanor near union market. Md folk: go to the new Eleanor out in Silverspring. The prices are comparable but it's just way way way better. read more

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My friend recommended we go bowling on a Saturday Night -- so we rolled through (pun intended). To our surprise, this is a Duckpin only bowling alley. I repeat, this is Duckpin only!! We were expecting a regular bowling alley so initially we were disappointed, but decided to make the most of it. The alley itself is decently sized but is in major need of an upgrade. It's like taking a step back into time to the 1990's bowling era. Lights are dim, carpeting is worn, furniture has seen its days, and there is no scorescreen and auto-pin removal machine. The alley has a bit of charm because it seems so old, but I think it could be a really cool spot if they made a few upgrades. We got there around 10.30pm and began our night of Cosmic bowling. For $16 bucks we each got unlimited game of bowling until closing (1-2am) and shoe rentals. This was a great deal and it's what actually drew us to the place! Definitely check this deal out on the weekends. There's a nice little bar/snack shop which has 4-5 beers on draft. We got a pitcher of Angry Orchard for $13 (shared amongst 5 people) and started our games. The little bar was a much needed moral boost as I was still recovering from the realization that there's nothing but Duckpin here. The music was great and the overall energy in the place was very nice. We had fun two stepping to the music while hurling mini bowling balls at the mini pins. We ended up not keeping score (because that would require pencils, paper, and math) and decided to just have a good time. I would come back for some more fun! read more

White Oak Duckpin Lanes - A shot of the lanes before closing - Bowling Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

White Oak Duckpin lanes is located in the White Oak shopping center. It is definitely a bit dated in regards to decor and the snack bar menu, however I think it adds character. They offer beer and light snacks (fries, sandwiches on toasted wonder bread, etc). The balls are dinged from years of use, and you keep your own score. They also have three pin ball machines all the way to the left of the alley. It's a good time, and would like to come back to try the cosmic bowling. The three stars is due to the fact you can't compare to the newest and greatest bowling alleys that are around now. It was still a good time! read more

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What a unique experience! I've been bowling many times but never Duck Pin bowling! My score turned out to be very similar oddly enough... For those that do not know what Duck Pin bowling is, it is basically bowling with a ball that an adult can grip with one palm and the pins are much smaller as well. It was good because you didn't have to worry about the weight of the ball or hurting your arm because all the balls are light enough to really throw well. You just have to get into the groove of it. The place is pretty old school - you have to manually press the button in between throws to clear the pins and then press the button again in between bowlers. Additionally, you have to keep your own score!! Which was a lot of fun actually. I only wished you could've seen the pins better because it was hard to track pins when there's a hidden pin behind a front pin or something. But whatever, it was just for fun so it wasn't a huge deal. I came here with a group of 8 and had good bowling fun for 2 full hours. We bowled 2 games each and got shoes and it was $16.50 per person. Great deal! Oh yes, the reason we picked this spot is because they were one of the ONLY bowling places that allowed us to bring a cake from outside to celebrate our friend's birthday! read more

My wife and I came here tonight for cosmic bowling and it was such a great time. It was our first time back since the alley closed and we're so happy to see everything in such great condition once again. This place is a hidden gem tucked away in white oak shopping center. A true treasure for the area. Glad it's back and in good hands! read more

Just reopened after a flood of some sort. Not clear on what actually changed, certainly not the mens room. Lanes are fine, but overhead scoring screens don't work. Have to reset pins after every ball that is thrown, requiring a button to be pushed. That was never the case. It serves to entertain grandkids and that was/is my goal! read more

This place isn't fancy, but it is fun! They have a great special on Fridays that we took advantage of where you pay $14 for 2 hours of unlimited bowling and shoe rental. The other prices are pretty solid--cheap beer and wine, solid snack bar appetizers and meals. This place looks like it hasn't been updated since the 80s, but it sure is a fun place to kill a few hours with some friends. read more

Old school duck pin bowling. You get to score yourself and reset the lanes after you play. The people are willing to explain the rules for you... so it's ok to come in clueless. You are charged either per game/person or per hour. It's around $5.50 per game on the weekends ($5 weekdays) or $27/hr Only downside is... going in the summer, there's not much air in there so it can get a little hot and stuffy.l even though they have fans going on. Great music selections too! They have a jukebox in there to choose if you're not feeling the songs playing. read more

Being from California, I had never heard if duckpin. I searched for something to do on a rainy day, thought "why not go bowling," and found this place online. Did some preliminary research on duckpin, thought "this looks like skeeball but better!" and made my way over there. We arrived at 3pm on a Sunday. It was packed with families and birthday parties, but we only needed to wait about 10 mins for a lane. Score keeping is manual - if you've never played, they have a very helpful cheatsheet for you to follow. You'll have to hit the clear button and the reset buttons yourself between rolls/frames, which I found to be a fun part of the experience. I had such a blast for my first duckpin outting. Since the balls are smaller and lighter, it didn't feel like my wrist would fall off after just three frames. I'll definitely be back! read more

White Oak Duckpin Lanes - 24 lanes available - Bowling Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

My father (Pitbull D.) would be proud, his little girl finally experienced the sport that is Duck Pin Bowling. Not only are the dwarfed pins incredibly cute, but the hole-free ball is easy to handle even for a little kid (or adults with freakishly small imp hands like myself). Everything at this location is manual, you have to keep score by hand (you get 3! Tries to knock down all the pins, 3 I tell you!), and payment for games is done via the honor system. That said, I never would have found this place tucked away in a shopping center if my Maryland (ew!) tour guide hadn't shown me exactly where it is. Once I got over the fact that this place was in Maryland, I was surrounded by old school awesomeness. Speaking of old school - In my 27 years of life, I've never seen a bowling alley where you not only had to keep score by hand, but that even had the projector with a screen above the lane to show score (something else I've never seen, unless you count the Simpsons episode where Homer buys Marge a bowling ball with his name on it, she takes up the sport out of spite, and has an awkward romantic moment touching hands with the local bowling alley hunk - which was shown via the projector). I may or may not have reenacted said Simpsons moment with my bowling partner. Wait, was I reviewing this place? Yes. Forget I said anything about the Simpsons episode, this place is awesome. Don't come here to be competitive, come here to enjoy yourself, relish in your horrible score, embarass your date with your corny pop culture references, have a little kids birthday here, and if you're lucky, you'll get to hear a few stories about Duck Pin bowling in Manilla from the employees.. read more

White Oak Duckpin Lanes - Bowling Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

Duck Pin Bowling, anyone? Does anyone even know what that is? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_pin_bowling Being from around the way, I haven't been Duck Pin Bowling since the early 1980's. Talk about reliving your childhood. I didn't even know that it still existed. This place certainly looks like it hasn't changed in 40 years. It's housed in the basement of a strip mall and like Lisa R. said: Everything is manual. You have to keep score with a pencil and hit the "DeadWood" button when you have pins laying in your way after almost every throw. "You have DeadWood" is a funny thing to say to someone. Nevertheless, This is just good clean family fun. You can pull up the gutter rails and no matter what; No gutter balls. Kids can do just as well as adults. The balls only weigh 3.5 lbs. Plus it's Cheap! Two of us played three games in 90 minutes and it was only $36, including the shoe rental. Good Times..... I love it! Go Duck Pin Bowling at least once in your life. read more

White Oak Duckpin Lanes - So easy a Child could do it. - Bowling Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

Came here with some friends late on a Friday evening for some duckpin bowling. I'd never heard of it before, but it was a lot of fun! It requires a little bit more dexterity than traditional bowling. For a more complete explanation and history, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duckpin_bowling. We got a couple of pitchers of beer, some tasteless bowling alley standard - Bud Light or something. I had a plastic cup of the stuff and was feeling it, natch. Damn my yellow heritage. My only saving grace is that I don't get Asian glow... Anyway, the place is clean enough. They're doing some repairs on the place; painting some of the lanes, painting the walls, etc. It's pretty low-tech, expect to take score the good old paper-and-pencil way. Also, you might want to learn the rules of scoring before going; apparently each frame is three bowls, instead of regular bowling's two. Good fun, bring along some friends for a solidly entertaining time. read more

White Oak Lanes is a privately owned duckpin bowling center located "underneath" the White Oak shopping center. The owner takes great pride in running a good establishment. Its always clean, well taken care of, and the lanes are immaculate. This is the LAST duckpin establishment in Montgomery County. The scoring conditions are good and many professional-caliber bowlers travel from all over the Baltimore-Washington area to bowl in leagues. They also host the Women's National Duckpin Association (ladies pro tour) each year. During open play times, the prices are reasonable, and the establishment is great for birthday parties, complete with a party room. For lottery and keno players, there is even a room dedicated for them. Cosmic bowling on Saturday nights is a blast with fun, music, food, drinks, and fair prices. Oh, there's bowling too. The snack bar food is delicious and goes beyond typical bowling-alley fare. read more

White Oak Duckpin Lanes - Night shot of the entrance - Bowling Near Me - Silver Spring, Maryland

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I prefer duckpin over regular bowling. When I came in, this place had an odd smell kind of like chuck e cheese. You can rent shoes here (the sizes run small). It's a good place for all ages big or small. A lot of the lanes do not have operational scoring screens, so we were back to paper and pencil! They have pitchers of beer you can buy (amazeballs!) read more

Super retro and old school, I love it. There are no computers or high tech gadgets. You keep score with paper and pencil. The desks are made of wood and the seats are old school plastic. You have to reset the pins yourself after each round. They have arcade games, too! This whole place was so nostalgic for me! Also, it's super clean and there's no smoking inside (or outside food or drink; also, they serve alcohol for adults). read more

I'm torn between 3-4 stars. Duckpin bowling is an activity appropriate for all ages. Since the balls and pins are smaller, it's great for kids, and you get three balls instead of the usual two. The atmosphere is very old fashioned, including the way you keep score. All of the other bowling alleys that I've been to have computers that keep score for you. At this place, they hand you a paper score sheet, an instruction sheet, and they have pencils for your use at each lane. They have lots of lanes to use so there's usually no wait, despite this being a popular past time in the area. The facilities itself seem clean but the bowling balls are filthy. After an hour or so of bowling, my hands were black with dirt. For a party of two, we paid $19 each for shoes and three games (approximately an hour of play). These prices seemed kind of steep to me, especially considering the lack of technology- next time if I want to go bowling here, I will go for the late night cosmic bowling. It's a fun atmosphere, cheaper, and you can bowl longer for less. read more

What's not to love? Old-timey bowling alley with great fries and cold beer. Without a doubt, I will be here once a month.

A great place for kids and adults alike! Duck pin bowling is a Maryland staple. Like crabcakes, the Orioles and jousting (it's the official sport of Maryland). However, much like the Orioles chances at ever reaching the postseason, duck pin lanes are a dying breed. My old favorite in Glen Burnie burned to the ground, and there is still the one on Fort Smallwood Road in Pasadena. But, coupled with White Oak, those are really all that remain in the area. This is the perfect place to go with kids, because the balls are lighter and they are forced to do mathematical problems. Don't expect the fancy electronic scoring here, everything must be done manually, including the resetting of the lanes. You have to be able to count and add, otherwise, you are going to fail miserably. White Oak is situated underground in a strip mall, and indeed, the place looks like a dive should. Whether you go with friends, or bring along the kids, it is an enjoyable experience because it is relatively cheap and they have some good bar/bowling alley food. Mmmm, french fries with gravy.... It can get crowded on weekend nights, so maybe go during the afternoon when the place isn't too busy. And always remember to bring a designated counter, because you'll need someone to add while the rest of the group is hammered. Basic Rules to remember: 1. You get 3 balls per frame. 2. If you get a strike, you count your first two balls in the next frame plus 10. 3. If you get a spare, you count the first ball in the next frame plus 10. 4. If you get all 10 down with your third ball, you don't get anything extra. 5. It's not about throwing it as hard as you can, you have to be precise in aiming..tougher than regular bowling. read more

After almost 14 years of living in Maryland, I finally went duckpin bowling. I loved it! As someone who has issues with the heavier and far more awkward balls in regular bowling (let's just say that I had a date with the chiropractor soon after having my last bowling outing), I greatly appreciated the smaller and lighter balls. Be forewarned that this is very popular activity. A friend and I went on a cold Presidents' Day, and we had to wait about 45 minutes for a lane. And it seemed that we were the only ones there without little kids. A super cheap activity it is not - $4 to rent shoes, plus $5 a game per person. Since it was only two of us, each game did not take all that much time, so going to a movie would have been a cheaper activity on a per minutes basis. But this was fun and SO Maryland. :-) read more

Duck. Pin. Bowling. Pros: $10 pitchers of beer, clean lanes, not too crowded and a killer jukebox. Cons: After a few drinks, manually keeping scores becomes increasingly difficult. Go after 10:30 PM on a Saturday when they have unlimited cosmic bowling for $14 (including shoe rentals). Enough said. read more

Duckpin bowling. It's a Maryland thing, you wouldn't understand. More specifically, a Baltimore thing. I always liked this place, it's a definite constant in the White Oak shopping center. Been there since at least the 70s, I'm sure (I, on the other hand, have not). So duckpin bowling balls are small. Not *that* much bigger than a softball which makes it fun for kids and adults alike. The snacks at the snack bar are the cheapest in town. I used to stop by just to get some mozzarella sticks. So round everyone one up, and get your duckpin on! read more

There is one con, and that this place is all the way out in Silver Spring. Now, having gotten that out of the way, this place is completely worth it. I thought the prices were a little steep when I looked at their website, but if you go on Saturday night, they do cosmic duckpins, which for $14, you get shoe rental, and all you can bowl from 10:30-1am. You'll get more than your fill as your arms will be sore in the morning. Pitchers are $10, which includes your standard domestics, but it was really nice that there was Yuengling on tap. You can't expect much for Bowling alley beer, except for the slight possibility it might be laced with... well, something. Pitchers yield three 16 oz. cups, or six 8oz. cups if that helps you do the math. So Duckpins is a whole world of fun. Having to keep your score is cool at first, but gets a little annoying after awhile. Getting to manually press the buttons to set the pins (and sweep out deadwood) is fun too. Let's be honest though. This place's saving grace: The Simpsons arcade game. DONE DEAL. Saturday night pulls a mixed crowd, but it's mostly older folks. The music is top 40s, but there are some real gems in there. read more

It was a fun. I love the fact that the original set up was still there even though it wasn't in working condition. The staff was very polite and helpful. We were there for family bonding time so keeping score we just did the best we could on paper but the atmosphere was cool. The smell was not so good but it's a super old building. read more

Look for the sign in the strip mall that simply says BOWLING. Enter the doors, head downstairs, and find a friendly, non-pretentious, and clean duckpin bowling alley. I had a lot of fun here. The crowd was diverse (people of all races, older couples, groups of respectful teenagers, etc.) and everyone seemed to be having a good time without being obnoxious. On a Saturday night, games are $4 each until 10 p.m., a price I found quite reasonable. Shoe rental is $3.00. As with any bowling alley, don't forget to bring socks. After 10, you have the choice of unlimited cosmic bowling (loud, obnoxious music and disco lights) for $13 until 1:00 a.m. or $7 per game. read more