16 January 2013
BOWLING: Round 1 opened its second U.S. location in the Moreno Valley Mall, and although the fun’s worth it, the alley may wear on some people’s nerves.
By Isabel De La Garza, Senior Writer
Round 1 began in Japan and opened its first U.S. Location in Puente Hills in 2010. Encouraged by the success of the Puente Hills location, Round One Corp. chose to open another U.S. location in the Moreno Valley Mall. The new bowling alley and game center, open from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., has many of the great attractions of Puente Hills and is a great new addition to the mall.
Round 1 has what most people could probably infer about a bowling alley: bowling lanes. 18 bowling lanes to be exact, each with a flat screen television mounted above it and nice sofas to lounge on. The lanes have ten large projection screens mounted across them that allow bowlers to see the TV screens while they are actually bowling. So if one likes to watch the news and bowl at the same time, he or she won’t miss a single minute. Like the other Round 1, the Moreno Valley Location offers many attractions in addition to bowling.
It may lack the ping pong tables of the Puente Hills location, but Round 1 Moreno Valley does have the same dartboards and pool tables, not to mention a snack bar. There is also a massive arcade that takes up a whole half of the floor. There are all sorts of games that you can play to win tickets, which can then be redeemed for prizes at the prize corner located behind the main counter. There are 46 different prize machines varying from Japanese UFO machines to the classic American claw machine to the new plunger machine. The prizes in these machines include snacks, ice cream, plush toys, action figures, game systems, tablets and even tickets redeemable for prizes.
Another attraction is the seven Japanese photo booths located inside. Unlike U.S. photo booths, these Puripix machines (an abbreviated, anglicized title short for “pretty pictures”) take more pictures than the standard line of four small pictures of American photo booths. They are also much bigger. One could probably squeeze about 8 average people in there and be only slightly cramped. On top of having more pictures in a session, which usually get consolidated into a 4×6 or 5×6 sticker (depending on the machine) featuring a collage of all the pictures, one can choose which pictures to use and edit each one. There are photo booths with programs that digitally enhance a person’s beauty or superimpose different clothes on a person as well as little funny or cute things such as blush, cat ears, devil horns, angel wings and much more. The machines charge you for how long you have been in the machine but generally are very easy to use, so it doesn’t take long once you get the hang of it.
Finally, there are private Karaoke rooms. Round 1’s private Karaoke rooms can fit about three to eight people and party Karaoke rooms can fit up to 30. The rooms can be set up to do Japanese Karaoke, Korean Karaoke, Spanish Karaoke and, of course, English Karaoke.
There are some issues with the place, however: its amount of employees, their amount of training, some of its policies and its location. As the alley just opened, there are not many employees on staff yet to help attend to the large amounts of customers and their needs. Also, they may not be very familiar with their jobs just yet. The snack bar only had one employee behind the bar, the bowling/information/membership card desk had two and the prize corner had one the last time I visited. Luckily, one does not have to wait in long lines for shoes like at other bowling alleys because there is an automated shoe rental dispensing unit that provides you with shoes, which you return after you have finished your game. You may have to wait a bit for them to set a lane up for you, though.
The prices for bowling and other attractions such as billiards, Karaoke and darts are fairly reasonable and may even be a little bit cheaper at times than other bowling alleys. One game of bowling on a weekday before 5 p.m. is $8 a person, including shoe rentals. On weekends and after 5 p.m. on weekdays, however, the prices go up at least two dollars. The prices also rise according to the amount of players/participants. Packages for multiple games or hours significantly lower the prices. Two games at the same time, for example, is $11.50 per person including shoe rental, while 90 minutes is $13.99 per person including shoe rental.
On top of that, you need to actually purchase a game card to play any of the games or use the photo booths. Once you purchase your game card you must also get credits onto it, most likely by paying for more credits with your own money. Luckily, the staff helps with prize machines by posting helpful hints on how to win prizes in the windows of some games, moving prizes around for you a bit if there is nothing “winnable” and even showing videos with tricks for winning.
What the alley lacks in entertainment it makes up for with other benefits and rewards. They offer great deals for members and parties. Some may wonder, however, how safe the alley is considering its location. Moreno Valley’s crime rate has dropped significantly since the early 2000s. Last year, it actually had fewer violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants than Riverside did. The mall is only a street away from the border of Riverside and has an actual Police Department housed inside of it that helps mall security patrol the mall and its parking lots. Since 2010, the mall and the city of Moreno Valley have increased patrols, effectively lowering the crime rate.
Despite the strict rules of the alley, it is unlikely that anything problematic will result from them. No one under 18 is allowed in without a guardian 25 or older after 10 p.m. No one under 21 is allowed in without a guardian 25 or older after 12 a.m., and this guardian may only be in charge of four people under the age stipulations at any time. Not only does Round 1 monitor and card each entrant for a valid, government-issued ID card (without any sort of damage) after 10 p.m. and have its security personnel confiscate counterfeit identification cards, but also has other strict rules such as no weapons, no vandalism and no profanity/loud speech. It also reserves the right to search all suspicious persons and belongings and seize any contraband. Alley security enforces all of the alley’s rules with back-up from the police and mall security if necessary. At the moment, it seems as though the place will remain fairly safe from violence and property crimes, if the police and mall security have anything to say about it.
Round 1 is moderately expensive but provides a lot of attractions. It has its flaws but those will probably get worked out as time progresses. It is a great addition and asset to the Moreno Valley Mall, which is improving gradually with new profitable businesses such as Rue21, Harkins Theatre and now Round 1. With Round 1, the mall may be able to boost profits enough to attract more vendors and hire not only more security but also more employees. The mall may be able to become more successful than it has ever been.
Courtesy of round1usa.com and yelp.com