United States Bowling Congress chooses Daktronics for new scoring system

By Andrew Lippe

The United States Bowling
Congress annual USBC Open Championships, which take place for 135 consecutive
days, is the biggest tournament in the bowling spectrum and with more than
10,000 bowlers participating keeping track of all the action is paramount. That
is why this year the USBC will test a Daktronics integrated scoring system that
will make its official debut on the 56-lane installation at the 2009 event in

Las Vegas.

“We have continued to
break new ground in technology,” said Matt Cannizzaro, USBC, media relations
manager.

The USBC Open
championships feature a two-game format. A side tournament will be conducted on
a 12-lane setup adjacent to the 48 lanes being used for the championships. It
is at the side event that six lanes will be equipped with new Daktronics
scoreboards.

Cannizzaro says the last
significant modification to bowling scoreboards was when computerized scoring
was added for the first time at a 1979 event.

The new ProStar VideoPlus
scoreboards cover a total area of 350 square feet, and will replace outdated
flip digit displays. In addition to presenting scoring information, the video
display will also show bowler statistics, advertisements, and air recorded
footage.

“We wanted to make a
memorable change,” said Cannizzaro. “We knew we had to change with the times.”

ProStar technology uses
the latest in red, green and blue (RGB) light emitting diode (LED) technology
to present live and recorded video images, colorful animation and vivid
graphics with incredible brightness and wide-angle visibility.

The new displays will be
managed by two Venus 7000 controllers. The Venus 7000 controller provides power
and flexibility. The scoreboards will feature enhanced graphics with 4.4
trillion colors and streaming video capabilities. The setup also will include a
12×9 feet, HD video display screen over the tournament’s traditional Center
Aisle.

“We are giving our
bowlers a technology and experience they deserve,” Cannizzaro added.