New York City / Bowling
Best Bowling Alleys in NYC
$16 or $116 for the same hour. It depends entirely on how the lane is billed.
Ten of these run a published deal — the Bowl 360 rooms do $10 a head for two hours unlimited, every morning until 1pm.
- 18 verified alleys
- 15 publish a price
- from $10/person
- 10 real deals
The best bowling in NYC right now is Bowl 360 ($10 a head for two hours unlimited with shoes, daily until 1pm, at three rooms in Astoria, Gravesend and Ozone Park), Rab’s on Staten Island ($32 a lane for up to six, the best per-head rate in the city), Jib Lanes in Fresh Meadows ($40 for a lane for three hours on a weekend morning), Brooklyn Bowl (the lane covers eight, so $3.75 each) and Lucky Strike Queens, which charges $2 less a game than its own Times Square room. The thing that decides your bill is not the alley — it is the billing system. New York uses four, and they are not comparable: per game per person, per lane per half hour, per lane per hour, and per person for a fixed unlimited block. Every card below says which.
The short version
- CheapestBowl 360 — $10 a head for two hours unlimited with shoes, every day 10am–1pm. Three rooms.
- Best lane rateRab’s on Staten Island: $32 a lane covering six people. About $5.33 each.
- Most expensiveThe Gutter LES — $100 a lane-hour on a Friday, plus $8 shoes. Same product is $30 in Williamsburg.
- Read the billingPer game per person · per lane per half hour · per lane per hour · per person unlimited. Four different systems.
- The Manhattan taxLucky Strike is $9.99 a game in Woodside and $11.99 in Times Square. Same company.
At a glance
How the lane is actually billed, the lane count, and the deal where there is one.
| Alley | How it bills | Lanes | Neighborhood | $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowl 360 Astoria | $10 pp / 2 hrs unlimited | Daily | 10am–1pm | $$$ |
| Rab’s Country Lanes | $32–$47 per lane/hour | 48 lanes | Dongan Hills | $$$ |
| Jib Lanes | $16 pp late night | Packages only | Fresh Meadows | $$$ |
| Bowl 360 Brooklyn | $10 pp / 2 hrs unlimited | Daily | 10am–1pm | $$$ |
| Bowl 360 Ozone Park | $10 pp / 2 hrs unlimited | Daily | 10am–1pm | $$$ |
| The Gutter (Williamsburg) | $30–$35 per lane/half hour | 8 lanes, 21+ | Williamsburg | $$$ |
| The Gutter (Long Island City) | $25 unlimited late night | 8 lanes, 21+ | Long Island City | $$$ |
| Brooklyn Bowl | $30–$35 per lane/half hour | 16 lanes, up to 8 | Williamsburg | $$$ |
| The Gutter (Lower East Side) | $42–$50 per lane/half hour | 12 lanes | Lower East Side | $$$ |
| Lucky Strike Queens | $9.99–$14.99 per game/person | 35 lanes | Woodside | $$$ |
| Lucky Strike Times Square | $11.99–$16.99 per game/person | 50 lanes | Times Square | $$$ |
| Lucky Strike Chelsea Piers | $11.99–$16.99 per game/person | 40 lanes | Chelsea | $$$ |
| Frames Bowling Lounge | $60–$85 per lane/hour | 28 lanes | Hell’s Kitchen | $$$ |
| Melody Lanes | $60–$70 per lane/hour | 26 lanes | Sunset Park | $$$ |
| Funfest Mill Basin Bowl | $15–$30 pp unlimited | 34 lanes | Mill Basin | $$$ |
| Showplace Entertainment Center | Not published | 32 lanes | Travis | $$$ |
| Gun Post Lanes | Not published | Bar and pool tables | Baychester | $$$ |
| Bowlerland | Not published · cash only | Arcade and pool | Edenwald | $$$ |
Map: where these 18 spots are
The cheap bowling is in Queens, south Brooklyn and Staten Island. Manhattan is the most expensive by a distance.
Pins are numbered to match the table above – tap any pin for the detail and directions.
Cheapest ways to bowl in NYC
Five rooms where an hour costs less than a round of drinks. More in best cheap eats in NYC.
Bowl 360 Astoria On now
The cheapest verified bowling in New York City: $10 per person for a full two-hour unlimited session with free shoes, every day, 10am to 1pm. Not per game, not per lane — two hours, all you can bowl, ten dollars. After 1pm the same two hours is $25 a head Sun–Thu and $40 Fri–Sat, so the morning window is the entire proposition. 28 lanes plus 40-plus arcade games and pool tables, open daily 10am to 2am. Two honest caveats: the $10 rate ends at 1pm sharp, and booking online adds a 21% non-refundable fee — walk in and you avoid it. It is also a real walk from the Ditmars Blvd N/W terminus.
bowl360astoria.com · See our Astoria happy hours
Rab’s Country Lanes On now
The best per-person lane rate in New York, and it is on Staten Island: $32 per lane per hour covering up to six bowlers on a weekday afternoon — roughly $5.33 a head. Rates run $40 weekday nights, $42 weekend days, $47 weekend nights; shoes $6. With 48 lanes it is now the largest bowling centre in the city following Whitestone’s closure. Cosmic Bowling runs Friday and Saturday at $30 a head including shoes. The honest caveat, and Rab’s is one of very few alleys honest enough to publish it: the hours page shows Tuesday closed 7–10pm and Wednesday closed 6–9:30pm. Those are league blocks — the alley is genuinely shut to open bowling then.
bowlatrabs.com · See our best sports bars in NYC
Jib Lanes On now
The best lane-hour rate verified anywhere in the city, if you can be there at ten in the morning: the Weekend Early Bird is $40 per lane for up to three hours, Sat–Sun 10am–1pm, walk-ins only — roughly $13 a lane-hour. Late Night is $16 a head Sun–Thu 9–11pm including shoes; College Late Night is $12 with a valid ID, Mon–Thu 10pm–midnight; League Bowler Practice is $9.99 for up to three hours Mon–Fri 1–4pm. The honest caveat: there is no plain open-bowling rate published at all — everything is a package, so which one you qualify for decides your price. And it is a league house. Call ahead.
maplelanes.com · See our Forest Hills happy hours
Bowl 360 Brooklyn On now
The Gravesend room in the Bowl 360 group, in the old Shell Lanes building at 1 Bouck Court, rebuilt with modern lanes and upgraded lighting — and carrying the same rate card as Astoria: $10 per person for two hours unlimited with free shoes, every day 10am to 1pm, then $25 a head Sun–Thu and $40 Fri–Sat. Open daily 10am to 2am. A correction worth making: MurphGuide’s directory still lists this room as temporarily closed for renovation. It is open. The honest caveat: the $10 window ends at 1pm sharp, the Friday afternoon rate is four times it, and online booking adds a 21% non-refundable fee.
bowl360brooklyn.com · See our best cheap eats in NYC
Bowl 360 Ozone Park On now
Identical rate card to the Astoria and Gravesend rooms — $10 per person for two hours unlimited with free shoes, daily 10am to 1pm, $25 a head Sun–Thu and $40 Fri–Sat after that — and this is the one right on the A train at Rockaway Boulevard, which makes it the easiest of the three to reach without a car. Open daily 10am to 2am. The honest verdict, stated plainly so you do not waste a trip: there is no price advantage to travelling to a particular Bowl 360. Pick whichever is closest. The caveat: the same 21% non-refundable online booking fee applies here — walk in.
bowl360ozonepark.com · See our Forest Hills happy hours
Bar-first alleys
Bars that happen to have lanes, not the other way round. Pair with best breweries in NYC.
The Gutter (Williamsburg)
Eight salvaged 1960s wooden lanes rather than modern synthetics, in a bar that happens to have bowling in it, open to 4am seven nights. $30 per lane per half hour Sun–Thu, $35 Fri–Sat, shoes $6, socks $4. It is 21 and over at all times — the strictest of the three Gutter rooms, no family window at any hour. The Spare Room show space sits behind the lanes. The honest caveat, and it is arithmetic: eight lanes, no reservation culture and a 4am close means a Friday at 10pm is a long wait with a beer in your hand. Go before 7pm, or go on a Tuesday. More of the block in our Williamsburg happy hours guide.
The Gutter (Long Island City) On now
$25 for unlimited bowling from 11pm to 2am, Sunday through Thursday — the only late-night unlimited deal at a bar-first alley anywhere in the city, and by some distance the cheapest way to bowl in a room like this. Standard rates match Williamsburg: $30 per lane per half hour Sun–Thu, $35 Fri–Sat, $6 shoes. Opens 5pm Mon–Thu, 2pm Friday, noon at weekends. Two honest caveats: it is 21+ at all times with no family window, and it closes at 2am, not 4am like the Williamsburg and LES rooms — so the $25 unlimited leaves you three hours at most. Get there by 11.
Brooklyn Bowl
The best per-head lane price of any bar-first alley in the city, if you actually fill the lane: $30 per lane per half hour Mon–Thu and $35 Fri–Sun, covering up to eight guests — which at eight people is $3.75 each for a half hour. Shoes are $5.95, the cheapest verified anywhere in this guide. Sixteen lanes, food by Blue Ribbon, full concert sound. The honest caveat, and it will reshape your week: bowling is closed Monday through Wednesday entirely. The room opens Thursday and Friday at 6pm and weekends at noon, and on show nights the lanes get crowded out — check the concert calendar before you plan around it. Usually 21+ after 6pm.
brooklynbowl.com · See our best breweries in NYC
The Gutter (Lower East Side)
The most expensive verified bowling in New York City: $42 per lane per half hour Sun–Wed and $50 Thu–Sat, which makes a full lane-hour on a Friday $100 before shoes — and shoes are $8 a pair with socks at $4, so budget roughly $16 a head if you turn up unprepared. Open to 4am every night, one of very few places in the city you can bowl at 3am. 21+ from 7pm; before 7pm it runs as family bowling. The honest caveat, and it is the comparison that matters: the identical product is $30 a half hour at the Williamsburg and LIC rooms. You are paying $20 a half hour for an Essex Street address.
gutterbarbowl.com · See our Lower East Side happy hours
The per-game chains
Where the sticker price hides the real one. See also best sports bars in NYC.
Lucky Strike Queens On now
The cleanest price comparison in this entire guide, because it is one company charging itself two different prices: the identical Lucky Strike product is $9.99 a game here and $11.99 in Times Square, with shoes $6.99 against $7.99. Thirty-five lanes off the 7 and the M/R. Rates run $9.99 Mon–Thu, $11.99 Sat until 4pm and Sun until 6pm, $14.99 Fri–Sat after 4pm. Endless Summer Nights is $26.99 a head for unlimited bowling with shoes, Sun–Thu from 7pm — $5 less than the Times Square version of the same promotion. The verdict: if you are anywhere near the 7 train, bowl here instead.
luckystrikeent.com · See our Astoria happy hours
Lucky Strike Times Square On now
The pricing model is the thing to understand here, because it is where people get caught: this is per game, per person, not per lane. A group of six bowling three games each is eighteen games. Rates are $11.99 Mon–Thu, $13.99 Sat until 4pm and Sun until 6pm, $16.99 Fri–Sat after 4pm, with $7.99 shoes on top of every one of them. Fifty lanes, the largest room in Manhattan. The sane way to use it is the unlimited nights: Endless Summer Nights at $31.99 a head Sun–Thu from 7pm, or Family Unlimited at $22.99 Sat–Sun 11am–3pm. There is also a daily buy-two-get-the-third-half-off. 21+ Fri–Sat after 9pm.
luckystrikeent.com · See our best Theater District restaurants
Lucky Strike Chelsea Piers On now
Forty lanes on Pier 60 over the Hudson, priced identically to Times Square: $11.99 / $13.99 / $16.99 per game per person by band, plus $7.99 shoes. The reason to know about it is one promotion: Family Unlimited, $22.99 per person, Saturday and Sunday 11am to 3pm, unlimited bowling with shoes included — the cheapest verified way to bowl anywhere in Manhattan. Endless Summer Nights runs Sun–Thu evenings at $31.99. The honest caveat: it is on a pier, which means a real 12–15 minute walk from 23rd St and no cheap parking. Budget the travel time, not just the game. More nearby in our Chelsea happy hours guide.
luckystrikeent.com · See our Chelsea happy hours
Frames Bowling Lounge On now
Billed per lane per hour, which is the sane model: $60 before 5pm Wed–Sun, $75 after 5pm, $85 Fri–Sat after 5pm with a two-hour minimum — so a Friday night floor is $170 for the lane plus $8 a head for mandatory shoes. Twenty-eight lanes above 9th Ave at 40th St, two blocks from Port Authority. The deal worth chasing is DOUBLE DOWN: 50% off walk-in lane rentals Monday and Tuesday before 5pm — but doors open at 4pm Mon–Thu, so the window is effectively 4 to 5pm. The honest caveat: lane capacity is capped at 5 bowlers on a one-hour rental, and it closes for private buyouts without much warning. Call before you walk over.
framesnyc.com · See our Hell’s Kitchen happy hours
Neighborhood alleys
League houses, cash-only rooms and the last two alleys in the Bronx. More in best dive bars in NYC.
Melody Lanes
A 1950s Sunset Park bowling house with twenty-six lanes, open from 9am every single day — the earliest daily open of any alley in this guide, and the flattest price curve: $60 per lane per hour on a weekday morning rising only to $70 on a Friday night, a 17% swing where others triple. Shoes $6. Senior and special-needs bowling is $5 a game, school and camp groups $6 with free shoes. The honest caveat, and it is a real one on a Saturday: there are no reservations under ten people — groups of ten-plus book with a $50 deposit per lane, everyone else is first-come. Come on a weekday morning. League play blocks lanes and the nights are not published.
melodylanesny.com · See our best tacos in NYC
Funfest Mill Basin Bowl
Billed per person for unlimited bowling with shoes included, which makes the maths unusually easy: $15 an hour or $25 for two hours before 5pm, $17/$27 after 5pm, $20/$30 Friday and Saturday. The local move is in the rate card: two hours costs less than 1.7x one hour at every single band, so the two-hour block is always the better buy — never buy one hour here. Thirty-four lanes plus a bar and lounge, open 9am to midnight (1am Fri–Sat). The honest caveat: it is in Mill Basin, which means no subway — the B41 or a car. Worth it if you are already in south Brooklyn, a long haul if you are not.
Showplace Entertainment Center
Thirty-two lanes inside a genuine entertainment complex: an arcade with skeeball and air hockey, a billiard room with twelve tables, a dart area, a sports bar, a pizzeria, a gym and the Looney Bin Comedy Club, all under one roof off the Staten Island Expressway service road. For a group that wants options rather than a lane, nothing else in this guide comes close. The honest caveat, and do this before you drive out: nothing is published — no lane price, no shoe price, no league nights — and its old domain, showplacebowling.com, now redirects to Rab’s. Call 718-477-2695 and confirm the lanes are still running.
See our best comedy clubs in NYC
Gun Post Lanes
One of only two operating bowling alleys left in the entire Bronx, a borough of 1.4 million people — and that fact is the single most useful thing on this card. A full neighbourhood bowling house rather than an entertainment complex: a bar and lounge, pool tables, a pro shop and real league play, off the 5 train at Gun Hill Rd. Open 10am to 11pm Sun–Thu and to 1am Fri–Sat, with cosmic bowling on unpublished nights. The honest caveat: no rates of any kind are published — not the game price, not the shoes, not the league nights — and in a borough with two alleys left, a full house on a league night means no bowling at all. Call 718-881-0331 first.
bowling.placefull.com · See our best sports bars in NYC
Bowlerland
Cash only, with no ATM on the premises. That is the whole story and it is the reason this card exists: turn up with a card and you are not bowling, in the far northeast Bronx near Co-op City where there is nothing else nearby to fall back on. The last genuinely old-school alley in the borough — pool tables and an arcade alongside the lanes, weekly black-light bowling on nights the venue does not publish, open 9am to midnight Sun–Thu and to 1am Fri–Sat. The honest caveat, beyond the cash: no price is published anywhere online and the only first-party source is a Facebook page. Phone 718-994-8700, and stop at a bank on the way.
facebook.com · See our best dive bars in NYC
NYC bowling: FAQ
How much does bowling cost in NYC?
For one hour with two people, roughly $16 to $116 – and the spread comes from the billing system, not the quality. The floor is Bowl 360, which charges $10 per person for two hours of unlimited bowling with free shoes, every day 10am to 1pm, at its Astoria, Gravesend and Ozone Park rooms. The ceiling is The Gutter on the Lower East Side at $50 per lane per half hour Thursday to Saturday – $100 for a lane-hour – plus $8 a pair for shoes. Fifteen of the 18 alleys verified for this guide publish a price.
Is bowling in NYC priced per game or per hour?
Both, plus two other systems, and confusing them is the most expensive mistake in this category. Per lane per half hour: all three Gutter locations and Brooklyn Bowl. Per lane per hour: Melody Lanes, Rab’s and Frames. Per game per person: all three Lucky Strike rooms. Per person for a fixed unlimited block: all three Bowl 360 rooms, Funfest Mill Basin and most of Jib Lanes’ specials. A $30 half-hour lane at Brooklyn Bowl covers eight people; $11.99 a game at Lucky Strike covers one person for one game.
What is the cheapest way to bowl in New York?
Bowl 360 – $10 per person for two hours of unlimited bowling with free shoe rental, every day from 10am to 1pm, at all three NYC rooms. Walk in rather than booking online, because online reservations carry a 21% non-refundable fee. After that: Jib Lanes’ Weekend Early Bird at $40 per lane for up to three hours on Saturday and Sunday mornings, roughly $13 a lane-hour; Rab’s at $32 per lane per hour covering six bowlers; and Lucky Strike Chelsea Piers’ Family Unlimited at $22.99 per person, weekends 11am to 3pm, which is the cheapest verified bowling in Manhattan.
Which NYC bowling alleys are 21+?
The Gutter Williamsburg and The Gutter Long Island City are 21 and over at all times, with no family window at any hour. The Gutter on the Lower East Side is 21+ from 7pm to close and runs family bowling with an accompanying adult before that. Brooklyn Bowl is usually 21+ after 6pm, with weekend daytime the only reliably all-ages window. Lucky Strike Times Square is 21+ on Friday and Saturday after 9pm, and Frames is 21+ after 8pm Friday through Sunday. The neighborhood alleys publish no age policy at all.
Has any NYC bowling alley closed recently?
Yes, and it was the biggest. Whitestone Lanes in Queens closed permanently in June 2026 – 48 lanes and the city’s only 24-hour alley – after the site sold for $45 million for a 415-unit residential building. That makes Rab’s Country Lanes on Staten Island, at 48 lanes, the largest bowling centre in New York City. Bowlmor Union Square, Maple Lanes and Shell Lanes are also gone, though the Shell Lanes building at 1 Bouck Court now operates as Bowl 360 Brooklyn. The Bronx is down to two alleys – Gun Post and Bowlerland – and neither publishes a price.
Last updated: August 2026. Prices and hours change – confirm with the venue before you go. Spot something out of date? Let us know.
