Zone Bowling
{{Short description|Australian operator of ten-pin bowling alleys}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use Australian English|date=February 2016}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Zone Bowling
| logo = Zone Bowling logo.svg
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| founded = {{start date and age|df=yes|1 Sep 1985}} as AMF Bowling Centres
| defunct =
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| parent = The Entertainment and Education Group (TEEG)
| website = {{URL|https://zonebowling.com}}
}}
Zone Bowling is a group of bowling centers in Australia and New Zealand currently owned and operated by The Entertainment and Education Group (TEEG). Zone Bowling has 34 locations across Australia, and three locations across New Zealand.
History
File:Zone Bowling Moorabbin.jpg
Originally known as AMF Bowling Australia, originating as the Australian part of the bowling division of American Machine and Foundry (AMF). AMF began a joint venture to manufacture pinspotters in Australia in 1959 in view of the growing popularity of ten-pin bowling in the country at the time. By 1964 1,600 bowling lanes existed in Australia, but the popularity of the sport had begun to decline.
In 1985 a group of private investors in Richmond, Virginia, United States purchased the bowling division of American Machine and Foundry to form AMF Bowling Companies, Inc. (later known as AMF Bowling Worldwide).{{cite web|title=AMF Bowling, Inc. History|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/amf-bowling-inc-history/|access-date=1 February 2014}} The company then bought two major Australian bowling chains to revive interest in bowling. AMF Australia expanded from 16 bowling centres to 30 by 1987, and to over 40 by 2004.
AMF Bowling Worldwide sold its Australian division of to Macquarie Leisure Trust (later known as Ardent Leisure) in February 2005 as part of AMF's strategy at the time to re-focus on its U.S. bowling business.{{cite web|title=AMF Signs Agreement to Sell Its Bowling Centers in Australia |url=http://www.edgewaterfunds.com/ef_news/article/amf_signs_agreement_to_sell_its_bowling_centers_in_australia.htm |access-date=1 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202154916/http://www.edgewaterfunds.com/ef_news/article/amf_signs_agreement_to_sell_its_bowling_centers_in_australia.htm |archive-date=2 February 2014 }}
In December 2017, The Entertainment and Education Group (TEEG) announced that they had purchased Ardent Leisure's bowling and entertainment division for $160 million in order to merge it with its Timezone entertainment business, forming a combined entertainment group encompassing Timezone, AMF, Kingpin and Playtime.{{Cite web|date=2017-12-20|title=Ardent sells AMF bowling alleys for $160m|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/ardent-sells-amf-bowling-alleys-for-160m|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108055106/https://www.sbs.com.au/news/ardent-sells-amf-bowling-alleys-for-160m|archive-date=2020-11-08|access-date=2020-11-08|website=SBS News}} All AMF bowling centres in Australia were rebranded as Zone Bowling.{{Cite web|last=Snook|first=Dan|date=2018-05-10|title=Aussie AMF now Zone|url=https://www.intergameonline.com/coin-op/news/aussie-amf-now-zone|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108061536/https://www.intergameonline.com/coin-op/news/aussie-amf-now-zone|archive-date=2020-11-08|access-date=2020-11-08|website=InterGame}}
In February 2019, TEEG opened its first of many dual branded venues of Zone Bowling and Timezone locations in Westfield Garden City.{{Cite web |title=Group Timeline from TEEG |url=https://teeg.com/our-story/group-timeline/ |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=TEEG}} TEEG now has 15 dual venue locations which offer both Zone Bowling and Timezone.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://www.zonebowling.com/}}
- {{Commons category-inline}}
{{Ardent Leisure}}
Category:Entertainment companies of Australia