Automatic Bowling Scoring (ABS)
Automatic Bowling Scoring was to be KineticSystems' first product. Technically, the hardware wasn't a big challenge. You needed (1) a means for sensing what pins are standing, (2) a CAMAC input module for bringing the pin information into the computer, (3) a CAMAC output module for controlling the pinsetter reset, (4) a CAMAC display module for displaying the score on a TV screen and (5) a CAMAC Branch Driver for communication between the computer and CAMAC modules. And then you needed a software program to tie it all together. We had a head start with the design of the CAMAC modules since designing CAMAC input and output modules is what we had been doing for two years at Fermilab. On my first day at work my challenges were to finish debugging the Branch Driver design and then design the TV display module. We had promised the shareholders that could get a demonstration in mid June, so there was no time to lose.
The software was a big part of the system. Paul Mellick, a free spirit and co-worker at Fermilab, helped us out, and he brought along his friend, Rodney Smith. Together they created the software that they dubbed "I sing the system Kinetic." Rodney Smith was paid hourly for his work, and Paul acted as advisor and go-between. In the month preceding the shareholder demonstration I often wouldn't see Rodney for days. He preferred to program next to his fish tank at home. The night of our shareholder demonstration Rodney arrived an hour before the start to debug the software. He of course got it working, but it wasn't easy on my nerves.
The mid-June shareholder demonstration went well. We simulated automatic scoring by setting up pins on my basement floor, manually knocking them down, and watching the score develop in traditional fashion on TV screens. As an option, we offered what we felt was an improvement on traditional scoring: the pattern of pins left standing could be displayed frame by frame instead of the number of pins knocked down. For example, if three pins were left standing after the first ball, you could see a pattern of 3 dots rather than the number 7.
We were now ready for the next step: installing a working prototype on four lanes at Strike 'n Spare. In late summer we relocated the company to the Strike 'n Spare "playroom" since the computer had to go to the bowling alley. Soon we were testing the system by involving real bowlers. One feature that we were specially proud of was lane-by-lane long term storage of every pinfall pattern that occurred. This allowed us to calculate in real time for each lane the probability that a certain split could be "picked up." Such probabilities were based on the actual history of the lane. For example, if your first ball resulted in a split, a message would tell you the odds of picking up the split. Such odds were based on the history of that particular lane. A proprietor could also use this data to determine if a lane were "oiled" incorrectly.
Automatic Bowling Scoring worked well for us that fall and Jim Scott was soon talking about the need for a "World Premiere" of our system. We picked a date---or rather a whole weekend---for the Premiere: it would be the weekend of December 4. The plan was to invite bowling proprietors from near and far to attend a special preview presentation on Friday night, then to host a competition involving two local professional bowlers on Saturday night, and to allow the public to experience automatic bowling scoring on Sunday.
Bowling proprietors came from as far away as Utah for the Friday night presentation. On that Friday morning, something happened that had never happened before: the computer wouldn't boot up. The DEC repairman arrived in early afternoon and was still working on it at 5 p.m. with proprietors standing around watching. The problem was solved soon after that (it was a defective power supply), and the demonstrations proceeded as planned.
After the computer power supply glitch, the weekend was very successfull. The system performed flawlessly, and a lot of nice things were said that weekend and in the newspapers for weeks to come. Automatic bowling scoring had arrived.
With a lot of the design and engineering pressures behind us, we now had time to look into troubles brewing on several "political" fronts. One issue was patents. We had a tall pile of Brunswick scoring-related patents in our possession, and a patent attorney friend of Jim Scott had been analyzing them for us. On January 11, 1972, we received a letter from William G. Lawler, Jr., a Brunswick patent attorney, advising us the existence of ten Brunswick patents that relate to scoring. Since we had done our homework, we weren't particularly surprised about this. But the letter generated some concern, nevertheless.
Then there was the American Bowling Congress (ABC). The ABC was well-known to bowling proprietors, because it was critical that their facilities be "sanctioned" by the ABC. It's very important to a bowling league, for example, that a bowling facility be sanctioned so that individual and team scores are recognized as valid. Without sanctioning, a 300-game could be suspect due to incorrect maintenance of the lanes. To be sanctioned, everything relating to the bowling experience---the lanes, the pin setting equipment, and, yes, the scoring method or apparatus---had to be approved by the ABC.
So, on a cold day in the winter of 1972, Jim Scott and I took a trip up to the ABC headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We had made an appointment in advance, so they knew we were coming and what we wanted to talk about. We met with a person who was obviously a senior member of the ABC and had been around bowling for a long time. He was cordial and business-like, but not friendly. We left with a short list of "three serious deficiencies" that we would have to correct to have a chance of gaining ABC approval. I was not happy because the "deficiencies" looked to me more like a protection of Brunswick than a sensible requirement for automatic scoring.