Almost five years of rope tangles are enough...

"How on earth did you come up with the idea of starting a bowling center with a Filipino ambience?" 
I heard this sentence quite often at the beginning of 2011, when I, a total career changer with no experience in gastronomy or bowling, decided to build my own bowling center and then run it. 
This thought has its origin in my many trips to the Philippines. I had never experienced such a warm welcome in any other place... and the wonderful food! Together with my wife, who is Filipina, I wanted to create a place where you can simply feel good, play bowling and also eat well.
And as is so often the case when a vision is to be turned into reality, reality catches up. In my case, I was left hanging by the bowling alley builder originally hired. Systemtechnik Kilian (predecessor of NGT-Bowling) jumped in practically at the last minute and literally got my project rolling again. It was a difference like day and night, suddenly there was honest, trusting cooperation, advice and binding schedules from a company that tackles instead of... (no comment!)
Bowling Islands was then opened in 2013, at that time already with state-of-the-art white LED and laser reflex lane surfaces, but still with the conventional cable-guided pinsetters, which were all based on technology from the 70s and 80s, independent of the manufacturer.  Unfortunately, at that time there were no airO products from NGT, especially the airOsetter, but it was already clear to me back then that I didn't want a maintenance- and personnel-intensive "free fall" pinsetter. 

When I first heard about the new airOsetter in 2015, I initially thought it was just another copy of the one-shaft elevator mechanical copy that had been around in the bowling market for decades. 

But then I was allowed to experience the airO Pinsetter live and I immediately understood that the people from the NGT team had finally designed something contemporary. This became particularly clear to me when I had the first defect in my conventional rope pinsetter after about 4 years, a spring lever (rope pulley arm) broke. After rummaging through a huge spare parts catalogue, I ordered the spare part. After it arrived, I realized that there was no way I could do this repair myself. It couldn't be done in a few simple steps, this required sound mechanical engineering knowledge that I didn't have, so I needed sound outside help and ended up being four hours and a big bill further...