If you've gone bowling any time in the last few decades, and don't totally suck at it, you've been treated to a cheap 3D animation that plays when you get a strike. They might seem a bit cheesy, but we're inclined to like them as we're out with friends having a good time, we've probably had a few beers, and most importantly, they let everyone in the bowling alley know that, for a least a few brief seconds, we did something perfectly.
But things have changed since the '80s. Now we not only live in the age of memes but at a time when anyone with a laptop and the right software can easily make a 3D animation. In such a world it was only a matter of time before the "bowling alley screen when you get a strike" meme was born.
The idea is to post increasingly weird videos that, in some way, mimic strike animations.
the tv screen at a bowling alley when you get a strike: pic.twitter.com/OA89RrOEav
— autumn (@WavePrism_) May 23, 2019
https://twitter.com/Meowstyx/status/1131001821680623617
https://twitter.com/poIygondust_/status/1131283475489796096
The trend got its start on May 6 when YouTube user KeyZ posted a 10-hour video of an animated pirate dancing next to a boombox. A user going by Kraken Gaming commented: "The screen at a bowling alley when you get a strike." The comment has since received nearly 1,000 upvotes.
This lead to the joke being reposted on Reddit in r/dankmemes where it received over 30,000 upvotes.
Arrr no good
by indankmemes
Soon other people on reddit began posting their take on the meme.
thicc gorilla
by indankmemes
Striiiiiike
byu/JamesBald007 indankmemes
Until it finally made its way over to Twitter.
bowling alley screens when you get a strike: pic.twitter.com/CQyGRUpzoT
— eric curtin (@dubstep4dads) May 22, 2019
Although, as Scott Gairdner, the creator of the sadly short-lived Comedy Central cartoon Moonbeam City, pointed out, his 2015 show had already perfectly parodied the bowling animation screens.
Bowling alley screens when your mom dies pic.twitter.com/WUKRx8Xpve
— Scott Gairdner (@scottgairdner) May 23, 2019
Bowling alley screens when you're slaughtering your pin enemies, and also do NOT DM me I can NOT send you private links to all the episodes #wink pic.twitter.com/51uAOSTOMv
— Scott Gairdner (@scottgairdner) May 23, 2019
In many ways, the iconic animations were ripe for meme-making. Everyone knows them, they're fairly easy to recreate, and they're already slightly bizarre.
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