Hopefully this doesn't come off as an irrelevant comment, but my Uncle Martin was actually the founder and former lead artist for Envisomation, the company responsible for creating those tacky bowling animations we've all come to know and love. I thought I'd share a little interesting piece of history as to how those came about, which is to say, it was by accident. My uncle was obsessed with traditional, hand-drawn animation his whole life, but was unfortunately not naturally gifted at creating it. However, come the late eighties, he was able to be an early adopter of learning how to produce 3D animation. This is because in the pioneer days of 3D, the difficulty came more in the learning curve for 3D programs, and less in so the technical artistic challenges that come with frame-by-frame 2D animation. Martin told me about how he initially designed a sphere (which was not a quick render, by any means) and crafted an animation of it rolling. From that point on, it's pretty easy to assume what happened next. But in case you can't infer the next several events, I'll explain them anyways. Martin's initial idea was to create 3D advertisements for marbles, which were being revived as a big trend in the nineties. He created ten individual marble animations and pitched them to both Cattailz Interactive and Hasbro, but was unfortunately rejected by both companies. They found the animations to be too crude and (although this interaction predates the term I'm about to use) uncanny valley for them to be aired on mainstream television. Naturally, Martin took to the bottle for a solid couple of months. However, aside from the divorce with his beautiful wife that ensued, this reliance on alcohol became a good thing. Every night he'd down an inhuman amount of everclear, bike to the local Pinhead's Bowling Emporium, and roll balls down the lane until he'd black out and wake up in the parking lot. One of these mornings, my poor uncle awoke with two broken arms. He was no longer able to bowl, but he'd still spend every night sitting at the venue's bar, wishing there was another form of entertainment in the building to take his mind off of the pins that he was unable to knock over. Naturally, he repurposed those old marble animations into the wacky bowling ones that we're all familiar with in the present day. Pinhead's across the country purchased these animations, and Martin created Envisomation as a result. Later on he would sell these animations to other top bowling establishments such as Spanky's Bowling Company and The Infinity Lanes. While my Uncle Martin may not be a household name, he is most definitely my own personal hero. So next time you knock down four pins and see the choppy 240p animation of a bowling ball massacring bowling pins dressed up as aliens, think of Uncle Martin. Think of persistence, think of ingenuity, and think of all the other underdogs out there in the world. If he were still alive today, I have no doubt in my mind that he could have pursued local politics and would have solved the global hunger crisis single-handedly. I love you, Uncle Martin.
Do you have access to the renders? If so can you upload them? Also I'm curious about what program was used for making them. I'm somewhat doubtful of the legitimacy of this comment, since there are no search results for Envisomation on Google. But I also doubt that you would make this up, props if you did though
In my head, it's most likely a deliberate abuse of power and corruption. If bowling had some criminal element connection then it's possible it was "banned" to look good to the public eye for reelections, and also set up as easy to circumvent by the politician in order to pocket some mob money from mobsters running bowling setups as legitimate business fronts. The mobsters can keep their business and the politician makes some cash and wins the reelection for looking like a hero.
Maybe or it's just short sighted. Say they wanted to ban the billiards game 9 Ball. The law would state that all games of 9 Ball are hereby banned. Well, you could just play the exact same game but number the balls 10-18 and call it 18 Ball. Perhaps in both cases the loophole could ban "all forms or imitations of" said activities.
This got me looking up silly laws. It's illegal in Kirkland Illinois for bees to fly over, or through the town's streets. In Idaho, It's illegal to shoot a policemen's tie off his neck. In Alabama It's illegal to walk backwards with an ice cream cone in your back pocket. The last one though.... is probably the most sensible(the police one is just too stupidly specific). Back in the day, horse thieves would put the ice cream in their back pocket, stand near someone else's horse, and afterthe horse got a taste, they'd just walk away and be all "WhAt's tHe BiG DeAl?! I WaS JuSt WaLkInG!!!!" I should mention, idk how many of these are still sctive(the last one is still active, I hope it isn't enforced lol)
@@EarthySmerky I don't think Rec Room would be affected, cause the bowling isn't part of the core package, it's created by other players. You could make the most violent, disgusting, blood-ridden world imaginable and it wouldn't affect the rating cause it's player-made content. Rating a game M for a fan-made bowling mini-game would be like suing an MMO for copyright infringement because the players used the tools to remake a character they like.
@@PlayerZeroStart "Like suing an MMO for copyright infringement because players used the tools to remake a character they like." Nintendo taking down fan games on Roblox:
My dad tells tales of a time where bowling was a community thing, and how he'd go with his chain smoking mom back in the 70's and 80's to the alley in town. . . Every single time we drive by the old bowling alley, I am reminded of a time where the internet did not exist!
Very interesting how the map at 4:47 seems to resemble an inverted population map - that is to say, it seems as though the amount of bowling venues increases as the population density decreases
of all my time studying the tudors, i am FURIOUS that no one told me that bowling was banned except on christmas while supervised LITERALLY all my years of academy training, wasted
Funny, one of his wives Henry the 8ths was Anne Boleyn, bowling? That's my last name, always try to get free bowling because it's my last name, never works, good for a laugh
I just found your texture archaeology video and expected to see a pretty big channel, was surprised to see you only had 35k subscribers. Your content is really high quality and fun to watch, hopefully more people will find these vids soon.
@@KidLeavesStoop 8:25: Hey, I like the movie, I just don’t think a sequel about Halloween is warranted. 9:20: Homestar: “Dang, Pom-Pom, you see that Golbol? That’s a nice Golbol!”
It's fate. I'm not even kidding -- I was invited to play bowling today, a rarity (I've only bowled I think 4 times in the past 15 years) but couldn't make it. Tonight about 20 min ago I was thinking of this channel and the Texture Archaeology video; I felt like rewatching it. The Simpsons Box video popped up as recommended (though I had seen it a few times a few months back)--and I decided to just click your channel and I saw there was a bowling video! Truly spectacular.
I thought 'Grimey' lived 'above a bowling alley, and below another bowling alley'? (One of my favourite ever Simpsons lines). So I doubt he'd freak out about bowling being illegal!
Seeing rec room brought up in this video really brightened my day. Being a teenager and not having too many finances to worry about has allowed that game to become me and my girlfriend's primary source of income and my absolute favorite pass time. I know this seems a bit out of place but I just thought I would share my happiness with you :)
Now this, this is a great time. Thank you for the editing, it's amazing. I can't believe I remember the bowling episode of Malcom. Take care, and thanks again!
It sucks, most of the towns I moved to in the last 10 years has had Bowling Centers shut down, recently due to Covid before we arrived. I haven't played Bowling in an actual alley, in almost 15 years
I love your videos so much, simply because it's things I've never even thought about but am now interested in. Seriously, these videos are great and I love your content!
If I recall correctly, Bowling had a different name until someone made the game with 10 pins to avoid the 9-pin ban. I can't recall the name, but the term "Kegler" came from the name.
you upload rarely, but you upload good ! Didn't expect to like this video so much, but as I had already watched your 3 other vids several time I finally gave it a shot despite my non-interest for the subject, and damn I got well entertained ! gg !
Maybe it’s because of the automated machines involved, but I always just assumed bowling was like a 20th century invention. Had no idea how old it actually was.
I was talking shit about how the skatepark was similar to the bowling alley today (a lot of sitting around drinking beers) and then I saw a weird history video about how bowling was illegal (“skateboarding is not a crime”) and skateboarding is in the Olympics this year(today actually) and then I found this video and I want to write my own essay.
heyo, I know these other two videos are less popular, but please keep the niche content that isn't necessarily the most viewed around. it feels so much more human
If you want a more adult version of Bowling, try the pub game Skittles. Essentially its tabletop bowling, but with a heavy disc (called a cheese) instead of a ball. There's also no gutter, and "off the wall" is a perfectly valid play because there's no danger to you at the edges.
Hopefully this doesn't come off as an irrelevant comment, but my Uncle Martin was actually the founder and former lead artist for Envisomation, the company responsible for creating those tacky bowling animations we've all come to know and love. I thought I'd share a little interesting piece of history as to how those came about, which is to say, it was by accident.
My uncle was obsessed with traditional, hand-drawn animation his whole life, but was unfortunately not naturally gifted at creating it. However, come the late eighties, he was able to be an early adopter of learning how to produce 3D animation. This is because in the pioneer days of 3D, the difficulty came more in the learning curve for 3D programs, and less in so the technical artistic challenges that come with frame-by-frame 2D animation. Martin told me about how he initially designed a sphere (which was not a quick render, by any means) and crafted an animation of it rolling. From that point on, it's pretty easy to assume what happened next.
But in case you can't infer the next several events, I'll explain them anyways. Martin's initial idea was to create 3D advertisements for marbles, which were being revived as a big trend in the nineties. He created ten individual marble animations and pitched them to both Cattailz Interactive and Hasbro, but was unfortunately rejected by both companies. They found the animations to be too crude and (although this interaction predates the term I'm about to use) uncanny valley for them to be aired on mainstream television.
Naturally, Martin took to the bottle for a solid couple of months. However, aside from the divorce with his beautiful wife that ensued, this reliance on alcohol became a good thing. Every night he'd down an inhuman amount of everclear, bike to the local Pinhead's Bowling Emporium, and roll balls down the lane until he'd black out and wake up in the parking lot. One of these mornings, my poor uncle awoke with two broken arms. He was no longer able to bowl, but he'd still spend every night sitting at the venue's bar, wishing there was another form of entertainment in the building to take his mind off of the pins that he was unable to knock over.
Naturally, he repurposed those old marble animations into the wacky bowling ones that we're all familiar with in the present day. Pinhead's across the country purchased these animations, and Martin created Envisomation as a result. Later on he would sell these animations to other top bowling establishments such as Spanky's Bowling Company and The Infinity Lanes. While my Uncle Martin may not be a household name, he is most definitely my own personal hero.
So next time you knock down four pins and see the choppy 240p animation of a bowling ball massacring bowling pins dressed up as aliens, think of Uncle Martin. Think of persistence, think of ingenuity, and think of all the other underdogs out there in the world. If he were still alive today, I have no doubt in my mind that he could have pursued local politics and would have solved the global hunger crisis single-handedly. I love you, Uncle Martin.
Thank you for sharing Uncle Martin's story!
thank you mr. cockburn for this wholesome text
"envisomation" nets literally zero google results. this story is nice but i don't believe it.
Do you have access to the renders? If so can you upload them? Also I'm curious about what program was used for making them.
I'm somewhat doubtful of the legitimacy of this comment, since there are no search results for Envisomation on Google. But I also doubt that you would make this up, props if you did though
That's a very emotional story, Mr. Cockburn
The 9 pin bowling ban sounds like whoever drafted that law really liked bowling and worded it to make it easy to get around.
Definitely makes it so their bowling bros can still play. Also fancy seeing you here
In my head, it's most likely a deliberate abuse of power and corruption. If bowling had some criminal element connection then it's possible it was "banned" to look good to the public eye for reelections, and also set up as easy to circumvent by the politician in order to pocket some mob money from mobsters running bowling setups as legitimate business fronts. The mobsters can keep their business and the politician makes some cash and wins the reelection for looking like a hero.
Maybe or it's just short sighted. Say they wanted to ban the billiards game 9 Ball. The law would state that all games of 9 Ball are hereby banned.
Well, you could just play the exact same game but number the balls 10-18 and call it 18 Ball.
Perhaps in both cases the loophole could ban "all forms or imitations of" said activities.
The Malcom in the Middle reference was a nice throwback in the Kid Leaves Stoop cinematic universe
Hahaha I thought the same thing. Even with that same degree of sassiness, since he only has 3 videos as of now.
Kid leaves stoop?
@@trustmeimapotato4708 that’s the name of the youtube channel that uploaded this video?
Holy shit im so dense that I didn't look at the channel even though I've watched all of his videos XD
Every day you learn something new. Like the fact that BOWLING USED TO BE ILLEGAL
This got me looking up silly laws.
It's illegal in Kirkland Illinois for bees to fly over, or through the town's streets.
In Idaho, It's illegal to shoot a policemen's tie off his neck.
In Alabama It's illegal to walk backwards with an ice cream cone in your back pocket.
The last one though.... is probably the most sensible(the police one is just too stupidly specific).
Back in the day, horse thieves would put the ice cream in their back pocket, stand near someone else's horse, and afterthe horse got a taste, they'd just walk away and be all "WhAt's tHe BiG DeAl?! I WaS JuSt WaLkInG!!!!"
I should mention, idk how many of these are still sctive(the last one is still active, I hope it isn't enforced lol)
As was football, pinball, boxing and women fishing alone on a Sunday.
@@rclark777eah and women having any real freedom or like even rights.
I love all the old CG animations in this video. Those were always my favorite part of bowling as a kid.
They are not old. They use the same 90s engine and animations.
They are easily still the best part of bowling
If curling is an Olympic sport then bowling should be too
It was for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games.
I think both are pretty boring to watch. A great display of skill , but oh my goodness, it’s SOOOO boring to watch.
@@BigEvy agreed
Shut the f*** up Donny.
Don't pros like allways hit full?
I just got the strange mental image of an ESRB label saying "Mature: Depictions of bowling"
Wii Sports, Rec Room, Kinects sports and man more would get a big fat M Rating
rated b for bowl
@@EarthySmerky I don't think Rec Room would be affected, cause the bowling isn't part of the core package, it's created by other players. You could make the most violent, disgusting, blood-ridden world imaginable and it wouldn't affect the rating cause it's player-made content.
Rating a game M for a fan-made bowling mini-game would be like suing an MMO for copyright infringement because the players used the tools to remake a character they like.
@@PlayerZeroStart correction: Bowling is part of the core game
@@PlayerZeroStart "Like suing an MMO for copyright infringement because players used the tools to remake a character they like."
Nintendo taking down fan games on Roblox:
I have a sudden urge to go bowling...
Bowling 🎳 is racist 🤣🤣🤣
Cousin want to go bowling
Bowl ;)
yes
Vale
nice use of the bowling ally screens! those were lost online for the longest time actually, and it's great to see people remember them
Hey there, Pickle Inspector.
pickle inspector jumpscare
you can still find them playing at bowling alleys in small towns
You’re filling EmpLemon’s hiatus nicely
And now the comments sections is going out of control
My dad tells tales of a time where bowling was a community thing, and how he'd go with his chain smoking mom back in the 70's and 80's to the alley in town. . . Every single time we drive by the old bowling alley, I am reminded of a time where the internet did not exist!
I wonder why this is in my recommended now
1:42 can we all acknowledge the utter joy of seeing footage actually matching the topic spoken about at that very moment? Gracious edit.
Never been a big bowling fan, but I never realized its importance and significance until watching this video. Great work.
very surprising this was made 9 months ago
Shoutout to the Spyro music in the background
Glad that bowling will be _spared_ from another ban
I hope they're not just waiting for an opportune moment to *strike*
If they do i know a few people who will *split* from the us
@@theunwelcome As long as they stay in their lane we've got nothing to worry about.
Everyone in this thread enough dad jokes
If it isn't society really will be in the gutter
Fantastic video as always man. Always love to hear the Spyro music and sound effects too. Please keep doin your thing.
Very interesting how the map at 4:47 seems to resemble an inverted population map - that is to say, it seems as though the amount of bowling venues increases as the population density decreases
Huhhhh? Odd.
welcome to the bowling alley conspiracy rabbit hole
I'm glad I subbed to you, man. Interesting stuff. Can't wait to see where your channel goes.
P.S. and a Wendigoon reference? Nice
Wendigoon is always appreciated
i literally just came back to subscribe to this channel yesterday, and in 5 hours he uploads?!
@@theopendoorev maybe you're a clairvoyant or something, I dunno
wendigoon supremacy
of all my time studying the tudors, i am FURIOUS that no one told me that bowling was banned except on christmas while supervised
LITERALLY
all my years of academy training, wasted
Funny, one of his wives Henry the 8ths was Anne Boleyn, bowling? That's my last name, always try to get free bowling because it's my last name, never works, good for a laugh
Okay that's wild that
1. People try too ban bowling
2. How much impact bowling has had on tv
"too"
“What you in for?”
“Murder, you?
“I went bowling”
1:04 can't say I was expecting King Crimson in this video
This is such a random topic, i also never realized how everywhere bowling is
I got an ad for a bowling game while watching this video
*bowls with 9 pins*
"Stop right there! You've violated the law!"
*adds extra pin*
"...never mind"
I love the use of the bowling screen animations! They fit in so well and it’s just a genius idea
Finally some good fkin content!
Hey, it's nice to see you here
2nd reply
love the use of the Spyro soundtrack and sound effects to support your edit. Very interesting documentary!
the hit king crimson song, 21st century bowling ban
"I wanted to go bowling!"
-Frozone, 2004
I just found your texture archaeology video and expected to see a pretty big channel, was surprised to see you only had 35k subscribers. Your content is really high quality and fun to watch, hopefully more people will find these vids soon.
The end of There Will Be Blood makes more sense now.
For a moment there I was worried. "How could Stoop Kid have not used a clip from Kingpins?" And then 5 seconds later it played. Nice save.
Man I wish you posted the sources for all those weird 3d bowling animations, they look really... interesting
Search "AMF bowling animations". The watermark appears towards the end of some of them
@@KidLeavesStoop 8:25: Hey, I like the movie, I just don’t think a sequel about Halloween is warranted.
9:20: Homestar: “Dang, Pom-Pom, you see that Golbol? That’s a nice Golbol!”
"Niko, It's Roman. Let's go bowling."
As someone who has bowled competitively since I was a child, this a fascinating and very well done mini-doc. :)
At 4:17 my mind turned off and all I could focus on was the Spyro music playing in the background
8:25 yooooo elf bowling!!! That unlocked an old memory, I remember the creators or something would pop up and start chanting toga…. Great game
It's fate. I'm not even kidding -- I was invited to play bowling today, a rarity (I've only bowled I think 4 times in the past 15 years) but couldn't make it. Tonight about 20 min ago I was thinking of this channel and the Texture Archaeology video; I felt like rewatching it. The Simpsons Box video popped up as recommended (though I had seen it a few times a few months back)--and I decided to just click your channel and I saw there was a bowling video! Truly spectacular.
Hey Niko let’s go bowling **gains 1 star**
Bowling Fans cheering for Jason Belmonte *gains 5 stars*
Dude you are sooo underrated, I’m proud to say I was here from the start :)
I thought 'Grimey' lived 'above a bowling alley, and below another bowling alley'? (One of my favourite ever Simpsons lines). So I doubt he'd freak out about bowling being illegal!
he played that clip at the end of the video
Watching this after Twitter be like: 😬
Agreed
What
Seeing this in 2022, it's... strange.
Immediately recognized the Stewart Copeland Spyro music in the background. I love it!!
Looking forward to seeing this channel grow
I love how you always use Spyro music tracks, I just discovered that game this month.
Bro your titles are clickbait but also not at all. I feel like I click on em just to decipher the mystery and the title is honest everytime lmao.
I saw you're first video and thought "oh yeah this guys gonna be big" your content is top class
this appeared in my recommended and I know exactly why
Subscribing all those months ago was a wise choice. Another great video!
the wendigoon joke caught me off guard
Where
Nvm i commented before I watched the whole vid like a dumbass
Those animayed bowling clips were a perfect fit with your script
Seeing rec room brought up in this video really brightened my day. Being a teenager and not having too many finances to worry about has allowed that game to become me and my girlfriend's primary source of income and my absolute favorite pass time.
I know this seems a bit out of place but I just thought I would share my happiness with you :)
Sorry for the dumb question, but how do you make money in that game?
Now this, this is a great time. Thank you for the editing, it's amazing. I can't believe I remember the bowling episode of Malcom. Take care, and thanks again!
I love how this video contains lots of those strange bowling screen videos
I'm proud to be a subscriber of this channel at its 4th month of life
Love your videos, dude
Oooh its you! I remember your other videos! Welcome back man
Definitely watching this when I get off work
did you watch it?
@@nick90s10... I ... don't remember
not what i expected but hey, gonna watch it anyways, lmao
"Hey Niko! Let's go bowling!"
FBI OPEN UP!
This is the LCPD!
FIB*
British Police
It's fib
It sucks, most of the towns I moved to in the last 10 years has had Bowling Centers shut down, recently due to Covid before we arrived.
I haven't played Bowling in an actual alley, in almost 15 years
"Hey Niko, its your cousin. Let's go bowling."
-Roman
Not now Roman Im fighting the russian mafia
the little dot on alaskas thumb is cool to see knowing exactly which one it is since there is only one in juneau
you're quickly becoming a fave of mine, i went to check what other videos you had and i already watched all without noticing
I love your videos so much, simply because it's things I've never even thought about but am now interested in. Seriously, these videos are great and I love your content!
Another upload!
THIS Dancing Bowling ball cursed af.
6:22 Don't leave me hanging like that.
You'll have to pull my copy of Monsters inc Bowling for Screams out of my cold dead hands
If I recall correctly, Bowling had a different name until someone made the game with 10 pins to avoid the 9-pin ban. I can't recall the name, but the term "Kegler" came from the name.
love your variety of content. you'll definitely blow up soon
Always a great day when you upload bro. I wish you had more content to binge! Best breakout TH-camr!
you upload rarely, but you upload good ! Didn't expect to like this video so much, but as I had already watched your 3 other vids several time I finally gave it a shot despite my non-interest for the subject, and damn I got well entertained ! gg !
Waited sooo long for a new video, keep up the really good work
That Wendigoon joke was hysterical. You deserve an accolade for that one
You're wayyyyyy too underrated man, keep it up!
Maybe it’s because of the automated machines involved, but I always just assumed bowling was like a 20th century invention. Had no idea how old it actually was.
I was talking shit about how the skatepark was similar to the bowling alley today (a lot of sitting around drinking beers) and then I saw a weird history video about how bowling was illegal (“skateboarding is not a crime”) and skateboarding is in the Olympics this year(today actually) and then I found this video and I want to write my own essay.
I freaking like this channel so much
I can see this happening thanks to that bowling gif
Great video, very much enjoyed it, keep it up!
Thought I was going nuts when I heard Season of Ice music in the background. Really unique choice! Gonna revisit that game sometime lol.
after recent events
it should've
I can't beleive that bowling is the reason that Remedial Chaos
Theory from Community exists. The more you know.
How do you only have 4 videos you are really good at making these!!!
lol i literally just subbed a few hours ago, and then the first vid in 3 months drop
heyo, I know these other two videos are less popular, but please keep the niche content that isn't necessarily the most viewed around. it feels so much more human
*"Niko it's Roman, let's go bowling!"*
I was NOT expecting a Wendigoon cameo!!!
Bowling is one of those skill based sports that I find fascinating and is probably the most approachable and cheap to get into.
As well as less number of possible injuries than in any other complex sports
How's it cheap to get into? Every game you play costs money unless you own your own bowling alley.
If you want a more adult version of Bowling, try the pub game Skittles. Essentially its tabletop bowling, but with a heavy disc (called a cheese) instead of a ball. There's also no gutter, and "off the wall" is a perfectly valid play because there's no danger to you at the edges.
Bro this guy is so underrated
Tbh i do not remember subscribing, but this vid by itself cemented that sub. Great stuff, keep on doing the good work!
Oh, now that i checked i know why i subbed lol, that cobble_stone vid was real great too
The fact that a game revolving around rolling a ball towards objects on the ground was illegal just makes me question society
Didn't realise bowling was that big in the US.
We sacerfice children who can't bowl too our hamburger overlords. It's why our child obesity rate is so high.