Why is there no bowling alley lot type ?

Hide the bar in a basement. They will have no choice but to bowl. :p Yeah, stuff packs don't get lot types do they?

This might not be any help to you, so I apologise if it's not.
I've been using the Bar lot tag for my current bowling alley. If you have Get Together, the barista bar actually counts as a bar in the requirements. This is my bowling alley/cinema/restaurant:
https://i.imgur.com/989xCfw.png

It seems to work well without an actual drinks bar. The only minor issue with that is it does generate an NPC bartender at the front of the lot who will stand there looking confused because there's nowhere for him/her to go and it won't generate a barista bartender.

That probably doesn't help you in the slightest but maybe it will. I must admit, I don't think I get the 'Alien Night/Knight Night' etc on this lot. I've spent plenty of evenings there and hadn't noticed it so that might be a benefit?

Yes they do! *cough* tiny residential *cough*.

I just don’t get the point of giving us stuff to build a specific lot type but not....the lot type itself.

"Cinebar;c-17401877" wrote:
Hide the bar in a basement. They will have no choice but to bowl. :p Yeah, stuff packs don't get lot types do they?

"Dianesims;c-17401886" wrote:
Yes they do! *cough* tiny residential *cough*.

I just don’t get the point of giving us stuff to build a specific lot type but not....the lot type itself.

"Cinebar;c-17401877" wrote:
Hide the bar in a basement. They will have no choice but to bowl. :p Yeah, stuff packs don't get lot types do they?

Tiny Lot is a new idea thought isn't it? Most stuff packs don't come with lot types. Like no ice cream palor/business. :/

I think that was a pretty bad decision too. I ended up putting the bowling alley in a karaoke bar and then I had my bowling club visit it.

I made a bowling Alley and because i have dine out i made it a restaurant. I've noticed sim will bowl when waiting on their food or they'll bowl after they eat i was kind of surprised they actually used it.

This has surprisingly never bothered me. Probably because I try to merge multiple lot types into one so I can change them as I please to "activate" the proper NPCs.

I always use the bar venue for it and haven't had an issue with no one bowling. I tend to get a decent mix of Sims both attending the bar and the bowling area.

Or they could get smart and follow the TS2 model of 'community' lot that is anything one wants, stand alone or mixed. Never had a lack of visiting sims, either.

As I recall, the idea was that various types of lots might have a bowling alley that attracts bowlers -- you might want to make your bowling alley have a busy playground as well but be non-drinking, so "park" would work best. You might want to be a more Elders-type bowling alley with extra entertainment, so a bowling lounge. You might want a hotspot for the young people, with bowling and drinking and dancing, so a night club (there's a bowling night club in my city IRL). You might want that more youth + middle-aged quieter bowling-and-drinking bar. And regardless of the venue type, people will bowl (it's the object that attracts, not the venue), and you can hide stuff you don't want in inaccessible attics/basements. I do the latter with TVs in bars a lot, for example, or large playground equipment in small parks.

Yeah, a bowling lot type would be nice, and also a Movie Theater lot for the movie stuff pack. It has always annoyed me that we didn't get that. It would be nice to have more entertainment lot types, so bored of what we currently have.

It would also be nice to have arcade & casino lot types, with pinball, old school arcade games, and also proper slots and table game.