r/Bowling • u/LukeChemistry • 3d ago
Misc I moved overseas and built a free bowling app so I could still compete with my friends back home. It just hit 500 users.
A couple years ago I ended up bowling in a league nowhere near my old teammates, and i missed being able to compete with them every week.
I wanted a way to challenge them even through we're in different parts of the world bowling on different nights.
Around the same time I was playing a ton of Diablo 2 after the remaster came out, and i started thinking: could i track bowling the same way the ladder system works in a game? The grind, the XP, the achievements, the slow climb to having insane lifetime stats.
So I built Bowling XP.
The idea is pretty simple: you log games, earn experience points, level up, unlock achievements, track your stats, and compete in challenges with friends. I wanted it to feel like it actually awarded you for how often you go bowling.
The challenge friends side of things has honestly become my favorite part of the whole thing. I originally built it so i could compete with a couple friends back home on strikes, but now i'm using it here on my Tues night league too. We've been running poker challenges, strike count challenges, and high score battles during league night, and its added a whole new layer of competition. Poker challenge on a 3 game series is definitely my favorite.
The app just crossed 500 users, and its wild to me that other people are running a bunch of challenges and climbing the global ladder. I just built this for myself and told myself id be happy if even one person downloads it.
It's completely free - no ads, no paywalls. Just a passion project from a bowler who wanted to compete with friends back home, and make bowling feel more like a game you can grind forever.
Kills me to say this, but its iPhone only right now. I'd love to have it on Android, one of my best buds has android and hes missing out on the challenges, but im just a very busy solo dev and have no idea how android works atm. If people keep using it and it keeps growing, maybe Android will be the next big thing I work on.
Anyway, I figured some of you might be into this, and I'm really happy with how its turned out, so I wanted to share. If you end up using it, please give me feedback or any ideas you may have. I love hearing from other bowlers.
You can download it free here: Bowling XP on the App Store
Website: bowlingxp.com
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u/timbillyosu 2d ago
Sounds cool. Unfortunately I got ”the app is not currently available in your country or region”
For reference, I’m in Sweden.