[Review] Date Night Bowling - Nintendo Switch

Developed By: Serenity Forge
Published By: Way Down Deep
Categories: Dating, Bowling
Release Date: 11.26.21

Is your idea of a fun date going to a bowling alley? Well, mine isn’t, but I do find for Date Night Bowling to be a good time. The videogame that is.

Imagine this. Nester’s Funky Bowling mixed with Leisure Suit Larry Magna Cum Laude…just without the early 2000’s sex humor. Now what do I mean by this? Date Night Bowling mixes a more traditional bowling game with some cute brief minigames to help you get more compatible with your partner of choice. Play a frame (those are the rounds), then maybe get your date a drink, or clean the table. Dance? Small chitchat? Tell some (bad) jokes and make sure to clean your teeth when you’re date isn’t looking.

I am…not good at bowling. Not in real life and not in videogames. However, that doesn’t impair my enjoyment for the game, nor does it really matter when playing. For example; on one date…neither of us were very good. I think the score was sub-100 for both of us. Something both characters mentioned. However, I succeeded in majority of the minigames and the date ended up being a success, meaning a second date is probably gonna be likely.

Before you go on dates however, you just need to play a solo game as any character. Once you do that, you can unlock them for some friendly bowling games. Every character has their own stats, so don’t just bowl the same way for every character, it won’t end well. If you’re a savant at bowling games however, this probably won’t be too much of an issue. I just play as the cutest character anyway. And if none of that interests you, you just wanna do some dagg’on bowling, then you are very free to do so. You can pick between two lanes, but I didn’t see much a difference between looks.

Are you not one of the filthy straights by any chance? The game very much allows for queer dating options. Boy girl, boy boy, girl girl. Hell, maybe you wanna date both, that’s up to you. I’m sure this’ll piss off some nerds on imageboards as they have to even for a minute acknowledge that gay people exist, but at the end of the day, these people don’t buy their games anyway. Not saying every dating game needs to just have non-hetero options, but in a game where you can be any of the characters and date any of the characters, it’s a well appreciated touch.

Date Night Bowling is sure a looker. The style is strong in this one. Lovely, colorful, well animated sprites with cute character designs all around. By default there’s a CRT filter, which usually I don’t go for as I have a distaste for filters, but I didn’t quite mind the use of this one. You can turn it off whenever too. Some smooth music to top it off, it’s all a pleasant experience.

Your enjoyment is going to hinge on whether you enjoy bowling games or not. No, it’s not some super in-depth bowling sim, but it still is a bowling game at heart. Despite my ineptitude in the genre, I did have fun with the game. Put in those minigames between rounds to keep things from getting old and you have a good game to play, especially with another person…this is a dating game after all.