Bowling — long stereotyped as the sport of fashion-challenged, overweight beer guzzlers who inhale cigarettes and chicken wings — has been making a comeback as some owners in the past three years have pushed to change that image.

Bowling centers across the country that have made the change have invested an average of $3 million to create so-called family entertainment centers. Lanes have been sacrificed for the construction of arcades, restaurants, bumper cars, miniature golf, soft-play areas, laser tag and corporate party areas.

"A family entertainment center is a cross between a bowling alley, a sports bar-restaurant and a Chuck E. Cheese's," said Doug Wilkerson, principal with Dynamic Designs & Associates in Birmingham, Mich., which has been renovating bowling alleys at a pace of 30 to 40 a year. "You have to fight through the old image of bowling centers as dirty and dumpy with old plastic seating from the 1970s and 1980s."

Perhaps as a result, open play — non-league bowling — increased 5 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to Mark Miller, corporate communications manager with the United States Bowling Congress. More than 67 million people go bowling at least once a year, he said. Nearly 60 percent of the play today is open bowling, compared with the heyday after WWII when as much as 90 percent of bowling was played in leagues.

Now, with the economy in its worst shape since the Great Depression, bowling centers are hoping their makeover as an affordable family entertainment option will pull them through.

Historically, bowling has been recession-proof, primarily because of bowling leagues, said John Berglund, executive director of Bowling Proprietors' Association of America. But league playing has declined dramatically since the last severe downturn in the early 1980s.

Although data from 2008 will not be available until later this year, Berglund said many bowling center owners report that their revenues were flat or up slightly, a positive sign in today's economic environment.

"It's my judgment the family is going to find a recreation outlet together. This is something they can afford to do if there's any dollars at all for recreation," said Kermit Justice, owner of Mid-County Lanes and Family Fun Galaxy in Middletown, Del. "It's the most pleasure for the least dollars."

Maria Cruz recently took her 3-year-old grandson and her daughter to Bowlerama in Wilmington. Cruz said she spent $30 on two games for three people, including lunch.

"To play two games, it takes a lot of time and it keeps him busy for two hours," Cruz said.