We arrived at Splitsville on a Saturday around noon, stepping into a place filled with the riotous sounds of bowling balls hitting pins, arcade games blaring and a whole bunch of kids celebrating birthdays.
The bowling-and-entertainment centre was celebrating a milestone of its own, marking one year in the 26,000-square-foot, big-box space in Kanata’s busy Centrum mall. It opened right around March Break in 2025, and the post-vacation schoolyard buzz was huge.
According to some of my teacher friends, all the middle-schoolers were talking about it, making a point of noting that you don’t even have to wear those dorky bowling shoes.
Today, it’s clearly become one of Kanata’s favourite spots for a birthday party, with multiple celebrations taking place every weekend. General manager Homayoun Faghihi estimates they hosted at least 2,000 birthday parties in the first year of operation, and he expects the number to almost double this year. Some weekends see more than 80 different parties.
For our visit, we were a group of five adults, and we were actually low-key celebrating the 25th birthday of one of them, although we didn’t make a production of it.
Instead, our focus was on the game. Specifically, the 10 pins at the end of our lane, and how best to throw a ball to knock them down. Three of the four twentysomethings in our party were keen to compete, while myself and the fourth were content to go with the flow. Neither he nor I had bowled much in our lives.
Firstly, there was the matter of shoes. Serious bowlers I know seem outraged that Splitsville allows patrons to wear street shoes instead of bowling-specific shoes to play, even with the policy that all shoes have to be clean and flat-soled. (I’ll get to the company’s reasoning in a moment.)
Though it wasn’t mandatory, two members of our group were smart to switch to bowling shoes, which were free and in clean, new condition. I later realized I probably should have, too, as the grippy sole of my hikers was not ideal for any sliding motion.
We were directed to Lane No. 3, furnished with a padded bench seat, a high table at the back for food, and a low table for drinks. Hooks were available to hang our coats, and we met our youthful servers, part of a team of about 50 employees.
My Gen-Z friends jumped on the keyboard to input our names into the computerized system that tracks the scoring and establishes the player order. That was all the techie stuff they had to do. The system kept track of everything, including pin positions, ball returns, scoreboard updates, identifying whose turn it was, and even generating some inspiring pop-up messages and tidbits about the game along the way. The system accommodates up to six players per lane.
Our session flew by seamlessly. While we were all pretty terrible in the first round, we soon figured out which ball worked best for each person, and improvements in techniques were made. The non-competitive one in our group scored the first strike, to his astonishment, as the others strove to outdo each other. We managed to avoid the necessity of using the gutter guards.
As for the shoe issue, I didn’t notice grit on our lane, which is the main concern put forward by purists. Faghihi, who’s been in charge of the Kanata location since opening day, said the company’s street-shoe-friendly policy was the result of customer surveys throughout the chain, which currently includes 19 locations in four provinces, and a new one set to open this fall in Pickering.
“The guests really made it clear that convenience and comfort are incredibly important to them, so as a business, we really embrace a more flexible approach that prioritizes the guest experience and modernizes the game,” Faghihi said in an interview, noting that the company also increased the lane-cleaning frequency.
“It is totally up to you whether you want to wear the bowling shoes and get that full experience, or whether you want to wear your own shoes for comfort.”
Canada’s Splitsville chain was acquired by Britain’s publicly traded Hollywood Bowl Group in 2022 as the first step in a strategy to expand beyond the U.K.
Splitsville Kanata was one of two new Canadian locations to open in 2025.
While some commenters felt they missed a big opportunity to open in Stittsville, purely for the rhyming potential, Faghihi says Kanata was identified as the best spot because of its growing population of tech workers and their families.
“Kanata is one of Ottawa’s fastest-growing suburbs right now, with a strong demand for family-friendly entertainment options,” he said.
Family entertainment centres are a major attraction these days, a trend that observers attribute in part to parents’ desire to get kids off the small screen and engage with friends in person. Splitsville fits the bill, not only with the easily accessible nature of bowling, but also with an arsenal of arcade games.
Equipped with pre-loaded cards, we hit the games after our hour-plus round of bowling. As an arcade rookie, I made the common mistake of fixating on one silly game, blowing all the credits and not having enough left to try anything more interesting.
In my futile quest to snag a purple stuffy in a claw game, I didn’t make it over to the two most popular non-bowling attractions: the photo booth, and the virtual-reality Godzilla game that lets you fight the beast in the heart of a bustling city. Next time.
Also worth a mention was the menu, available laneside or in the lounge. We shared a satisfying platter of loaded nachos and a separate plate of deliciously garlicky pizza strips from a menu that also includes burgers, wings, wraps and more, with vegan and gluten-free items. The beverages section was bursting with options, too, from beer, wine and spirits to mocktails and a selection of creamy concoctions called Dirty Sodas.
In the end, of course, it’s the bottom line that makes Splitsville such a strong contender for parents’ birthday-party dollars. Kids’ bowling packages start at $99 for a party of six, including pizza, fries and drinks, while adult party-packages can be booked for just over $200, including a couple of shareable plates and one drink per person.
Regular adult admission to bowl one game starts at about $8.99. Multi-game and all-you-can-play rates are also available and there’s lots of free parking. Booking online is a simple process.
Our session concluded with me posting the lowest score, but possibly having the most fun. I plan to go back to work on my game.
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