AMF Imperial Lanes in Rainier Valley is the next stop on the Seattlest bowling tour.

As the name implies, Imperial is an AMF franchise. “AMF Always Means Fun,” the slogan goes, though when the company began in 1900, AMF meant American Machinery & Foundry. The industrial-equipment manufacturer started developing the automatic pinspotter in the ‘30s and mass-producing them in the ’50s, along with bowling balls, pins and other equipment. AMF introduced automatic scoring in the ‘70s, and last year’s merger with the Italian bowling equipment firm Qubica formed QubicaAMF.

At Imperial, there’s standardized AMF signage, the lanes are outfitted with the AMF AccuScore system, the staff wears AMF polo shirts, and they recently installed new AMF furniture.

On Friday and Saturday nights, Imperial features another AMF trademark, “Xtreme Bowling.” It’s AMF’s knockoff of “Cosmic Bowling” -- with the loud music, disco lights, fog machines and so on -- patented in the mid-‘90s by rival chain Brunswick. Nearly every bowling alley now has some version of this -- around Seattle we’ve seen “Rock ‘n’ Bowl,” “Rock-It Bowl,” “Rock & Roll Bowling,” “Rockin’ Rollin’ Bowlin’,” “Jammin’ Bowl,” and “X Treme Glow Bowl.” Whatever it’s called, it seems like a desperate industry gimmick to lure a new generation of kids into old bowling alleys.

We don’t roll during “Xtreme” hours, but can’t avoid its unsightly evidence. Cool old bowling alley interiors have been replaced with garish new elements designed to enhance the “cosmic” effect. At some venues, most everything is fluorescent: the carpeting, the furniture, the balls, the pins, even the rental shoes. The panels on the wall above the pins usually have fluorescent, clip art-quality graphics, like a pattern of balls and pins swirling around in outer space, or something.

Imperial Lanes’ cosmification is relatively subdued, but as we’ve noticed at another AMF franchise, there’s always music playing. At any given time we'll hear a single genre (Motown, country, etc.); they probably have some AMF music service. Busier alleys are generally noisy and don't need the extra racket, but we like the music at Imperial, especially on quiet afternoons when we’re the only bowlers in there.

We dig Imperial Lanes. Despite its franchise feel, the place still has plenty of non-corporate, neighborhoody charm. Also, they apparently serve early-morning beer -- a Budweiser banner over the front door announces “Now open for breakfast at 7 a.m.”

(This is the fourth part of an eight-part series. Here are parts one, two, and three.)