Melanie and Jonas Helm were completely new to the bowling entertainment industry when their idea for Oklahoma’s Gutter Chaos was born. They broke ground on a new facility in early 2020, opened in February 2021, and have been loving it ever since. About 30 people work at the stringpin bowling-anchored fun center.
Cabin Builders to Bowling Proprietors
Jonas and Melanie Helm Bring Gutter Chaos to Oklahoma
By Matt Harding
Before opening their bowling entertainment center Gutter Chaos in February 2021, the husband-and-wife duo of Jonas and Melanie Helm built and sold vacation cabins in and around the tourist town of Broken Bow, Okla.
“We started building cabins here for about 10 years before this,” Melanie explained. The area has been really growing, she said, for the past 12-15 years. “Everyone would always ask us what there is to do when it’s raining.”
The truth to that was… not much. There’s no shortage of outdoorsy activities in far southeastern Oklahoma. Hiking, boating and camping are big draws on and around the sizable Broken Bow Lake, which itself is surrounded by Beavers Bend State Park and Nature Center and the McCurtain County Game Reserve.
The idea for a BEC came on one of the Helm family’s annual skiing trips to Winter Park, Colo. They went to a nearby center called The Foundry Cinema & Bowl. Like their Gutter Chaos would become, The Foundry is a small boutique facility with eight bowling lanes and a minimal arcade.
Melanie said that’s where they drew inspiration and where the wheels started turning. Instead of building cabins – let’s build an entertainment space. “That was our original thought process,” she said. “Then we got with Brunswick and went from there on how to build the center and all that kind of stuff.” She added that it was important to create a family-friendly space.
Good times galore! Plush couches along the boutique bowling lanes, a solid food and beverage offering and family-friendly karaoke round out what’s on tap at Gutter Chaos.
So, the builders got to work through the early days of Covid to bring the vision to life. They broke ground in the spring of 2020 and took only about 10 months to complete Gutter Chaos, which opened in February 2021 in Hochatown, Okla., 10 miles north of the heart of Broken Bow.
“One thing about Oklahoma is our state never really shut down during Covid,” Melanie recalled. “People from Dallas were ready to get out.” (The Texas city is little more than three hours southwest of the Broken Bow area.)
The building’s bright red exterior gives way to 12,000 sq. ft. of fun, starting with six lanes of stringpin bowling. Jonas noted that Gutter Chaos offers “more of a boutique kind of setting,” with comfy couches and an upscale bar and restaurant space.
Redemption fits prominently into the arcade (coin pushers are a favorite). They also have staples like Big Bass Wheel, Skee-Ball and Connect 4 Hoops in the mix.
There’s also a 3,500-sq.-ft. arcade with more than 50 games, not to mention billiards, Jenga and other table games, plus an outdoor covered deck area. Another venue highlight is the family-friendly karaoke nights where kids of all ages are welcome to participate, as well as live music and other entertainment like karaoke contests.
“We were just trying to have something for people to do,” Jonas said. “The bowling gets them in there, but there are other things to keep them in there.”
One of those things is the aforementioned arcade. The new operators own all of their games and have a big redemption area for players. Redemption figures prominently into their offering, and the Helms report that their coin pushers are probably the most popular.
They also have arcade staples like Big Bass Wheel, Connect 4 Hoops and Skee-Ball, plus virtual reality in Raw Thrills’ King Kong of Skull Island.VR “We’ve got a pretty good mix in the game room,” Jonas said.
That’s no surprise to us, as George McAuliffe of the well-respected Pinnacle Entertainment Group (and a RePlay columnist, too) worked with Gutter Chaos in the arcade.
“Pinnacle helped us to know what’s important,” Melanie said, noting that their previous inexperience in the business led them to turn to industry mainstays like Brunswick and Pinnacle. “They’ve been extremely crucial in that aspect.
While they’d been considering traditional bowling prior to consulting with Brunswick, the “ease of operation” of stringpin fit much better with what they actually wanted. “It’s turned out to be a good move for us,” Jonas said.
Stringpin bowling, billiards and fun promotional photo shoots. What’s not to love about Gutter Chaos?
A restaurant and full bar round out the facility, and they also serve their high-quality food and beverage right to the lanes.
The venue is very family oriented, due to it being in a tourist area. Jonas estimated that 80% of their clients are families. They do a lot of family reunion events and bachelor and bachelorette parties as well.
“It’s pretty well year-round. Our slowest month’s probably February,” he said. “There’s a lot of people drawn here in the spring and throughout the summer. It’s really grown into a big area.”
Melanie added that it’s been great to be newbies in the business and learn what works and what doesn’t. “It’s something we’re always adding to and switching things around. Seeing the kids come in and getting excited – it’s been fun.”
Jonas seconded that. “It’s been a challenge and we’ve had a few growing pains, but it’s been enjoyable. It’s been really neat to watch it grow.”
Search for Gutter Chaos on Facebook to keep up with the growing business.
