Residents cashed in on a free game of bowling Saturday as part of National Bowling Day.

Coral Lanes joined bowling alleys across the nation in offering the free games in an attempt to set a new world record for the most games bowled in one day. Manager Curtis Stavich said Bowland Centers, the company that operates Coral Lanes, has participated in National Bowling Day for at least four years now.

“It just gets people energized about bowling,” he said.

The previous world record was 923,948 games bowled in one day.

Stavich said all five Bowland Centers in the Southwest Florida area would turn over to the corporate office the number of games registered at the end of the day. Though he did not have an estimate of how well the Cape Coral bowling alley was doing Saturday evening, he said it was a little busier than normal.

“We’ve been quite busy today,” he said.

According to Stavich, while many customers learned about the offer for a free game upon arriving at the bowling alley, some people specifically showed up with the coupon in hand to take part in the world record attempt. There were even a few people that showed who had participated in last year’s attempt.

North Fort Myers resident Tracey Heneren learned about the free game from her daughter. A self-proclaimed extreme couponer, her daughter had found out about the online coupon from a website.

“If she wasn’t part of that couponing thing, we wouldn’t have known about it,” Heneren said.

She called National Bowling Day a “good family event,” and noted that several members of her family members came out to take part, from her son-in-law, niece and nephew, to her daughter’s boyfriend.

“It’s kind of fun to be part of it,” Heneren said of an attempt at breaking a world record.

Cape resident Josh Harvel also brought his family out Saturday for some bowling, though they did not find out about the one free game until after they arrived. He called his family recreational bowlers.

“We just come up here to have fun,” Harvel said.

Asked about participating in an attempt to break the record, he thought it was a neat idea.

“It’d be kind of cool to be part of a world record,” Harvel said.

He added that his family would likely be back if Coral Lanes decided to participate again next year.

“We’d come back to do it again,” Harvel said.

Coral Lanes is located at 42 Mid Cape Terrace. For more information, call 772-1661.