bowling alley

A bowler releases the ball.

Bowling is a sport in which players attempt to score points by rolling a bowling ball along a flat surface in order to knock down objects called pins. There are many forms of bowling, with the earliest dating back to ancient India. Origins can also be traced to ancient Finland and Yemen, and much later in 300 A.D. in Germany. In the US the best known form of bowling is probably the North American game of ten-pin bowling. This form, in both amateur and professional versions, is played around the world, making it one of the largest participation activities.

Forms

Bowling ball and two pins

Ten-pin bowling lane

Specialized computers replaced hand scoring beginning in the 1970s

"Xtreme bowling" involves blacklights, fog machines, or other such effects

Most forms of bowling may be categorized as either indoor or outdoor bowling. Most forms are played on a "lane", a flat surface made of wood or a synthetic imitation, which is several times longer than it is wide. The overall length of a regulation lane is 60 feet measuring from the foul line to the head pin (1 pin). The lane should be between 41 and 42 inches in width.

Included in the indoor category:

• Ten-pin bowling, which evolved from ninepin bowling in the 19th century. A regulation pin for this type is 15 inches (38 cm) in height and about 4¾ inches (12 cm) in diameter at its widest part; it may not weigh more than 3 pounds 10 oz (1.7 kg). The standard ball has a maximum diameter of about 8½ inches (22 cm), a circumference of 27 inches (69 cm), and a weight of no more than 16 pounds (7.3 kg). Each has two or more drilled holes in which to insert fingers for gripping the ball.
• Candlepin bowling, played in eastern Canada and New England, is a variation of ten-pin bowling, with "double-ended" pins that are the tallest in any bowling sport.
• Duckpin bowling, commonly found in the mid-Atlantic and southern New England United States and eastern Canada, is a variation of ten-pin bowling involving small, squat pins, sometimes with rubber at their widest points (rubber band duckpin bowling). The official small pin is about 9 3/8 inches (24 cm) high and 4 1/8 inches (10 cm) in diameter at its widest part. It weighs no more than 1 pound 8½ ounces (0.7 kg). The standard small-pin ball has no finger holes. The maximum diameter is 5 inches (13 cm). For duckpins and candlepins, the maximum weight is 4 pounds 12 oz (1.7 kg).
• Five-pin bowling, played in Canada.
• Nine-pin skittles, played in Europe.

Some variations on ten-pin bowling:

• 3-6-9 bowling, special form of ten-pin bowling where the 3rd, 6th and 9th frame already have strikes in them.
• Low-Ball Bowling, uses a standard ten-pin setup, but the object is to bowl the lowest score by aiming at only the seven or ten pins. Strikes and spares are scored identically as in ten-pin bowling, and gutter balls are scored as strikes. At least one pin must be knocked down per delivery, so a miss on the first ball must be recorded as a strike (only a gutter ball can result in this). If the second ball is thrown and it misses pins without going in the gutter, it's recorded as a spare. A perfect low-ball score is 20 (1 pin on each of 2 balls per frame).
• 11-Frame Game, a variation on the regular 10-frame game, in which the bowler must select a frame to bowl again, like a forced mulligan. The bowler may choose any frame except the tenth, and cannot refuse the extra frame. This may help bowlers who may have a bad frame, but may potentially hurt bowlers with an already solid game. This format is normally only seen during "for-fun" competitions.
• Beruit Bowling, game usually played in teams with two lanes. Similar to a rally race the first team to have all their team mates make a strike are the winners. The game begins with two players, one in each lane, after the first strike is made the player takes a seat and the next team mate steps up to bowl. Usually played in a 10 pin game, and can also be played with candle pin.
• No-Tap Bowling, No-Tap bowling is played with the standard ten-pin setup. In a no-tap game the scoring is the same, but rolling a nine (or eight, in some cases) on your first ball results in a strike. A split without the head-pin counts as a spare in other variants of this game.
• Baker System Bowling, Baker system bowling is a team sport. There are generally 5 players that bowl one game. Player 1 bowls frames 1 and 6. Player 2 bowls frames 2 and 7. And so on. Widely seen in High schools and colleges. If the team has more or fewer than 5 players, then players cycle throughout the game. In the case of a 4-player Baker team, player 1 will bowl frames 1, 5, and 9. Similarly, in a 6-person lineup, player 1 will bowl frames 1 and 7, and players 5 and 6 will only bowl one frame.
• Scotch Doubles, a two-person format in which one player throws only the first ball, and the second player throws only the second ball. Players usually alternate between games since a strike means that the second bowler doesn't bowl at all.
• "Xtreme bowling", "Nitro Bowling," "Glow Bowling," "Disco Bowling", or "Cosmic bowling" is offered in many ten-pin bowling centers to present bowling as entertainment. It involves the use of blacklights, fluorescent pins and music to create a dazzling atmosphere.

For nearly a century, ten-pin bowling lanes had a surface made of wood. Beginning about 1980, most ten-pin lane surfaces have been converted to or built with a synthetic material called "Guardian", imitating a wooden surface. In ten-pin bowling, a building containing many lanes has traditionally been called a bowling "alley." Some such buildings have recently called themselves "bowling centers" instead to avoid the negative connotation of alleys.

The second category of bowling is usually played outdoors on a lawn. Here the players throw a ball, which is sometimes eccentrically weighted, in an attempt to put it closest to a designated point.

Included in the outdoor category:

• Lawn bowls
• Bocce
• Pétanque

No of pins:

Rules and terminology

Strike: an X symbol, first throw knocks down all 10 pins. Names of sets of strikes thrown in a row: and add the next two balls strike, double, turkey; four-bagger (all other strikes are followed by bagger), thanksgiving turkey (perfect game)
Spare: a / symbol, first throw knocks down 0–9 pins, second throw knocks down the remaining pins.
Open: The player fails to knock down all 10 pins with both throws.
Foul: The approach to the physical lane contains a foul line. When you step on or over the foul line on any throw, you get a 0 pin count for that throw.
Gutter Ball: When the ball goes in the gutter. If a ball bounces out of the gutter, any pins it hits do not count and must be reset.
Split: A difficult combination of pins that involves pins separated by at least one space and does not involve the head (number 1) pin. A well known split is the 7-10, involving both outside corners. Another example would be the baby split: 3-10 and 2-7. However, a washout (1-2-4-10 for righties, 1-3-6-7 for lefties) does not count as a split because the head pin is still standing.
Double: The player manages to get two consecutive strikes.
Turkey: The player manages to get three consecutive strikes.

Players score points for knocking down the pins, with one pin knocked down earning one point. There are ten frames, with each frame being a new ten-pin set-up, and players are allowed two throws per frame to knock down the pins. If a player throws a strike (all ten pins down on the first throw), he or she is awarded 10 points (one per pin) and the points scored in the next two throws are doubled. If a player throws a spare (all ten pins down in two attempts within the same frame), they are awarded 10 points and the points scored in the next one throw are doubled. Thus, for example, if an individual were to throw 5 strikes in a game, it would be highly beneficial to throw them consecutively. The first nine frames are similar, in that two throws are allowed in each. The tenth frame is a modified frame, in which a third throw is allowed if the player scored a strike or a spare within the first or both initial throws, respectively. It is when the player scores a strike in each of the first nine frames and two subsequent strikes on the two "bonus" throws in the tenth frame that the highest possible score of 300 is achieved.

If a player crosses the foul line at the end of the approach, the ball is marked as a foul "F" and is awarded zero points. If the bowler fouls on the first ball, he is allowed to bowl a full set of pins for the second ball. If the bowler fouls on the second ball, the bowler receives an "F" and frame is over. However, there is a provision to this rule that states the bowler must release the ball for the throw to count. As demonstrated by Mike Machuga's "Machuga Flop", a bowler may re-throw the shot without penalty as long as the ball was not released.

Fouls are judged by light sensors built into the lane; if a bowler's foot breaks the beam of light, the sensor is activated, making a shrill buzzing noise and sending a message to the automatic scorers to mark the attempt as such.

The maximum score of 300 has been achieved many times; over 56,000 perfect games were recorded by USBC and some in YABA in 2005. The YABA now goes by the name USBC Youth, since USBC took over from ABC/WIBC.

References

See also

• Skittles — the sport from which "alley" based Bowling originated
• Skee ball — a game that plays similar to bowling
• Pin shooting — a pistol shooting

External links

• History of bowling
• The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA)
• Bowling Statistics and Analysis
• Bowling Tips
• The United States Bowling Congress (USBC)
• American Wheelchair Bowling Association
• Bowling Invented in Ancient Egypt?

Donate to Wikimedia