Everything about bowling is becoming increasingly popular due to its exposure in movies, television sitcoms, and new age music. That and the fact that it is a sport that can be played by most anyone who can pick up or push a six to sixteen-pound plastic ball.

Bowling is an equal opportunity sport; there is no discrimination of race, age, sex or social background. Five-year-olds and octogenarians play alongside business CEOs and teenagers sporting the latest in gothic fashions.

The Game, The Sport

The object of the game is to get a perfect score of 300 by rolling your ball down the lane and bowling over as many of the ten pins as you can for each of ten frames.

Games of 300 are hard to accomplish; even professional bowlers achieve few perfect games in their careers. A game of 200 is considered par.

The game ends after you bowl ten frames, which could take as little as eleven turns or as many as twenty. The better you become, the fewer turns you need to take.

It can be a social game or an individual game. It can be league supported or personally challenging. The game can be professionally sponsored or simply a family get-together. No matter what the circumstances, bowling can be fun!

Many high schools and colleges have bowling teams and individual bowling enthusiasts travel state to state in national tournaments. And for those of you who do not realize the levels bowling has gotten to, the adults and juniors of Team USA travel country to country and do very well I might add.

Bowling Lingo

The alleys or house is the building that houses the lanes for bowling.

Lanes are the wooden courses you play the game on. They are made of maple and pine though some houses are using urethane now. The lanes are maintained by constant cleaning and oiling for best action.

Gutters run along side of the lanes. If your ball ends up in one of those, it is called a gutter ball and no score is taken.

Pins are the ten bottle-shaped targets and are usually white with a red stripe at the neck. They are set at the end of the alley in a triangular pattern and are numbered by their positions with the number one pin in the front. Bowling alleys that are up to date have a lighted display above the pins showing which pins were knocked down on the last turn.

A full game consists of ten frames or ten turns. Each frame is halved in the case it takes two tries to knock all ten pins down. Sometimes that just does not happen, and then you receive a lower score.

A strike is when you knock all ten pins down in one try. This is what you strive for.

Turkey is the term for three strikes in a row.

You get a spare when it takes two tries to down all ten pins.

Splits happen when, after the ball has knocked some pins down, the ones remaining have a large gap between them. It takes good aim and some luck to bowl the rest of the pins over.

Bowling buffs use words like slide, boards, marks, dots, arrows, English, Brooklyn and form when it comes to their style of playing. Slide, English, Brooklyn and form have to do with their body motions and aim. Boards, dots, arrows and marks are visible eye-measurements on the lane where they place their feet or start their balls rolling.

Lofting the ball is more or less tossing it instead of setting it down to roll.

The lingo I have mentioned above is common to all bowling houses. There are plenty other terms used by professionals and practiced bowlers. There are even more that are unique to different bowling alleys.

Scoring

As mentioned before, there are ten frames to complete to make up a game. Every pin you knock over in one frame will be tallied. If you fail to make a strike, you get another chance to take the rest of the pins down.

The score sheets look sort of like graph paper with spaces for individual names and a row of ten frames next to them. Each frame has three sections, two small boxes above one larger box.

Let us say that on your first try you knocked down three (this is written in the top left-hand box on the second frame), your second try you knocked down four(written in the top right-hand box); that would give you a score of seven for that frame and the number seven is written in the lower section.

The total score of each frame will be added to the next frame. Simple right? It is simple if you do not make a strike or a spare.

The top of the scoring frames are in two sections for the reason that if you were to knock all the pins down in one fell swoop, a strike, you are entitled to add your next two tries as a bonus or a mark to the total score in that frame. A spare entitles you to add your next try only. The top boxes make it easier to keep track. The bottom section is the total of both tries and marks.

Strikes are not recorded in the top sections as the number 10, but as an X in the right-hand box. Spares are recorded with the first try's number in the left-hand box and then a half an X or a diagonal slash in the right-hand box. For example, if you get a strike in your first frame, you would mark an X in the right-hand box of the top section. Your score for now is ten plus the next two tries; no score is penciled in until after the next two tries. The second frame you knock down two on your first try and four on your second try. The total of those two tries is added to your first frame making a total of sixteen and it is recorded in the bottom section of that frame. That total carries over and is added to the total of your second frame and you record twenty-two. If you bowl a spare or strike on the tenth frame, you have one or two extra tries respectively to complete the scoring.

The bonuses for strikes can boost your score tremendously or not. If the two tries after a strike adds up to only two, you only get a total of twelve for your strike. But if you make strikes in the next two tries, your first strike is worth thirty points! Thirty points in each frame makes the perfect game of 300.

Choosing your bowling ball

Bowling balls are heavy! They are smooth, hard and can weigh six to sixteen pounds. You want a ball that you can comfortably lift with one hand. But if it takes no effort, the ball may be too light.

Three holes are drilled into one side, for your thumb and two middle fingers, to grasp the ball. The span of these holes varies on every ball unless you have them custom drilled. The fit is good when the palm of your hand lays flat against the ball and your fingers are not cramped or stretched.

House balls are used and abused bowling balls that the alley furnishes free when you rent a lane for games. If you plan to bowl consistently, you might want to buy one that fits your ability, your hand and your personality. They come in a variety of designs and name brands and cost as little as ten dollars for a used one, as much as two-hundred dollars for professional quality and upwards of five hundred dollars for a custom made.

Accessories

Specially made shoes are a necessity for this sport because of the surface of your approach. Most bowling alleys rent them. They have smooth rubber soles that allow for a controlled length of sliding. Without these shoes, you might stick in your approach and jar your back or shoulder. Did I tell you that bowling balls are heavy?

You might want a bag to carry that heavy bowling ball. Bags are made of vinyl, leather or canvas and have a handle for easy carrying; some even have wheels. The basic bag has one compartment for the bowling ball only or maybe some space for a pair of shoes. The more elaborate bags have pockets for hand towels, shoes, gloves, and some have compartments for as many as six balls.

Bowling shirts are designed for a maximum range of motion. They are not necessary but are required as uniforms for many leagues and all professionals. Some leagues and most tournaments require that men wear pants and women wear skirts. But for purely recreational play, pants, skirts, shorts and I have even seen pajamas, can be worn; loose fitting is best.

Bowling shirts and shoes have even become fashionable outside of the bowling alleys. Designers as well as celebrities and cartoons have lent their colors, fabrics, names and caricatures to the basic patterns.

A Lofty History

Official bowling balls were made of hard rubber in the 1960's, polyester in the 70's, and now are made of urethane. The pins are made of maple and coated with plastic.

The lanes have been grass, planks and even church aisles throughout history.

Precursors have been called nine-pins, kegels and candlepins; now its other name is tenpins.

The modern game of bowling has a family tree of sorts. Its first known relative was played in Ancient Egypt and there are records showing like games during medieval times, the middle ages and early American history. Some forms of the game have been favored by kings, used in religious rituals, declared illegal or banned at one time or another.

Imagine, a game that has been popular since the the time of the Great Pyramids!

I'll see you on the lanes!