History of Bowling

In 1930, British anthropologist Sir Flinders Petrie, along with a team of archaeologists, discovered various primitive bowling balls, bowling pins and other materials in the grave of an Egyptian boy dating to 3200 BC, which was over 5200 years ago. Their discovery represents the earliest known historical trace of bowling. However, some dismiss these findings[citation needed], arguing that bowling originated in Germany in AD 300. The first written reference to bowling dates to 1366, when King Edward III of England banned his troops from playing the game so that they would not be distracted from their archery practice. It is believed that King Henry VIII bowled using cannon balls. In Germany the game of Kegal (Kegelspiel) expanded. The Kegal game grew in Germany and around other parts of Europe with Keglars rolling balls at nine pins, or skittles. To this day, bowlers in the United States and United Kingdom are also referred to as "keglers."

Bowling Joke of the Week

An auto mechanic received a repair order that read: "Check for clunking sound when going around corners."

Taking the car out for a test drive, he made a right turn, and a moment later he heard a "clunk."

He then made a left turn and again heard a "clunk."

Back at the shop he opened the car’s trunk, and soon discovered the problem.

Promptly he returned the repair order to the service manager with the notation, "Removed bowling ball from trunk".

Commong Bowling Terms

Average
Your average is the sum of all your games divided by the number of games played. You can use your average as a way of recording your improvement - set a goal of raising your average game, say 10 pins a season, until you reach the level of par bowlers.

Clean Sheet
If you make ALL your spares in the game it is called a clean sheet. Making your spares is the simplest way to raise your average on the way to becoming a scratch/par bowler.

Dutch 200
Scoring spare-strike-spare strike for the entire game results in a score of 200 exactly.

Foul
The foul line is drawn across the lane to separate the approach from the start of the lane. Putting your foot over the foul-line means you don't get the score for that delivery: on the first delivery you must re-rack the pins. It is marked on the scoresheet with an "F".

Open Frame
If you fail to make your spare, i.e. knock all pins down in two shots it is called an open frame

Par
Consistently making all your spares will give you an average in the 180 to 190 range. When you develop your game so that you can start to string strikes together your score will go up and you will start to approach the 200 or 210 mark, which many have likened to being a "scratch" golfer.

Perfect Game
If a bowler manages to score twelve strikes in a row, in the same game, the score is 300 (the highest possible) and it is called a perfect game.
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Series
Adding up the scores from all the games you have played will give you the total series. Most leagues will play three-game series. It is common to use the series as a measure of success, did you score a 500, 600, 700 or even an 800 series? Big tournaments will play many more games and, instead of recording total pinfall, bowlers compare their positions by talking of how many pins over/under par they are, with par usually being 200 (e.g. +20, -10, just like in golf).

Split
This is a spare left when two or more pins remain standing, but with a gap between them. Spares are naturally a little harder to make (since you need to put the ball between two pins, or slide one pin over into another - see picture) and bowlers don't like to leave a split. While most of them are makeable (if you are accurate and know a good spare system) the dreaded back row splits (e.g. 7-10, 8-10) are pretty much impossible. A special kind of split is the washout, where the headpin remains standing as the ball hooks by it. It is common to draw a circle round the pin-count on the score sheet to indicate that it was a split.

Turkey
Getting three strikes in a row is called a "turkey". After that most people start referring to the string of strikes as if they are collecting them in a bag, e.g. four-bagger, five-bagger etc. Each string of three strikes is worth thirty pins a frame!

Sleeper
If you leave a spare where one pin is standing directly behind another, the rearmost pin is called the "sleeper".

Basic Bowllng Scoring FAQ

Frame

There are ten frames in one game. You have two chances to knock down the ten pins in each frame (see the explanations for strike and spare). Note that the tenth frame rewards you with a final bonus ball if you convert your spare (or make two strikes). You can thus throw nine strikes in the first nine frames and, if you get another two in the tenth, the bonus ball means the most strikes you can have in one game is twelve. This is called a perfect game.

Spare

Getting all ten pins down with one ball is not as easy as it seems! So, if you leave one or more pins standing after your first delivery, you get a second chance to knock all the pins down, this is your "spare" shot. If you knock all remaining pins down on the second shot you have made your spare. A spare is marked on the scoresheet with a "/". It takes skill to consistently make spares and the scoring system rewards you by adding in the pins from the next ball into the current frame.

Strike

When the bowler knocks down all ten pins with the first delivery of the ball it is called a strike. Clearly your score goes up by ten, but like a spare, you get a bonus - your next two deliveries are added to the score.

At Sunset Bowl you won't have to worry about keeping score because of the automatic scoring equipment.

Summer in Phoenix & indoor sports

Now that the heat is coming, bowling is a great indoor sport.

Check out www.bowlinginphoenix.com/how_to_bowl.htm
It explains the way the lanes are set up, pin numbers, etc.