Bowling Tips - Introduction To Bowling

The sport of Bowling (also known as tenpin bowling) is an indoor sport in which a ball between 6 and 16 lbs. in weight is rolled down a lane about 42 inches wide by 60 feet long from the foul line to the head pin, in an effort to knock down 10 pins set in a triangular array at the end of the lane. Whether you would like to bowl with some friends or decide to join a bowling league, the social value of ten pin bowling is one of its greatest gifts. One of the many attributes of the game is that people of all skill levels can play, with a maximum of two shots per frame, regardless of where the ball goes on the lane. And the best part is that people of all generations can play. Children, parents, spouses, and grandparents can bowl together. Not many other sports have this feature.

Bowling is played with the use of a bowling ball and the object is to knock down as many pins possible with the least number of throws. Every player is allowed 10 frames or turns, with each frame composed of two rolls. If a bowler manages to knock down a complete set, it is called a strike. But if there are still remaining pins, those that are knocked down are counted and removed. Then the player has another opportunity to roll a second ball and if she manages to knock all remaining pins then it is called a spare. This process continues until everyone has completed their turns in the frame. After which the game proceeds to the next frame. Bonus points are awarded in case of a strike or a spare.

The pins are arranged in an equilateral triangle, the back row has four pins, the next one has three, and the next has two and the last row (front of the lane, also called the head pin) consist only of one pin aligned at the center. The pins have numeration to ease the references of pins, beginning with the single pin in front as one, and ends at ten at the back and rightmost pin. With nowadays technology, the pins are automatically set by the machine, unlike they had previously been set by a human pinsetters or 'pin boys'.

Tenpin Bowling has a unique scoring system that is commonly confusing to new bowlers who attempt to score a game with multiple "marks" (strikes and spares). Bowling scores tend to be unintuitive: if a bowler was to knock down 9 pins with her first shot but miss her spare every frame, she would have a score of 90; if the same bowler were to make all of her spares and knock down 9 with the bonus ball, she would have a score of 190. If she were to carry all ten pins with each shot and strike with each of her bonus balls in the tenth frame, she would have shot a "perfect game" of 300.