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The Rules of Bowling (Ten Pin Bowling)
Bowling is one of the most popular indoor games for party. Everyone can play it. The rules of bowling aren’t difficult. If you want to have a good time, go to the bowling with your friends.
The Lane
The length of bowling lane (or alley) is 18.2 m and the width is 1.7 m. On the both side of the lane there are gutters. If the ball goes in the gutter it will pass by the pins and you will score 0 points. The zone for run and throwing the ball calls “the approach“. The length of approach is 4.68 m. The approach finishes with the “foul line“. If the bowler step over the line it will be a foul, his throw won’t score. 10 pins form a triangle with 4 rows: the first row — 1 pin, the second row — 2 pins, the third — 3 pins, the forth row — 4 pins.
The pins and the balls
The are different balls for bowling which differ one from another by size and weight. Each bowler chooses ball to his liking. But there are some recommendations: for children — 4kg ball, for women — 4.5-5.4 kg balls, for men — 5.9-7.2 kg balls. The ball has 2 or 3 holes for fingers.
The tall of pin is 38 cm and the width is 12 cm at the widest point (where ball contacts with the pin).
The game
A game (it calls sometime “string“) consists of 10 frames. In frame each player rolls the ball two times.
When the bowler knocks down all 10 pins with his first roll, it is a strike.
When all the pins are knocked down after second ball, it is a spare.
If any pins are left standing at theirs places, it is “open frame“.
If player steps over the foul line during delivery, it is a foul and it counts as a roll. If any pins are knocked down they will be respotted without counting.
If some pins are knocked down by a ball that has dropped in the gutter, or by a ball bouncing off the rear cushion, they won’t count, and will be respotted.
Scoring
In an open frame, a player simply gets point for the number of pins that he knocked down.
When it is a spare, a slash mark is recorded in a small square in the upper righthand corner of that frame on the score sheet, and no score is entered until the first ball of the next frame is rolled.
Then point is given for 10 plus the number of pins knocked down with that next ball. For example, a player rolls a spare in the first frame; with the first ball of the second frame, the player knocks down 6 pins. The first frame, then, gets 16 points. If 1 of the remaining 4 pins get knocked down, 7 points are added, for a total of 23 in the second frame.
In the case of a strike, it is recorded with an X in the small square, the score being 10 plus the total number of pins knocked down in the next two rolls. Thus, the bowler who rolls three strikes in a row in the first three frames gets credit for 30 points in the first frame.
In the case of spare in the last frame, player must do one more roll to close frame.
When the bowler gets strike in the last frame, he rolls two times again before the final score can be tallied.
The maximum score is 300 per game.
Do you have some difficulties with terms of bowling? Read the Glossary of Bowling Terms.