Pin bowling
Bowling is a sport in which a player, with focus and effort, rolls a bowling ball down a lane to hit a cluster of pins in order to acheive the maximum amount of pinfall.
Terminology
- Frame: a single round, consisting of two attempts to knock all pins down, with an exception on frame 10.
- Bowling ball: a ball typically made of urathane or some other composite plastic, with a specific weight and three holes drilled which are reserved usually for the thumb, middle, and ring fingers.
- Pin: a white wooden construct that when knocked down counts as one point.
- Lane: the entire distance between the pins and the throw line.
- Strike: knocking down all 10 pins down in a single frame with one attempt. Designated on a scorecard by the symbol "X"
- Spare: knocking down all 10 pins down in a single frame within two attempts. Designated on a scorecard by the symbol "/"
- Approach: the method in which a bowler travels from a starting position to the throw line manipulating his or her body in conjunction with the bowling bowl to achieve the greatest possible attempt.
- Turkey: scoring three strikes in a row.
- Gutter: two channels that lie on either side of the lane that conform to the shape of the bowling ball. Rolling a ball into a gutter results in a score of zero for that attempt.
- 10th frame: the last frame in a single game. The maximum amount of attempts that may occur in frame 10 is three, providing each attempt results in a strike, or if a spare occurs in the first two attempts during this frame, or if a strike is the first ball thrown.
Objective
The objective of the game is to maximize the possible amount of pins one may score throughout the frames.
Rules
Bowling out of any other physical sport may possibly have the fewest rules in terms of how the game is played. Any method may be used to get the bowling ball from the throw line to the pins, which offers a great amount of flexibility. However, a bowler may not cross the throw line; doing so results in a fault or "error" and forfeits any points made in that frame.
Scoring
There is a system for scoring pins in bowling. Any number of pins knocked down in a single frame count for their face value, except if all pins are knocked down in the first attempt. This is registered as a strike. If the remaining pins are knocked down in the second attempt, it is registered as a spare.
Scoring a strike or a spare incurs an additional bonus on the next frame. A strike will accrue additional points in the frame it was scored in based on the next two successive throws. A space will accrue additional points in the frame based on the very next successive throw. These bonuses do stack with successive frames.
- Example (spare):
| Template:Bowlingscoresheet | Template:Bowlingscoresheet | Template:Bowlingscoresheet | Template:Bowlingscoresheet |
In Frame three, John scores a spare. In the very next roll in frame four, he only rolls a one. Normally, 7+2+6+1+9+1 = 26. However, the next roll following the spare (first roll, frame four) is accounted into that frame (frame three). The total for frame three is 7+2+6+1+9+1+1 = 27.
- Example (strike):
| Template:Bowlingscoresheet | Template:Bowlingscoresheet | Template:Bowlingscoresheet | Template:Bowlingscoresheet |
In this example, Susan rolls a strike in frame two. Since a strike counts the next two successive throws, the two rolls from frame three are accounted for in frame two, 3+0+10+2+2=17.