Bowling Study Guide
History and Facts
There are two types of bowling; the first and most popular is Ten-Pin bowling and
the second is Candlepin bowling. The origin of bowling started in Northern Italy as a
game called bowls. Bowls eventually made its way to America and in the late 1800’s it
became known as bowling. In 1895 the American Bowling Congress, which continues to
govern all the rules of bowling, was organized. A bowling lane is 63 feet long and 42
inches wide. Attached to both sides of the lanes are gutters, which carry errantly thrown
balls. A player throws two balls in an attempt to knock pins down. The object of the
game is to knock down all ten pins set in a triangular pattern. Every two balls thrown are
called a frame. Each player gets ten frames to achieve their score.
Candlepin bowling is only unique to the New England area. It was created in
Worcester, Mass in 1880. In Candlepin, you roll three balls instead of two as in Ten-pin.
In Ten-Pin, after a ball is thrown the pins that are knocked down are removed. In
Candlepin, the knocked down pins stay where they are until after the third ball is thrown.
Rules
 In class we will always be playing with Ten-Pin Rules.
 You get to throw two balls then record how many pins you knocked down.
 The pins are then reset and the next player throws.
Scoring & Terminology
Strike = when all ten pins are knocked down with the first ball rolled in a frame. A strike
is marked on the score sheet with an (X). The count for one strike is ten (10) plus the
number of pins knocked on the player’s next two balls thrown.
Spare = when the pins that are left standing after the first ball rolled are knocked down
with the second ball rolled in that frame. A spare is marked on the score sheet with an (/).
The count for a spare is (10) plus the number of pins knocked down by the player’s next
ball rolled.
Frame – Individual boxes (one-tenth of a game) where scores are recorded.
String – 10 frames on the score sheet
Gutter ball – A ball that leaves the alley and falls into the side channels. If no pins are
knocked down with the two balls thrown it is marked on the score sheet with an (-)
Pocket – The space between the 1-3 pins for a right-handed bowler, and the 1-2 pins for a
left-handed bowler
Turkey – 3 strikes in a row
The maximum possible score in a frame is 30, the score of three strikes in a row.
A perfect score is 300, the total of 12 consecutive strikes (ten frames of strikes with two
bonus strikes).
Bowling uses 134 muscles
Sample Score sheet that will be on the quiz
Ball 1
Ball 2
3
5___
6
spare
1
4___
0
8___
strike____________
2
spare
5
4__
9
0__
5
spare
strike
strike
1st Frame
2nd Frame
3rd Frame
4th Frame
5th Frame
6th Frame
7th Frame
8th Frame
9th Frame
10th Frame
1
2
3 5 6
3
1 4
4
0 8
Ball 3
_8
5
6
7
5 4
2
8
9 0
9
10
5
8
8 8 11 19 5 24 8 32 20 52 15 67 9 76 9 85 20 105 28 133
Practice Score sheet
Ball 1
Ball 2
1
4___
3
spare
7
2___
0
9___
strike____________
4
spare
6
0__
0
7__
6
spare
strike
strike
1st
Frame
2nd Frame
3rd Frame
4th Frame
5th Frame
6th Frame
7th Frame
8th Frame
9th Frame
10th Frame
1
1
2
4
3
4
5
Ball 3
7
6
7
8
9
10