Bowling Fun Facts

Sarah and her friends make a point of getting once a month to bowl. It’s a fun way to exercise and get caught up with all the news. Bowling is a game played indoors or outdoors where a ball is thrown toward pins in an effort to knock them down and score points. Sounds fun, eh? Here are 5 facts about bowling you can use to impress your friends.

Special bowling shoes are needed because they protect the bowler. They have a sole that allows the slide that is needed at the end of the shot when the bowling ball is released.

Bowling started with 9 pins but when 9-pin bowling was outlawed because of its association with gambling, crafty bowlers started 10-pin bowling. In Canada, we have 5-pin bowling and 10-pin bowling. There are a few differences. In 5-pin bowling, a player has three shots per frame instead of two. In 10-pin, each pin is worth one point so each strike is worth 10 points. With 5-pin, the pins are worth 5, 3, and 2 points so each strike is worth 15 points. But the difference I like the most – five-pin bowling has smaller bowling balls, which are easier to hold!

Back in the day, a pinsetter was a person who manually reset the bowling pins to their positions, cleared the fallen pins, and returned the bowling balls to the players. I remember my cousin doing this for a summer job! Now it’s all automated.

There’s a science behind bowling balls! Until 1905 they were made out of wood and didn’t have finger holes. Now, they are made out of a rubber composite or plastic, weigh a maximum of 16 pounds for 10-pin bowling, and have 3 or 4 finger holes.

Toppling all the pins with one ball is called a strike. A perfect game requires 12 consecutive strikes. Three strikes in a row is called a “turkey”. Four strikes in a row is a “ham bone”, six is a “wild turkey”, and nine strikes in a row is a “golden turkey”.

Make your next party a bowling party – and get out and have some fun!