Bowling has a long and rich history, and today is one of the most popular sports in the world. A British anthropologist, Sir Flinders Petrie, discovered in the 1930’s a collection of objects in a child’s grave in Egypt that appeared to him to be used for a crude form of bowling. If he was correct, then bowling traces its ancestry to 3200 BC.
A German historian, William Pehle, asserted that bowling began in his country about 300 AD. There is substantial evidence that a form of bowling was in vogue in England in 1366, when King Edward III allegedly outlawed it to keep his troops focused on archery practice. And it is almost certain that bowling was popular during the reign of Henry VIII.
By this time, too, there were many variations of “pin” games, and also of games where a ball was thrown at objects other than pins. This would seem to imply that the games had developed over time, from an earlier period.
One of the most eccentric games is still found in Edinburgh. The player swings a fingerless ball between his legs and heaves it at the pins. In doing so, he “flops” onto the lane on his stomach. There were and still are many variations of ninepins in Western Europe. Likely related are the Italian bocce, the French petanque, and British lawn bowling.
Undoubtedly, the English, Dutch and German settlers all imported their own variations of bowling to America. The earliest mention of it in serious American literature is by Washington Irving, when Rip Van Winkle awakens to the sound of “crashing ninepins”. The first permanent American bowling location probably was for lawn bowling, in New York’s Battery area. Now the heart of the financial district, New Yorkers still call the small plot Bowling Green.
The game had its ups and downs in America. An 1841 Connecticut law made it illegal to maintain “any ninepin lanes”, probably because bowling was the object of much gambling. But the problem, of course, also evidenced its popularity. Also, many captains of industry chose to install a lane in their mansions.
While it is uncertain where the tenpin game evolved, by the late 1800s it was prevalent in many states such as New York, Ohio and as far “west” as Illinois. However, details like ball weights and pin dimensions varied by region. But that changed when restauranteur Joe Thum finally pulled together representatives of the various regional bowling clubs. On September 9, 1895, at Beethoven Hall in New York City, the American Bowling Congress was born. Soon standardization would be established, and major national competitions could be held.
While women had been bowling in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the American Bowling Congress was for men. It was in 1917 that the Women’s International Bowling Congress was born in St. Louis. Encouraged by proprietor Dennis Sweeney, women leaders from around the country participating in a tournament decided to form what was then called the Women’s National Bowling Association.
Bowling technology took a big step forward about the same time. Balls used to be primarily lignum vitae, a very hard wood. But in 1905 the first rubber ball, the “Evertrue” was introduced, and in 1914 the Brunswick Corporation successfully promoted the Mineralite ball, touting its “mysterious rubber compound”.
Now organized, with agreed upon standards, the game grew in popularity. In 1951 another technological breakthrough set the stage for massive growth. American Machine and Foundry Company (AMF, then a maker of machinery for the bakery, tobacco and apparel businesses) purchased the patents to Gottfried Schmidt’s automatic pinspotter, and by late 1952 production model pinspotters were introduced. No longer did a proprietor have to rely on “pinboys”.
Television embraced bowling in the 1950’s, and the game’s popularity grew exponentially. NBC’s broadcast of “Championship Bowling” was the first network coverage of bowling. Coverage proliferated with shows like “Make That Spare”, “Celebrity Bowling”, and “Bowling For Dollars.” And in 1961, ABC became the first network to telecast competition of the Pro Bowlers Association. Successful promoter, agent and entrepreneur Eddie Elias founded the PBA, and with his leadership, the Pro Bowlers Tour became a hugely popular stalwart of ABC sports broadcasting. Joined later by telecasts of the Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour (now the Professional Women’s Bowling Association, PWBA) millions of Americans witnessed and became interested in the sport.
Today, the sport of bowling is enjoyed by 95 million people in more ninety countries worldwide. Under the auspices of the Federation Nationale des Quilleurs (FIQ) bowling’s top athletes regularly compete in Olympic Zone and worldwide competitions.
Rules of Bowling
The rules of bowling are fairly simple. What has been explained above is the essence of the entire game. But of course there is slightly more to it than that. The scoring system is one of those things.
There are, as the name suggests, ten pins to knock down. How many a player knocks down in a frame (with one or two balls) counts as the score for that frame.
For example, scoring 3 and 4 with two balls gives you a score of 7 for that frame.
What happens if someone knocks down all the pins with their first ball?
This is called a strike. When a strike is scored, 10 points are given for the ten pins scored, and then the points scored with the next two balls are added. Obviously, in this case you would roll only one ball for that frame.
What happens if someone knocks down all the pins with their second ball?
This is called a spare. When a spare is scored, 10 points are given for the ten pins scored, and then the points scored with the next ball is added. This applies whether the pins were all scored from two balls, or one ball.
When either a strike or a spare has been scored, the score cannot be calculated until the next ball(s) have been rolled, as the bonus scores are added due to pins scored in the next frame(s).
If a player makes a strike in the tenth (final) frame, they are allowed two more deliveries. If a player makes a spare in the tenth frame, they are allowed one more delivery.
Generally, the scorecards are marked with symbols to say what happened.
A strike is marked by X
A spare is marked by /
A miss (where no pins were scored from a ball) by a –
A foul is marked by F
A number states how many pins were scored. There are two boxes per frame for each ball, except the final frame, which has three boxes, to allow for a strike or spare in the final frame.
The score adds up throughout the ten frames to provide the finishing score.
Career opportunities
There are many careers directly or indirectly connected to bowling.
Being a professional Bowler is the most obvious career opportunity, and probably the one with the best chance to get rich. Another way to work with bowling would be as a bowling coach or trainer. As a member of the ABA or ABC you can get involved in national bowling issues without actually practicing the sport. Strike Ten offers many job indirectly related to bowling. Strike Ten is the centralized marketing, management, television and licensing company for the bowling industry in the United States.
