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Bowling Facts

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Bowling refers to a series of sports or leisure activities in which a player rolls or throws a bowling ball towards a target. In pin bowling variations, the target is usually to knock over pins at the end of a lane. This is commonly ten pins, and is sometimes called Ten Pin Bowling. See the fact file below for more bowling information.
  • The history of bowling dates back thousands of years. It is believed by many that a passion for hitting a bowling pin with an object actually struck humanity sometime in the Stone Age.
  • Forerunners of modern bowling date back to at least 5200 in Egypt. Dutch settlers probably introduced the game in America.
  • Bowling is an indoor sport that is played by rolling a ball down an alley, hoping to knock down ten pins. Bowling is also known as tenpins.
  • A regulation bowling alley is made of polished wood and measures 41 to 42 inches wide and 60 feet from the foul line, where the ball is delivered, to the center of the head pin.
  • Bowlers, also called keglers, roll a ball made of rubber composite or plastic, which has three or four finger holes and weighs from 10 to 16 pounds at plastic-covered maple pins standing 15 inches high. The pins weigh between 3 pounds 2 ounces and 3 pounds 10 ounces and are set up in a triangular array in rows of increasing width at the opposite end of the alley.
  • A game consists of 10 frames, with two balls allowed a bowler in each frame. Each pin knocked down counts one point. Toppling all pins with the first ball is a strike and scores 10 points plus the total of the next two balls. Clearing the alley with two balls is a spare and scores 10 points plus the next roll. A perfect game, 300 points, requires 12 consecutive strikes.
  • If three strikes are thrown in a row it is called a “turkey”.
  • The American Bowling Congress is the official rule making body of ten-pin bowling.
  • On either side of the alley is a gutter. If the ball goes into the gutter it is called a “gutter ball”.
  • Bowling is a sport that can be enjoyed throughout the year, no matter what the weather, because it’s played indoors. It can also be enjoyed by people at any age. The game enjoyed widespread popularity that stuck following the invention of the automatic bowling pin spotter in the 1940s.

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Link will appear as Bowling Facts: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, March 25, 2010