Five-pin bowling is a bowling variant which is played in Canada, where many bowling alleys offer it, either alone or in combination with ten-pin bowling. It was devised around 1909 by Thomas F. Ryan in Toronto, Ontario, at his Toronto Bowling Club, in response to customers who complained that the ten-pin game was too strenuous. He cut five tenpins down to about 75% of their size, and used hand-sized hard rubber balls, thus inventing the original version of five-pin bowling.
Ten-pin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The objective is to knock down all ten pins on the first roll of the ball, or failing that, on the second roll.
Candlepin bowling is a variation of bowling that is played primarily in the Canadian Maritime provinces and the New England region of the United States. It is played with a handheld-sized ball and tall, narrow pins that resemble candles, hence the name.
Norm Duke is an American professional bowler currently competing on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Tour and the PBA50 Tour. He has won 40 titles on the PBA Tour, including seven major championships, and another six titles on the PBA50 Tour. A member of both the PBA and USBC Halls of Fame, Duke is one of only three players in history to reach 40 career PBA Tour titles. He has bowled 73 perfect 300 games in PBA competition, including the 16th televised 300 game in PBA Tour history on January 5, 2003. Duke is a member of the Storm pro staff.
Duckpin bowling is a variation of the sport of bowling.
A bowling ball is a hard spherical ball used to knock down bowling pins in the sport of bowling.
A perfect game is the highest score possible in a game of bowling, achieved by scoring a strike in every frame. In bowling games that use 10 pins, such as ten-pin bowling, candlepin bowling, and duckpin bowling, the highest possible score is 300, achieved by bowling 12 strikes in a row in a traditional single game: one strike in each of the first nine frames, and three more in the tenth frame.
Chris Barnes is an American professional bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), who currently competes on both the PBA Tour and PBA50 Tour. He has also competed internationally as a member of Team USA.
A split is a situation in ten pin bowling in which the first ball of a frame knocks down the headpin but leaves standing two or more non-adjacent groups of one or more pins. Scoring a spare in this situation is often referred to as a "killer shot".
The National Bowling League (NBL) is a defunct professional bowling league that existed from February 24, 1960 to July 9, 1962. The league was formed as an attempt to ride the popularity of bowling television shows, and also to challenge the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA).
In the sport of ten-pin bowling, there are many different ways in which to deliver the bowling ball in order to advance it toward the pins in an accurate and powerful manner. Generally, there are three basic forms of 10-pin bowling. The most basic form is known as stroking, which is the most classic form. The most powerful form is known as cranking, which imparts great leverage and maximum rotation on the ball, but sacrifices accuracy. In between the two is the domain of the tweener, who has characteristics of both, but does not truly fit into either category. A well-known variant of "tweening" is the power stroker.
In bowling, a strike means that all of the pins have been knocked down on the first ball roll of a frame. On a bowling scoresheet, a strike is marked by an "X".
Andy Varipapa was a professional and trick bowler. He became famous around the world for his trick bowling shots.
Wesley Clint "Big Nasty" Malott is an American professional ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Originally from Pflugerville, Texas, he now resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He has won ten PBA Tour titles, and was the 2008–09 Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year. He won his lone major championship at the 2012–13 U.S. Open, and has finished runner-up in five other PBA major tournaments. Malott also won the 2006–07 Showplace Lanes Megabucks Shootout, which was not a PBA Tour event. He won the non-title PBA King of Bowling event in 2009, and defended his King position eight consecutive times through 2018.
Nine-pin bowling is a bowling game played primarily in Europe. European championships are held each year. In Europe overall, there are some 130,000 players. Nine-pin bowling lanes are mostly found in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Estonia, Switzerland, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Poland, North Macedonia, Hungary, Brazil and Liechtenstein.
A hook in ten-pin bowling is a ball that rolls in a curving pattern. The purpose of the hook is to give the ball a better angle at the 1-3 pocket (right-handers) or 1-2 pocket (left-handers.) to achieve a strike. When a ball is rolled straight, hitting the pocket must be precise. By hooking the ball, the ball will hit the pins with more force, producing better carry - especially on the 5-pin during a strike ball. Straight roll - even when it hits the pocket, will tend to leave a tap such as the 5-pin on a light hit, or the 10-pin if the ball was just slightly right of center pocket or with inadequate entry angle. A hook ball can achieve strikes with less precise hits.
Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins or another target. The term bowling usually refers to pin bowling, though in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, bowling could also refer to target bowling, such as lawn bowls.
Sport Bowling is any form of ten pin bowling that uses patterns of lane oil to reduce the effectiveness of modern bowling balls. It was created by the United States Bowling Congress, the governing body of the sport of ten pin bowling, to offer players the opportunity to bowl on exactly the same lane conditions and oil patterns that professional bowlers face on the PBA Tour. Sport Bowling originally referred to leagues, known as PBA Experience Leagues, which are offered in conjunction with the Professional Bowlers Association. However, the term is now used to refer to any bowling event which incorporates a "sport shot" or oil pattern.
Anthony Simonsen is an American professional ten-pin bowler from Little Elm, Texas, currently residing in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has been a member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) since 2014. Simonsen became known in bowling fan circles early in the 2016 season, when he earned the distinction as the youngest player in history to win a PBA major championship. He is now the youngest player in history to own four major PBA Tour titles. He uses the two-handed shovel-style delivery with a dominant right hand. At age 25, Simonsen eclipsed $1 million in career PBA earnings during the 2022 season.
