🎳 Bowling

Ten pin bowling is a game of ten frames in which the player rolls at ten pins and gets a second ball if any are left standing. Strikes and spares carry their bonus into the next frame, which is why the perfect game scores 300 rather than 120.

🚀 Start Here

• Bowling Equipment List
• Bowling Terms and Slang
• Best Bowling Athletes of All Time
• Where Bowling Is Most Popular
• The Tournaments That Matter

⏳ Bowling History

• 3200 BC: Earliest known instances of a bowling-like game in ancient Egypt.
• 300 AD: A game resembling bowling was played in German churches as a religious ceremony.
• 1300s to 1600s: Bowling evolves across Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Banned by King Edward III of England, standardized in Germany by Martin Luther.
• 1700s to 1800s: Bowling is brought to America by English, Dutch, and German settlers. Ten-pin bowling emerges in the 1840s.
• 1895: The establishment of the American Bowling Congress (ABC).
• 1916: Founding of the Women’s International Bowling Congress (WIBC).
• 1930s: Invention of the automatic pinsetter. Bowling debuts in the 1936 Olympics.
• 1950s to 1960s: Greater exposure through television; formation of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA); adoption of automatic scoring systems.
• 1970s to 1980s: Golden age for professional bowling; rise of family-oriented bowling centers amidst a slight decline in popularity.
• 1990s to 2000s: Advancements in bowling ball materials, technology impact on equipment and gameplay; record-breaking achievements by prominent bowlers.