1Understand the bowling lane. Before you begin to bowl, you have to understand the function of the bowling lane. A bowling lane is 60 feet (18.3 m) long from the foul line, the line closest to the bowler, to the head pin, the pin closest to the bowler. There are gutters on either side of the bowling lane. If a ball veers off the lane, it goes into the gutters and is out of play
The approach area is 15 feet (4.6 m) long and ends at the foul line. The bowler cannot overstep the foul line during their approach or their shot won’t count.
If a ball goes into the gutters and then bounces out and hits the pins, it won’t count.
2Understand the bowling pins. Ten pins are arranged at the end of the bowling lane at the beginning of every frame. They are arranged in a triangle formation, with the point of the triangle facing the bowler. There is one pin in the first row, which is the head pin, two pins in the second row, three in the third, and four in the fourth.
The locations of the pins are assigned numbers 1-10. The pins in the back row have the numbers 7-10, the pins in the row above the back row are numbered 4-6, the pins in the second row are numbered 2-3, and the head pin is pin 1.
All pins will earn the bowler one point if they are hit. The numbers are based on location, not value.
3Learn the lingo. Before you can call yourself a true bowler, you should be aware of a few different bowling terms. Knowing these terms will also make it much easier for you to understand the rules. Here they are:
A strike is when you knock down all the pins with the ball on your first try.
A spare is when you knock down all the pins on your second try.
A split is when the first ball of a frame knocks down the headpin (the pin closest to you) but leaves two or more pins that are non-adjacent. It’s tough to hit a spare in this situation, especially if you have a 7-10 split, which is the hardest split to hit.
A turkey is three strikes in a row.
If any pins remain after the bowler’s turn, it’s called an “open frame.”
4Understand how a game of bowling works. One bowling game consists of 10 frames. Each frame is equal to one turn for the bowler. The bowler’s objective is to knock down as many pins as possible in a frame, ideally all of them.
A bowler can roll the ball twice in each frame, provided that they do not hit a strike.
A bowler gets an extra turn on the tenth frame if they knock down all the pins on the first turn.
5Learn the scoring. If a bowler has an open frame, then they simply get credit for the number of pins they knocked down. If a bowler knocked down 6 pins after two turns, they simply get two turns. However, if a bowler hits a spare or a strike, the rules get slightly more complicated
If a bowler hits a spare, then they should place a slash mark on their score sheet. After their next turn, they will receive 10 points plus the number of pins they knock down with that turn. So if they knock down 3 pins after their first turn, then they will get 13 points before their second turn. If they then knock down 2 pins in their second turn, they get a total of 15 points for that round.
If a bowler hits a strike, they should record an X on their scoresheet. The strike will earn the bowler ten points plus the number of pins knocked down on the player’s next two turns in the following round.
The most a bowler can score in one game is 300 points. This represents 12 strikes in a row, or 120 pins that were knocked down in 12 frames. A perfect game has 12 strikes and not ten, because if the bowler gets a strike on the last frame, then they can take two more turns. If those two turns are also strikes, they will have 300 points.
If a player rolls a spare in the last frame, then they can take one more turn.
