Ten Pin Bowling - A Beginner's Guide

The rules of ten pin bowling are nice and simple, leaving you plenty of brain-power to focus on your aim... and winning!

Each player takes it in turn to roll bowling balls along the 'lane'. The aim is to knock down the skittle-like 'pins' that stand at the end, ideally in one go - called a 'strike.' A point is scored for each pin knocked down. Each player takes ten turns, called a 'frame', and (unless they score a strike) will roll twice in each frame.

The balls come in various weights and sizes, all shown through their different colours and numbers. To pick them up, you place your two middle fingers and your thumb into the three holes and grip tightly. It's impossible for the ball to strike every pin at one go, because the pins are spaced out and the ball just inside wide enough, so the trick is to hit the pins sufficiently hard for them to knock the outer ones down as they fall.

On either side of the lane are lowered channels, called 'gutters.' These collect the balls that have drifted off to the side before reaching the pins. If your ball enters the gutter, you score zero points for that roll, known as a gutter ball... and usually return to your seat feeling a bit embarrassed.

If you're not playing competitively, you can choose to have these gutters covered by bumpers, which means that the balls will bounce back onto the lane. This is often a popular option when young children are playing.

Before the lane itself, there's a 5 metre 'approach', so that you can take a run-up before releasing your ball. This approach is separated from the lane by a 'foul line' and you are not allowed to cross this before, during or after delivering the ball onto the lane.

If you are skilled (or just plain lucky) enough to knock down all ten pins on your first roll, you are awarded a strike and that frame is completed.  If, as most players do, you fail to knock down all ten pins on your first roll, then you take a second roll. A mechanism clears away the pins you knocked over, leaving the ones that did not fall.

If you then knock down all of those remaining pins on your second roll, you are awarded a 'spare.' 

Once your second roll is over, regardless of whether you still have some pins standing, you return to your seat and it's the next person's turn. Once every player in the game has rolled, the frame is complete, and the next one begins.

The person with the highest score wins. Good luck!