Scoring bowling proves math comes in handy
Bowling is one of the few sports where there is a maximum score allowed – 300 points.
So, what if a bowler becomes so good that 300s become second nature?
USU Bowling Club President Austin Catlin said that isn’t the case.
“It’s not easy by any means,” said Catlin, who has recorded only three perfect games in the past two and a half years. “It’s not that it’s uncommon, but it’s not easy to do in the same sense.
“After a 300, [your] next game tends to not be very good,” he said. “You’re so focused that most bowlers shake afterwards from the adrenaline rush. It gets really difficult. There’s so many variables involved.”
Not only is attaining a 300 a difficult thing to do, just try learning to keep score.
Nowadays, the score in bowling is usually kept electronically instead of manually (the only two exceptions locally being the bowling alleys in Malad and Preston, Idaho).
But in case you’ve ever wondered how the scoring system works, The Statesman Let Me Explain series will help. It is actually very easy – though a basic understanding of arithmetic is required.
“It is helpful to still know how to do scoring because you will run into places occasionally that do it the old-school way,” Catlin said.
The type of bowling most popular is called tenpin bowling. This is because there are 10 pins (each 15 inches tall and a little less than five inches wide) placed at the end of a straight, narrow surface called a lane (about 60 feet long and 3.5 feet wide).
The other component to the game is the bowling ball, which cannot weigh more than 16 pounds or have a circumference greater than 2.25 feet.
A game of bowling is broken into 10 frames, or rounds.
In each frame, a bowler has two chances to knock down all 10 pins. The more pins one knocks down, the more points one gets. The person with the highest score is the winner.
There is one minor catch, however. If one knocks down all the pins in one try or two, he or she achieves a “strike” or a “spare.”
Strike
When a bowler knocks down all 10 pins on the first roll of the frame, he or she has recorded a strike.
On the scorecard, this is represented by an “X” or by completely shading in the box. This “X” is worth 10 points, but the overall score for that frame is unknown until the bowler has completed both rolls of his or her next one or two frames, because that score is added on to the 10.
Let’s say in his first frame a player records a strike. Then in the second frame he knocks down three pins on the first roll and four on the second. These seven points he has just racked up are doubled: They are added to the 10 from the strike and individually in frame No. 2.
John’s total score after two frames would be 24.
For a better chance at getting a strike, Catlin said it is best to try to have the ball hit the pins from a side angle.
Spare
When a bowler knocks down all 10 pins after he has rolled twice, he or she has recorded a spare.
On the scorecard a spare is represented by a “/” or by shading in half of the box on the scorecard. Like a strike, a spare is worth 10 points. The difference from a strike is that only the next frame’s score is added on to it and individually in the frame in which it was recorded.
10th-frame bonus
If a bowler records a strike in the final frame, they are allowed two more rolls (which is why there are three boxes possible to fill in the final frame).
If a spare is put up, the bowler is allowed one extra roll.
The 10th frame is the only frame in which 30 pins can be knocked down
Bowling a 300
If a bowler records a strike in each frame, his or her score will eventually add up to 300. Catlin said it is easier to get that kind of a score if he doesn’t have to worry about keeping score himself.
He said multiple factors go into trying to tally 300 points, such as speed of the ball, how many revolutions it makes, footwork, release and oil conditions of the lane.
Bowlers play three games, which make a series. The maximum point total for the series is 900.
“There’s nobody I’ve seen throw 300s” in every game of the series, Catlin said. “A good series for me is a 700 series.”
Though he rarely sees such a game accomplished by himself and by others, he also said “it’s getting more and more common because of the advances they’re making in bowling equipment.”
-sbhislop@cc.usu.edu