The most basic of rules for bowling is to have fun! This is a sport that everyone can participate in. How involved you want to be in bowling is entirely up to the individual. In order to bowl you need to have a bowling ball and bowling shoes. Bowling alleys have bowling balls that can be used if you do not own your own and you can rent shoes from them as well. Bowling is for all age brackets and with special equipment found in some alleys it allows for those that are handicapped to also enjoy. It is also a low impact type of exercise that all can do and not even realize that they are keeping healthy since they are enjoying themselves.
A bowling lane has a 16 foot approach with a black line, known as the foul line, which separates the approach from the lane that you roll a ball down. A bowler is to remain behind the foul line but should they set off the foul light it is considered a foul. The bowler would get a zero for that roll and the rack of pins would be re-racked and they are given one roll for their score. At the end of each lane are 10 pins that the bowler is supposed to knock down. The lane used for rolling the ball over is 60 feet long and 42 inches wide. There is a gutter on either side of the lane that runs the full length. This is for carrying the ball to the ball return should you miss when rolling the ball down the lane. A ball return runs underneath the gutter and returns the bowling ball back to the bowler waiting on the approach.
The objective in bowling is to keep the bowling ball on the lane for the entire length and hit as many pins as possible. The bowler steps on to the approach and takes 3 steps followed by a sliding step to the foul line and they simultaneously swinging the bowling ball like a pendulum. When the bowler reaches the foul line the ball is let go of on the forward swing to let it roll down the lane and strike the pins.
A bowling game has 10 frames for scoring. In each frame a bowler has the ability to roll twice to accomplish getting all 10 pins down, with the exception of the 10th frame. In the 10th frame a bowler can possibly roll three times, if they strike they may roll two more times or if they spare they may roll one more time. If the bowler gets all the pins down on the first ball it is considered a strike if it takes two attempts it is considered a spare. If all 10 pins are not knocked down the total for each roll is what is scored. Since most alleys have computers that do the scoring for you I will not delve in to that.
A bowling ball has three holes drilled in to it that a person puts their thumb, middle finger and ringer finger of the hand they normally write with. The ball can weigh between 10 and 16 pounds but most bowling alleys have lighter bowling balls for the older or younger bowler. If you are using a ball from the alley, you want to find one that is not too heavy for you to swing easily and the finger holes fit your fingers comfortably. You will not be able to find a perfect fit since the ball is not drilled to your personal hand measurement.
Bowling shoes are made for both males and females and in all sizes. The shoe has a leather sole that is made for sliding on the approach when the bowler rolls the ball. Regular shoes would not allow a bowler to do this and could cause injury. Some alleys will allow the very young to bowl in just socks but caution should be used since children can slip and fall and get hurt.
When bowling with small children they will most likely not be able to roll the ball down the lane using 3 steps and a slide. They can stand at the foul line and swing the ball and let go of it on the forward swing or they can stand with legs shoulders width apart and using two hands bend over and swing the ball between their legs letting it roll down the lane. Also with young children just learning to bowl, most alleys have what they call bumpers so when a youngster rolls their ball down the lane it goes all the way down to the pins and knocks down pins. Bumpers placed in the gutters are to keep new bowlers from bring discouraged with their beginning attempts to bowl.
If you go bowling with a group each bowler takes a turn at hitting the pins in succession. When there are other bowlers on the approaches on either the left and/or right side it is courteous to wait for them to finish their turn before you step up for your turn on the approach. This is also done in case they should drop the ball when they swing so you out of the way and not injured.
This is just a summary of the basic rules for bowling. If you would like to learn more about bowling and scoring there are many web sites to choose from. Should you want to take bowling further than just for fun they have teams at the alleys and some high schools have bowling teams. Bowling can be both fun and competitive. It may appear too many that bowling is very easy but it does take some prowess to become more adept getting high scores. It is not easy to bowl the perfect game of 300 but with practice it can be done.
