Celebrate National Bowling Day this August!

History of Bowling 

What better excuse for bowling than National Bowling Day itself? Bowling is one of the world’s most popular participation sports and has around 120 million players in more than 90 countries. And it’s easy to see why it’s so well-loved! 

Today bowling takes many forms, whether it’s tenpin bowling or lawn bowls that floats your boat. The game of bowling originally dates back to ancient Egyptian times. Primitive bowling equipment, including pins and bowling balls, was found in an ancient Egyptian child’s tomb, originating from as early as around 3,200 BC. Many years later King Edward of England was a keen bowler although working men were banned from joining in just in case they neglected their duties! How harsh is that?

The modern game of tenpin bowling, as we know it today, is likely owed to Germany, where players placed kegels (cone-shaped objects) at the end of an alley. Each person then rolled a stone, in an attempt to knock down the kegels. They believed that by knocking down the kegel, their sins would be forgiven, so it was a kind of religious act. 

Strike up some fun!

National Bowling Day is meant to be celebrated, but how you may well ask yourself. Let’s take a look at some ideas to mark the day.  

1) Go Bowling! Simple but why not call your friends or get the family together and organise a day on the lanes? It doesn’t matter how good you are, have fun and enjoy yourself.

2) Enjoy some Tenpin Treats. Get some tasty food and drink delivered to the lanes. Quench your thirst with an ice-cold beer, snack on a sharing platter, or even take a bite of a juicy burger and nibble on some fries. 

3) Throw a Bowling Party. Perhaps it’s someone’s birthday, anniversary, or maybe you just want an excuse to celebrate the Summer Holidays. But if it’s just for the kids then our kid’s bowling birthday parties are always a winner as they include not only bowling but balloon modelling, music, dancing, and pizza.

4) Extend Your Bowling Fun. Play our arcade games, or challenge each other to a game or 2 of table tennis or pool. Who doesn’t love some friendly competition? Check out your nearest Tenpin to discover what other exciting activities they have on offer. Think, private karaoke rooms, action-packed laser tag arenas, and mind-bending escape rooms to keep the fun times rolling.

The Benefits of Bowling

There’s no doubt that bowling is a fun way to bring on friendly competition between friends, and you can get as serious (or not) about it as much as you want. You’ll still have a great time, whether you make endless gutter balls or hit strike after strike. So let’s talk about some of the benefits of this fabulous game.

• Inclusive fun for all. Everyone from toddlers and younger children can join in with their bumpers at the ready right through to the grandparents. It’s a fun-filled indoor activity whatever the weather, whether you’re looking for a family day out or fun with friends. It goes without saying that here at Tenpin we are inclusive of both physical and learning disabilities.
• Perfect team-building event. Bowling is great for providing a casual experience for the team to bond and grow together as they take aim for those pins and get chatting. Team building at its best.
• Ideal first date. This could be right up your alley as there are no awkward silences over a fancy dinner. Let the laughter flow, be silly, and show your personality in a more natural way and break the ice. Sounds pretty perfect right? Even if you don’t meet the love of your life you’ll have a great time. 
• A fun-filled night out with mates. What better way to get the competitive spirit rolling than with tenpin bowling with your mates? You can rib each other about that unlucky gutter bowl or fluky strike to get the banter going.

Bowling Fun Facts

How much do you really know about bowling? We might know a lot as it’s our bread and butter but we are the pros. It's a sport that, no matter your age or skill, you can pick up and play, whether you’re good or bad. And drink beer at the same time unless you’re not old enough of course. The kids won’t miss out as they’ll love the odd slushy here and there to quench their thirst. What's not to love?

Check out our Top 10 facts to improve your knowledge of this wonderful game.

1) Did you know that bowling even paved the way for modern Bocce and even lawn bowling? What a striking fact that is.

2) Evidence suggests that bowling dates back as far as 3,200 BC. To put that into context that’s around the same time that some of the first forms of the written word were discovered on cuneiform tablets. Now that is old!

3) Guinness World Records confirms that the largest bowling center in the world is Inazawa Grand Bowl in Japan. It has a whopping 116 consecutive wooden lanes on a single floor. That’s pretty hard to imagine.

4) Bowling balls were made out of wood until the early 1900s. In the world of bowling today, they’re mostly made out of polyester or plastic and weigh between 2.7 and 7.3 kg. So they can be pretty hefty! But did you know that even the heaviest balls float?

5) When you bowl the optimal strike, the ball itself only hits 4 pins. A right-handed bowler's ball actually connects with the 1, 3, 5, and 9 pins (sometimes the 8-pin). The left-hander's ball will contact the 1, 2, 5, and 8 (or 9) pins. Think about it! So if you bowled a 300, you'd only hit 48 pins.

6) No girls were allowed to play originally. Women did not get a chance to hit those pins until 1917. That’s when the Women’s National Bowling Association was founded so that the sport could be more inclusive. And thank goodness it now is!

7) Never quite know which ball is right for you? As a ballpark figure, your bowling ball should weigh about 10% of your body weight, although you still need to be able to comfortably release it onto the lane. The finger holes shouldn't be too small or too big, either.

8) Learn some bowling lingo. A turkey is when you get three strikes in a row. A six-pack is six strikes in a row and a seven-bagger to 11-bagger is seven to 11 strikes in a row. If you’re like me, you may well be delighted with just the odd strike!

9) Oil and bowling go together. It was originally used to protect the lane surfaces. Today specific oil patterns affect how fast the bowling ball travels, spins, and hooks down the lane toward the pins.

10) 9-pin bowling, yes you read that right, was the most popular form of bowling in much of the US until the 1830s. A culture of crime and gambling became associated with it, and eventually, it was banned. To get around the law, players simply added one more pin, and the modern game was born.

Let's Celebrate

So get ready to celebrate National Bowling Day. Here at Tenpin, you won’t be surprised to know, we love bowling as it promotes bonding with family, friends, or colleagues. So create your happy memories today. In the meantime, we’ll leave you with something bowling related to think about:

“Do you know how to score a bowling game? You can only knock down 10 pins per frame. And there are only 10 frames per game. So how does that perfect score add up to 300?”

“It’s more complicated than that. Strikes and spares have their own special (bonus) scoring system. And the 10th frame allows for one or two extra balls if you knock all the pins down”.

So, do you have what it takes to hit the perfect 300? Let us know via our social media channels just how close you can get.