The Yearly Ping

Recently, I was chatting with a college friend about bowling and the question came up, “Duckpin and candlepin bowling… same or just similar?” The answer, of course, is similar, but different.

In all cases, you’re rolling a ball down an oily lane trying to hit pins while wearing clothing that looks permanently stuck in the 80s. But the size of the ball, the number and size of the pins, and the scoring are all surprisingly different.

As a reference, regular ol’ 10-pin bowling has, well, ten pins. Bowlers get two shots to knock them all down. If they do it in one, it’s a strike and the frame’s score is combined with the next two shots (so a strike followed by another strike and an 8 is scored as 28 for the first strike). If they do it in two shots, it’s a spare and the frame’s score is combined with the next shot. Ten frames make a game (with a possible bonus 11th and 12th frames). A perfect game is a 300. A bowling ball can weigh between 8 and 16 pounds, way more than any of the games listed below.

Duckpin

Duckpin bowling also uses ten pins, but they’re shorter and squatter than their 10-pin counterparts. Bowlers get three shots per frame. Strikes and spares are scored the same as 10-pin. If the pins are knocked down on the third shot, it’s scored as a ten with no bonus points. A perfect game is also a 300, as with 10-pin. However, the “official high score in a sanctioned game” is only a 279, which happened back in 1992. The balls weigh between 3 lbs 6 oz and 3 lbs 12 oz and have a diameter of between 4 3/4 and 5 inches. There are no holes in the balls.

This duckpin match that is very clearly from the 1980s is pretty impressive. The competitor is trailing leading into this clip and knocks out three tough splits in a row making the game very close. Then he gets an insane strike at the 2:38 mark. The guy that loses does not look the least bit pleased.

Candlepin

Candlepin bowling is similar to Duckpin in that it also uses ten pins and has the same scoring method, but the big difference is in the pins, which are tall and flat-ish. The pins have noticeably less “action” when hit, so between shots pins on the lane are not cleared and can be used as part of a strategy to knock down the remaining pins. The maximum score is 300, but the highest recorded sanctioned score is a 245, done in 1984 and 2011. The ball is the smallest used in any form of bowling, weighing 2 lb 7 oz (basically the weight of one candlepin) and has maximum diameter of 4 1/2 inches. Like all of these alternative bowling games, the balls do not have holes.

This televised Candlepin match from the early 80s is a long one, but fun to watch for the competitors alone. They are 80s in every possible way. Where are they now? Maybe we’ll find out in the 2017 Ping.

Canadian 5-Pin

While I’d heard of both Candlepin and Duckpin bowling before, I’d never heard of Canadian 5-Pin before. In some ways it’s the most intriguing of the bunch. Five pins are placed in a V formation at the end of the lane and have rubber bands around the middle for added action. The pins are smaller than ten-pin pins and larger than duckpins. Scoring is different from any other bowling method. The bowler gets three shots in a frame like duckpin and candlepin, but beyond that, scoring gets pretty confusing and involves a lot of symbols and scoring quirks I’m still struggling to understand:

A perfect score is 450 (12 straight strikes) and happens 15-30 times a year.

This 2008 video is a good example of how surprisingly interesting 5-pin is to watch.

My goal in 2015 is a.) learn how to score 5-pin and b.) find a place to bowl 5-pin. The closest to me seems to be about 7 hours away near Niagara Falls, so it’s possible.

Posted in Bowling