Basic Bowling Regulations

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Certain standards laid down by the American Bowling Congress govern all sanctioned bowling lanes and must be complied with if official recognition is to be given to any competition held thereon. I am not going to name all of these regulations, because many of them are rather technical, but I would like to set down a few that have a direct bearing on your game. Here are the important ones:

Your bowling ball weighs not more than 16 pounds nor less than 10 pounds. The circumference of the ball is 27 inches, and the diameter of the ball is 8.59 inches.

Tenpins are 15 inches in height, and must weigh not less than 2 pounds, 14 ounces, nor more than 3 pounds, 10 ounces. The design of all pins is clearly prescribed by the ABC. The distance between each pin is 12 inches from center to center.

The length of an alley is 60 feet from the foul line to the headpin. The Width of the normal alley is 42 inches, and the length of the normal alley approach is 16 feet from the foul line to the back edge.

A foul occurs any time after the ball leaves the bowler's hand and passes over the foul line if the bowler permits his foot, hand, arm, or any other part of his body to touch the alley, gutters, division boards, walls or uprights that are beyond the foul line.

When pins are knocked down or displaced by a ball which leaves the alley before reaching the pins, or from a ball rebounding from the rear cushion, they do not count and should be respotted immediately. The removal of or interference with pins by a pinboy before they stop rolling is cause for the umpire to order the pins respotted.

All these regulations have been developed over a period of years, with only slight changes made recently. Nevertheless, I still hear bowlers ask if they can't count pins toppled by a ball that has rolled into the gutter before reaching the pins.

The regulations of the game of bowling are the responsibility of the ABC, which is doing a never-ending job of rooting out evils and standardizing the game to a point where bowlers all over the country play on the same basis. Many of the rules put into effect were absolute necessities, such as the laws on weight and size of the ball. In the old days, it was considered smart to drill balls in such a manner that they became weighted on one side making it possible for the owner to deliver such a "dodo ball" with amazing accuracy and effect, giving him a tremendous advantage over an opponent using an ordinary ball. Thanks to the ABC, bowling is the great game it is today.