regulation ten-pin bowling

Regulation Ten Pin Bowling is just like what you play down at the lanes. You can choose to play a full game (ten frames), a half game (five frames), or a three-game series (three full games of ten frames each).

The Rules and Scoring

A game consists of ten frames. Each player gets two chances to knock down all ten pins on each frame. If all ten pins are knocked down on the first shot, the frame is marked as a strike and the second shot is not needed. If all pins are knocked down on the second shot the frame is marked as a spare. If less than ten pins are knocked down after two shots the frame is considered "open".

A strike scores ten points plus the pins knocked down on the next two shots. A spare scores ten points plus the pins knocked down on the next shot. An open frame scores the number of pins knocked down in that frame.

The tenth frame is treated special in that if the player gets a strike or a spare additional shots are required to finished the frame (two in the event of a strike, one in the event of a spare). This is because a strike scores ten plus the next two shots and a spare scores ten plus the next shot.