Bowling Terms

Are you looking for definitions for some of the most popular bowling terms? Bowling is a sport that is enjoyed by approximately 95 million people on a yearly basis throughout the world. The most popular form of bowling is ten-pin bowling. Of course, the goal in ten-pin bowling is to knock all 10 pins down with a single throw. It is important that you know what the bowling terms mentioned below mean before you head on over to your local alley for some fun.

1. Strike. Everyone wants to get a strike when they are playing bowling. If you get a strike, it means that you knocked down every single pin with a single throw. Whether you are using your own score card or letting the computer keep score for you, a strike will be marked as an "X" in the frame that you got it. In terms of how a strike impacts your score, you get 10 points for the strike plus the number of pins that you knock down in the next frame. For example, 2 strikes in a row counts as 40.
2. Turkey. You may hear the words turkey and triple used interchangeably in bowling, but turkey is definitely the most popular term. You will achieve the goal of getting a turkey when you have 3 strikes in a row. The scoring that is used for a turkey is different than getting a regular strike. Getting a turkey will give you 69 points plus however many pins you knock down in the next frame.
3. Spare. Getting a spare is the next best thing to getting a strike in bowling. When you get a spare, it means that you knocked all of the pins down, but it took you 2 deliveries to do so. For example, you may knock 7 pins down with your first throw and the remaining 3 pins down with your second throw. You get 10 points for the spare, plus however many pins you knock down with your first throw in the next frame.
4. Foul. Many people do not realize that there are fouls in bowling, too. If you get a foul, you get a score of 0 for that delivery. There is a foul line at the beginning of each lane. If your feet go beyond that line, you have committed a foul. If you release the bowl before you get called for a foul, you will receive zero points for however many pins were knocked down.