How to Keep Score in Bowling

Read on to find out how this can be: we'll tell you how to keep score and you'll understand how you get rewarded for strikes and spares, but especially for stringing strikes together in two's and three's. First things first, though, the object is to score more points than your opponent(s). You can play a friend on a single lane, many friends at the same time or, in tournament or league, one or more opponents across a pair of lanes. So what do they mean when talk splits, sleepers and turkeys? Read on...

Revised May 13th 2000

Basic Scorekeeping

Frame: There are ten frames in one game. You have two chances to knock down the ten pins in each frame (see the explanations for strike and spare). Note that the tenth frame rewards you with a final bonus ball if you convert your spare (or make two strikes). You can thus throw nine strikes in the first nine frames and, if you get another two in the tenth, the bonus ball means the most strikes you can have in one game is twelve. This is called a perfect game..
Spare: Getting all ten pins down with one ball is not as easy as it seems! So, if you leave one or more pins standing after your first delivery, you get a second chance to knock all the pins down, this is your "spare" shot. If you knock all remaining pins down on the second shot you have made your spare. A spare is marked on the scoresheet with a "/". It takes skill to consistently make spares and the scoring system rewards you by adding in the pins from the next ball into the current frame. See also split.
Strike: When the bowler knocks down all ten pins with the first delivery of the ball it is called a strike. Clearly your score goes up by ten, but like a spare, you get a bonus - your next two deliveries are added to the score. Stringing strikes together will raise your score dramatically (See turkey). Marked on the scoresheet with an "X".

You can watch a video of a strike

Return to the score keeping computer

Additional Terminology

Additional Scorekeeping Terms
Average Your average is the sum of all your games divided by the number of games played. You can use your average as a way of recording your improvement - set a goal of raising your average game, say 10 pins a season, until you reach the level of par bowlers. Clean Sheet If you make ALL your spares in the game it is called a clean sheet. Making your spares is the simplest way to raise your average on the way to becoming a scratch/par bowler. Dutch 200 Scoring spare-strike-spare strike for the entire game results in a score of 200 exactly. Foul The foul line is drawn across the lane to separate the approach from the start of the lane. Putting your foot over the foul-line means you don't get the score for that delivery: on the first delivery you must re-rack the pins. It is marked on the scoresheet with an "F". Open Frame If you fail to make your spare, i.e. knock all pins down in two shots it is called an open frame Par Consistently making all your spares will give you an average in the 180 to 190 range. When you develop your game so that you can start to string strikes together your score will go up and you will start to approach the 200 or 210 mark, which many have likened to being a "scratch" golfer. Perfect Game If a bowler manages to score twelve strikes in a row, in the same game, the score is 300 (the highest possible) and it is called a perfect game. next column	Series Adding up the scores from all the games you have played will give you the total series. Most leagues will play three-game series. It is common to use the series as a measure of success, did you score a 500, 600, 700 or even an 800 series? Big tournaments will play many more games and, instead of recording total pinfall, bowlers compare their positions by talking of how many pins over/under par they are, with par usually being 200 (e.g. +20, -10, just like in golf). Split This is a spare left when two or more pins remain standing, but with a gap between them. Spares are naturally a little harder to make (since you need to put the ball between two pins, or slide one pin over into another - see picture) and bowlers don't like to leave a split. While most of them are makeable (if you are accurate and know a good spare system) the dreaded back row splits (e.g. 7-10, 8-10) are pretty much impossible. A special kind of split is the washout, where the headpin remains standing as the ball hooks by it. It is common to draw a circle round the pin-count on the score sheet to indicate that it was a split. You can watch a video of a split Turkey Getting three strikes in a row is called a "turkey". After that most people start referring to the string of strikes as if they are collecting them in a bag, e.g. four-bagger, five-bagger etc. Each string of three strikes is worth thirty pins a frame! Sleeper If you leave a spare where one pin is standing directly behind another, the rearmost pin is called the "sleeper".

Additional Scorekeeping Terms

Average: Your average is the sum of all your games divided by the number of games played. You can use your average as a way of recording your improvement - set a goal of raising your average game, say 10 pins a season, until you reach the level of par bowlers.
Clean Sheet: If you make ALL your spares in the game it is called a clean sheet. Making your spares is the simplest way to raise your average on the way to becoming a scratch/par bowler.
Dutch 200: Scoring spare-strike-spare strike for the entire game results in a score of 200 exactly.
Foul: The foul line is drawn across the lane to separate the approach from the start of the lane. Putting your foot over the foul-line means you don't get the score for that delivery: on the first delivery you must re-rack the pins. It is marked on the scoresheet with an "F".
Open Frame: If you fail to make your spare, i.e. knock all pins down in two shots it is called an open frame
Par: Consistently making all your spares will give you an average in the 180 to 190 range. When you develop your game so that you can start to string strikes together your score will go up and you will start to approach the 200 or 210 mark, which many have likened to being a "scratch" golfer.
Perfect Game: If a bowler manages to score twelve strikes in a row, in the same game, the score is 300 (the highest possible) and it is called a perfect game.

next column

Series: Adding up the scores from all the games you have played will give you the total series. Most leagues will play three-game series. It is common to use the series as a measure of success, did you score a 500, 600, 700 or even an 800 series? Big tournaments will play many more games and, instead of recording total pinfall, bowlers compare their positions by talking of how many pins over/under par they are, with par usually being 200 (e.g. +20, -10, just like in golf).
Split: This is a spare left when two or more pins remain standing, but with a gap between them. Spares are naturally a little harder to make (since you need to put the ball between two pins, or slide one pin over into another - see picture) and bowlers don't like to leave a split. While most of them are makeable (if you are accurate and know a good spare system) the dreaded back row splits (e.g. 7-10, 8-10) are pretty much impossible. A special kind of split is the washout, where the headpin remains standing as the ball hooks by it. It is common to draw a circle round the pin-count on the score sheet to indicate that it was a split.
Turkey: Getting three strikes in a row is called a "turkey". After that most people start referring to the string of strikes as if they are collecting them in a bag, e.g. four-bagger, five-bagger etc. Each string of three strikes is worth thirty pins a frame!
Sleeper: If you leave a spare where one pin is standing directly behind another, the rearmost pin is called the "sleeper".