Bowling

Bowling is the common name for several sports that involve rolling a ball
towards a target or to knock down pins.

For the use of this term in cricket see Bowling (cricket).

The sports known as bowling may be divided into two distinct groups. The
first group is played along an "alley", most commonly of wood. Here the
players attempt to score points by throwing a ball to knock down pins.
Included in this group are

   * Ten-pin bowling
   * Five-pin bowling, played in Canada
   * Nine-pin skittles
   * Candlepin bowling, played in eastern Canada and New England, is a
     popular variation of ten-pin bowling, where the player gets to roll a
     small ball three times per frame, instead of the normal two.
   * Duckpin bowling, commonly found in the Baltimore, Maryland area, in
     central Connecticut, and in eastern Canada, is another popular
     variation of ten-pin bowling, where the player rolls three times per
     frame.
   * Turkey bowling, in which the participants throw frozen turkeys along
     the aisles of supermarkets to knock down 2-litre soft drink bottles, is
     not a sanctioned sport.

In the second group the players throw a ball (which may be eccentrically
weighted) along a lawn in an attempt to put their balls closer to a
designated point. This group includes

   * Lawn bowls
   * Bocce
   * Petanque