Bowling (20846)

Bowling is a game in which players attempt to score points by rolling a ball along a flat surface in an attempt to knock down objects called pins. There are many forms of bowling, with the earliest dating back to ancient Egypt. more...

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In the US the best known form of bowling is probably the North American game of ten-pin bowling. This form, in both amateur and professional versions, is played around the world, making it one of the largest participation activities worldwide.

History

Historians have discovered forms of bowling as early as 3200 BC in Egypt, though some argue that it originated later in Germany around 300 AD. The first written reference to bowling was in reference to King Edward III of England banning his troops from playing the game in the 14th century. European settlers brought forms of the game to the United States in the colonial era.

The first standardized rules were established in New York City, on September 9, 1895. In that year, the American Bowling Congress (ABC) was formed. The female equivalent, the Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC) was founded later, in 1917. Later, the Young American Bowling Alliance (YABA) became the sanctioning body for junior bowling.

Originally, pinspotters manually set up pins. However, in 1952, the first automatic pinsetters were commercially produced, greatly speeding up the game and allowing its popularity to blossom.

Since bowling was an indoor sport without extreme movements, several early television shows featured bowling, including "Championship Bowling", "Make That Spare", "Bowling For Dollars", and "Celebrity Bowling".

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) was founded in 1958 by Eddie Elias. While the first season only featured three events, the tour blossomed, especially after joining the ABC's Saturday afternoon time slot in 1961. Through the years, professional bowling on ABC typically outdrew college basketball, even in its final days on the network in the late 1990s. The PBA continues to showcase the best bowlers in the world, with telecasts currently on ESPN.

In 2005, the ABC, WIBC, and YABA merged to form the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) to serve as the single sanctioning body for all American bowling.

The United Kingdom, the second largest ten-pin bowling advocate, is home to the British Tenpin Bowling Association (BTBA), which was formed on 26 May 1961. Although the PBA is a world-wide organization with many professional British ten-pin bowling players, the UK still has its version of the association with the Premier Tenpin Bowling Club (PTBC).

Forms

Most forms of bowling may be categorized as either indoor or outdoor. Most indoor forms are played on a "lane", a flat surface made of wood or a synthetic imitation, which is several times longer than it is wide.

Read more at Wikipedia.org