4 Alternative Types of Bowling

One popular way to spend a weekend is to head to the local bowling alley for a night of fun, games and nachos. Most of the time when people say they are going bowling they are referring to the game in which there are ten pins and they use a bowling ball to try an knock over all the pins. This is actually not "bowling" but is actually a specific type or bowling called "ten-pin". There are actually several different types of bowling.

One version of bowling that is very similar to ten-pin is called "Duckpin". Like in Ten-pin, Duckpin is won by using a ball to try and knock over ten pins at the end of the lane. The one difference in Ten-pin and Duckpin is the size of the pins and ball. Duckpin has shorter pins and a smaller ball is used to try and knock over the pins.

Another type of bowling is called "Five-pin". If Ten-pin has ten pins then guess how many pins Five-pin has. That's right, there are only five pins in Five-pin and they are arranged in a V-shape. Scoring for Five-pin is different than Ten-pin. In Ten-pin each pin is worth just one point but in Five-pin the pins have different point values. The middle pin is worth five points, the pins on each side of that are worth three points and the two outside pins are worth two points each. Knocking down all the pins in one shot is still a strike, a spare is still awarded for knocking down all the pins in two attempts and points carry over to the other frames the same as in Ten-pin.

"Candlepin" is a type of bowling that is name for the unusual size of the pins. The pins in Candlepin are taller and thinner than in Ten-pin so the pins look similar to candles. The ball in Candlepin is also different. In Candlepin the ball is smaller and has no holes. The lack of holes makes Candlepin more difficult because it is harder to control the speed or the accuracy of the roll.

"Nine-pin" could possibly be the most difficult type of bowling. Nine-pin has nine pins that are arranged in a diamond shape. The goal of the game is to knock down all of the pins except for the middle one. If the bowler succeeds in knocking down all the pins except for the middle one then they receive twelve points for that frame. If the bowler fails to knock down all of the pins except for the middle pin then they simply get one point for each pin.