The History of Ten Pin Bowling in the United States

Since the Stone Age man has bowled or rolled objects at a variety of targets in some variation or another. Whether they cast stones like the ancient Egyptians did, or rolled hard wooden balls to knock over random shaped pins, the sport of bowling has been around for a long long time.

The earliest traces of any type of bowling dates back to 5200 B.C. But the exact date of unorganized ten pin bowling in the United States is still up for debate. The first permanent location of bowling in the United States was in the "Battery" of New York. This sport was referred to as "Bowl on the green" because this type of bowling was literally bowling on real grass. This area today is sometimes referred to as Bowling Green.

One theory states that bowling was "introduced in the US by settlers from Europe." The game of nine pin bowling soon became very popular as did the betting on the game, so nine pin bowling was outlawed in certain states. One pin was then added to the game and ten pin bowling was born.

Early Bowling History

By the late 1800's ten pin bowling was beginning to take root in such states as: Ohio, Illinois, and New York. Then on September 9th 1895, the American Bowling Congress (ABC) was formed for men, and national competitions began soon after. The ladies soon got in on the bowling band wagon in 1917 and formed the Woman's International Congress.

In the early days bowling was not regulated, and provided no set standard of rules. The weights and sizes of the balls (and pins) were all different, as was the bowling lanes from state to state. Now with the new rules and regulations set people were off and bowling with their hard wooden balls.

The first balls used in ten pin bowling in the United States were manufactured from a hard wood known as "lignum vitae," but soon changed over in 1905 when the first rubber bowling ball (Evertrue) came into the public eye.

Technology Increases

Another change which dramatically changed bowling forever was the invention of the first Mineralite bowling ball in 1914; this ball was introduced by the Brunswick Corporation. Now with increased control over the new type of ball the popularity of bowling was beginning to grow in leaps and bounds.

With the arrival of the 20th century bowling took another leap in technology as the first automated pin setter was first shown to the public in Buffalo New York in 1946. A few years later in 1952 the automated pinsetter was in production which made the "pin boys" now obsolete.

The invention of the pin setting machine was the brainchild of Gottfried Schmidt who invented this machine in his garage. The patent of this pin setting machine was later purchased by the American Machine and foundry Company: AMF.

Television soon became curious about bowling, so NBC aired the first bowling telecast entitled "Championship Bowling" in the 1950's. Now the sport of bowling was coming into everyone's household via television. Since the original telecast many bowling shows have been spawned from this initial concept.

Bowling for the Novice

Another great creation which has added much popularity to the sport of bowling was the invention of the automatic scorekeeper. This device was developed and filed for patent in 1970. This ingenious idea brought in a new concept in automated score keeping, and the popularity of bowling increased yet again. Now you could sit back and let technology do the addition for you as you enjoyed the game, and also the competition of the sport.

Of course technology never forgot about the bowling ball either. The first plastic bowling ball was introduced in the1960's and 1970's and bowling has never been the same since this creation. Urethane balls soon came on the market and were followed by active resin bowling balls, and then the ever popular particle ball.

Today whatever your style of bowling is there's a bowling ball right up your proverbial alley. If you like to throw a hard fast ball right down the middle of the lane, then check out some the latest in the ever popular and durable plastic or polyester bowling balls. This ball is almost sure to outlast your lifetime.

But if you'd rather watch your ball defeat the ever annoying oily lane condition, then reach into your bag and pull out a reactive resin ball, or the ball which the professionals use: the particle ball. Both of these balls are sure to provide the striking power, and also increase your score on any lane conditions.

Along with: automated lane waxing machines, automatic pin setting machines, and automatic scorekeeping what will the next bowling invention be? Will our bodies still be used in the future to throw the ball down the lanes, or will that soon become a relic from the distant past?

Over 100 million people in 90 countries practice this multicultural game. So get out to your local bowling alley and see what the excitement is all about. Who knows; maybe you're a natural.

Source of information: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-pin_bowling