Candlepin bowling


Candlepin bowling is a variation of bowling that is played primarily in the Canadian Maritime provinces and the New England region of the United States. It is played with a handheld-sized ball and tall, narrow pins that resemble candles, hence the name.

Comparison to ten-pin bowling

As in other forms of pin bowling, players roll balls down a wooden or synthetic lane to knock down as many pins as possible. Differences between candlepin bowling and ten-pin bowling include:
  • Candlepin involves three rolls per frame, rather than two rolls as in ten-pin.
  • Candlepin balls are much smaller, being in diameter and have a maximum weight of They are almost identical in weight to a pin, as opposed to ten-pin balls whose maximum allowable weight is more than four times that of a pin.
  • No oil is applied to the lane, so the ball does not skid but rolls all the way down the lane.
  • Candlepin balls lack finger holes.
  • Candlepins are thinner, which increases the amount of space between pins, further reducing scoring.
  • Fallen pins are not cleared away between rolls during a frame, so long as the entire pin stays behind the "dead wood" line, which is in front of the "head pin" spot. Wood in the gutters is "dead wood", which means that if the ball makes its first contact with it, the pins felled do not count, nor are they re-spotted.

    History

The International Candlepin Bowling Association website states that candlepin bowling was first played in 1880 in Worcester, Massachusetts, thought to have been developed by Justin White, owner of a billiards and bowling hall. A 1987 Sports Illustrated article stated the game was invented in 1881 in that town by one John J. Monsey, a billiards player, who is recognized for standardizing the game. A 1891 newspaper notice shows the incremental introduction of a single "candle-pin bowling set" into a bowling alley originally hosting other types of bowling. In 1906, Monsey created the National Duckpin and Candlepin Congress, which regulated ball size, pin shape and size, and lane surface characteristics, facilitating formation of leagues and other competitions.
Originally, pins were dowels, resembling candles, thought to give rise to the name, candlepins. An 1888 newspaper article referred to pins. Both were thinner than modern candlepins which are specified to be thick. In the late 1960s, plastic candlepins began to replace wood candlepins, a change that some thought required a change in game strategy.
In 1947, lawyers Howard Dowd and Lionel Barrow overcame the need for human pinsetters by inventing the first automatic candlepin pinsetter, called the "Bowl-Mor", the two inventors receiving a patent that issued in 1956.
Stations WHDH-TV/5 & the later licensee of channel 5, WCVB-TV, aired candlepin bowling's first televised show from 1958 through 1996, and in 1964, The Boston Globe launched its own annual candlepin tournament. In 1965, the World Candlepin Bowling Council began its Hall of Fame, inducting WCVB commentator Don Gillis in 1987. In 1973, station WHDH began airing Candlepins for Cash, allowing contestants to earn a jackpot by rolling a strike.
In 1986, the International Candlepin Bowling Association was formed.
The highest sanctioned candlepin score is 245, achieved in 1984 and again on May 13, 2011.

Gameplay

Candlepins are high and thick in diameter. Balls are in diameter and lighter than a single candlepin.
A candlepin bowling lane, almost identical to a tenpin bowling lane, has an approach area of for the player to bowl from, and then the lane proper, a maple surface approximately wide, bounded on either side by a gutter. The lane is separated from the approach by a "foul line" common to most bowling sports, which players must not cross. At the far end of the lane are the pins, from the foul line to the center of the headpin, placed by a pinsetter machine which occupies space both above and behind the pins. Unlike a tenpin lane, which has a level surface from the foul line to the back end of the lanebed's "pin deck", a candlepin lane has a hard-surfaced "pin plate" where the pins are set up, with the pin plate depressed below the lanebed forward of it. The pin plate can be made from hard-surfaced metal, phenolic, high density plastic, or a synthetic material. Behind the pin plate area is a well-depressed "pit" area for the felled pins and balls to fall into. A heavy rubber backstop, faced with a black curtain, catches the flying pins and balls so they drop into the pit. Generally there is seating behind the approach area for teammates, spectators, and score keeping.
The candlepins themselves are tall, have a cylindrical shape which tapers equally towards each end, giving them an overall appearance somewhat like a candle, and have a maximum weight of apiece. Candlepin bowling uses the same numbering system and shape for the formation within the ten candlepins are set, as the tenpin sport. Also, as in tenpin bowling, due to the spacing of the pins, it is impossible for the ball to strike every one. However, while in tenpin a well-placed ball may knock down all ten pins from the chain reaction of pin hitting pin, in candlepins the smaller thickness of the pins makes throwing a strike extremely difficult. To count, the pin must be knocked over entirely; in unlucky circumstances, a pin may wobble furiously, or even more frustratingly, be "kicked" to the side by several inches, yet come to rest upright, thus not being scored. It is even possible for a toppled pin to bounce off a side "kickback" and return to a standing position on the lane's pin deck. However, if a fallen pin returns to a standing position, the pin is still counted as fallen and is played as live wood.
In addition to the foul line, there is a line further down the lane called the lob line, and the ball must first contact the lane at any point on the bowler's side of it, be it on the approach or the first ten feet of the lanebed. Any "airborne" ball delivery not making contact with the approach or lanebed short of the "lob line" constitutes a violation of this rule, and is termed a lob with any pins knocked down by such a ball not counting—and such pins are not reset if the lobbed ball was not the third and last shot for that player in that box.
Also, a third line, centered forward of the head pin spot is the dead wood line, which defines the maximum forward limit that any toppled pins can occupy and still be legally playable.
The ball used in candlepins has a maximum weight of, and has a diameter of, making it the smallest bowling ball of any North American bowling sport. The nearly identical weight of the ball, when compared to that of just one candlepin, causes balls to deflect when impacting either standing or downed pins.
A game of candlepin bowling, often called a string in New England, is divided into ten rounds, each which is most commonly referred to as a box, rather than a "frame" as in tenpin bowling. In each normal box, a player is given up to three opportunities to knock down as many pins as possible. In the final box, three balls are rolled regardless of the pincount, meaning three strikes can be scored in the 10th box.
One unique feature of the candlepin sport is that fallen pins, called wood, are not removed from the pin deck area between balls, unlike either the tenpin or duckpin bowling sports. The bowler, before delivering the second or third ball of a box, must also wait until all wood on the deck comes to rest. Depending on where the fallen pins are located on the pindeck and their angle after their movement ceases, the wood can be a major help, or obstacle—partly due to the ball having nearly the same weight as one candlepin—in trying to knock down every single standing pin for either a spare or "ten-box" score in completing a round.
In each of the first nine boxes, play proceeds as follows: The first player bowls his first ball at the pins. The pins he knocks down are counted and scored. Then the player rolls a second and a third ball at any remaining targets. If all ten pins are knocked down with the first ball, the player receives ten points plus the count on the next two rolls, the pins are cleared, a new set placed. If all ten pins are knocked down with two balls, the player receives 10 points plus the count of the next ball, pins are cleared and reset. If all three balls are needed to knock all the pins down, the score for that frame is simply ten, and known in New England as a ten-box. If more than one player is playing on the same lane at the same time, bowlers will typically roll two complete boxes before yielding the lane to the next bowler.
In the tenth box, play is similar, except that a player scoring a strike is granted two additional balls, scoring a spare earns one additional ball. Three balls are rolled in the tenth box regardless.
In league play, a bowler may roll two or five boxes at a time, depending on the rules of the league. The five box format is sometimes called a "speed league", and this format is also typical for tournament play. When a bowler is rolling blocks of five boxes, each period is typically called a "half".

Fouls

A foul refers to a ball that first rolls into the gutter and then strikes deadwood or hops out of the gutter and strikes a standing pin, a "lob"-bed ball that touches neither the approach nor lane in the three meters' distance of lanebed before the lob line, or as in tenpins and duckpins, a roll made when a bowler's foot crosses over the foot foul line. Special scoring comes into play.
A foul always scores zero pinfall for that ball's delivery. A player may reset the pins after a foul on the first or second ball provided no pins have legally been felled in that box. Therefore, if on the first ball there is a foul or zero, and on the second ball the bowler fouls and knocks down pins, the pins may be reset, allowing the bowler an opportunity to score on their third ball. Knocking down all ten pins after resetting immediately following a foul in the first ball results in a spare. Fouling on all three attempts scores a zero box.
If the first ball knocked down at least one pin, the rack can not be reset because of a subsequent foul. Those pins felled by a foul ball —whether standing, playable wood, or pins in the gutter—remain down and reduce the maximum number of pins to be counted for the box. Therefore, if there are six pins standing after the first ball, a foul on the next ball that manages to knock down the remaining six pins means that the frame is finished, with a score of 4. However, if the foul ball knocked down only some of the six standing pins, a third ball may still be rolled to attempt to knock down the remaining upright pins. In this example, the raw score might appear to be "4 4 2 = X", but after adjusting for the foul second ball, the true score is "4 F 2 = 6". Similar logic holds when rolling two good balls and fouling in the third attempt: the frame is over and only the pins felled in the first two attempts are recorded for the score for that box.
While most candlepin alleys have automated scoring systems, and thus know when to trigger a candlepin pinsetter to clear and reset pins; other alleys, especially older ones that require a manual method to initiate the pinsetter will have a button, or floor-mounted foot pedal switch, to start the pinsetter's electrically-powered clearing and resetting of pins. Before the era of the Bowl-Mor powered pinsetter units' debut in 1949, as with ten-pin, candlepins were set by workers called "pinboys".