167 Fun Facts About Bowling

In ten-pin bowling, what is knocking down all remaining pins with the second ball called?

A spare is scored when the second ball clears every pin the first ball left standing; it earns 10 plus the pins from the next roll.

In bowling slang, what is a 'turkey'?

A turkey is three consecutive strikes, a name from 19th-century holiday tournaments that awarded a live turkey for the feat; four in a row is a 'hambone'.

How long is a ten-pin bowling lane from the foul line to the centre of the head pin?

The lane measures 60 feet from the foul line to the centre of the head pin, a standard the American Bowling Congress fixed in 1895 and that USBC rules hold to within half an inch.

What is the maximum weight of a regulation ten-pin bowling ball?

A bowling ball may weigh no more than 16 pounds, a limit the American Bowling Congress set in 1895; the rules fix no minimum weight.

A regulation ten-pin weighs roughly how much?

A regulation ten-pin weighs between 3 lb 6 oz and 3 lb 10 oz, so roughly 3 lb 8 oz; the narrow range keeps pins toppling consistently when struck.

Which civilisation left the earliest bowling evidence, miniature pins and balls in a child's grave, around 3200 BCE?

Egyptologist Flinders Petrie found the miniature pins and balls in an Ancient Egypt child's grave dated to about 3200 BCE, the oldest known bowling equipment.

Which religious reformer is credited with fixing the number of bowling pins at nine?

Martin Luther, himself a keen kegler, is credited with settling on nine pins in the 16th century; before that the count varied from three to seventeen.

Which English king banned bowling for the lower classes in 1511 while remaining an avid bowler himself?

Henry VIII's 1511 statute reserved bowling for the wealthy, yet the king had his own alleys built at Whitehall Palace.

Which English captain reportedly finished his game of bowls at Plymouth Hoe as the Armada was sighted in 1588?

Francis Drake, vice-admiral of the English fleet, is said to have insisted on finishing his bowls on Plymouth Hoe before sailing out to fight the Armada.

Which 1819 Washington Irving story gave American literature its first mention of ninepin bowling?

In Rip Van Winkle, the thunder in the Catskills is Henry Hudson's ghostly crew playing ninepins, the game Rip joins before his twenty-year sleep.

The ten-pin game is said to have been invented in America to get around what?

Ten pins were added, the story goes, to dodge city bans on nine-pin games, which several US cities passed in the 1830s because of the gambling that surrounded them.

Which organization set modern ten-pin rules in 1895, raising the top score from 200 to 300?

The American Bowling Congress, founded in New York in September 1895, standardised lane, ball and pin specifications and fixed the 300-point perfect game.

Before rubber balls arrived in 1905, bowling balls were made of which dense hardwood?

Lignum vitae, a tropical hardwood so dense it sinks in water, was the standard ball material until the Evertrue hard-rubber ball appeared in 1905.

Which company began marketing automatic pinsetter machines in 1952, putting most 'pin boys' out of work?

The first mechanical pinsetter was invented by Gottfried 'Fred' Schmidt, who sold the patent to AMF in 1941.

Bowling lanes installed in the West Wing as a birthday gift honoured which president?

The two lanes were a 1947 birthday present to Harry S. Truman from Missouri friends; he rarely used them, and the space later became the Situation Room under Kennedy.

The Professional Bowlers Association was founded in 1958 in which Ohio city?

Akron, Ohio, home of its founder, a local sports agent, housed PBA headquarters until 2000, when new owners moved the body to Seattle.

Which bowler, 'Mr. Bowling', was the first athlete to sign a $1,000,000 endorsement deal, in 1964?

Don Carter's 1964 Ebonite contract was reported as the first $1 million endorsement deal for any athlete; he was voted Bowler of the Year six times in the 1950s and 60s.

Which crew-cut left-hander, the first bowler to earn $1 million, has the PBA World Championship trophy named for him?

Earl Anthony, a crew-cut left-hander, won 43 PBA titles and in 1982 became the first bowler to pass $1 million in career earnings.

Who holds the record for most PBA Tour titles, with 47, and is also a champion horseshoes pitcher?

Walter Ray Williams Jr. won 47 PBA Tour titles between 1986 and 2010 and also claimed six men's world horseshoe-pitching championships.

Which bowler's outburst "Who do you think you are? I am!" went viral after his fifth U.S. Open win in 2012?

The record he broke belonged to his father Dick Weber, who had won the event four times.

Australia's Jason Belmonte is famous for delivering the ball how?

Jason Belmonte bowls with two hands, both palms behind the ball and no thumb in it, a style that brought him more PBA major titles than anyone before him.

Norm Duke became the youngest PBA Tour winner in 1983 at what age?

Norm Duke was 18 years and 345 days old when he won the 1983 Cleveland Open, the youngest winner in PBA Tour history up to then.

Who was the first bowler to convert the 7-10 split on television, in January 1980?

Mark Roth picked up the 7-10 split at the 1980 Alameda Open; John Mazza and Jess Stayrook in 1991 and Anthony Neuer in 2021 are among the very few pros to repeat it on television.

Which five-pin split including the 4, 6, 7 and 10 is the least-converted in professional bowling?

The Greek church, 4-6-7-9-10 or 4-6-7-8-10, leaves three pins on one side and two on the other; PBA conversion data rank it below even the 7-10 split.

A 'Brooklyn' is a ball that does what?

A Brooklyn crosses to the wrong side of the head pin, hitting the 1-2 pocket for a right-hander instead of the 1-3; New Yorkers call the same shot a Jersey.

A game of alternating strikes and spares always ends with what score, giving it a national nickname?

Alternating a strike and a spare every frame scores exactly 20 per frame, for a 'Dutch 200'; any game without an open frame is called a clean game.

'Sandbagging' in league play means doing what?

'Scratch' scores are the opposite: what you actually rolled with no handicap added.

A pin hiding directly behind another pin, such as the 8 behind the 2, is called what?

The hidden pin is a sleeper; the pair together is called 'double wood', and hitting the front pin flush usually takes the sleeper with it.

Oil is applied to roughly how much of a lane's length so the ball skids before it hooks?

A typical house pattern oils roughly the first two-thirds of the lane, about 38 to 42 feet, leaving dry boards at the back where the ball grips and hooks.

According to a 2008 USBC study, a ball ideally strikes the head pin centred where for maximum pin carry?

The USBC ball-motion study found the ball carries best entering the pocket on board 17.5, about 2.5 boards right of the head pin's centre, at a 6-degree angle.

Who was the first person to bowl a perfect 300 on live television, in 1953?

Grazio 'Graz' Castellano of New York rolled the first perfect game on live television in October 1953; Steve Nagy's 1954 perfect game was the first on a filmed broadcast.

Who bowled the first USBC-certified 900 series, in 1997?

Jeremy Sonnenfeld, a University of Nebraska student, rolled 36 straight strikes at Lincoln's Sun Valley Lanes on 2 February 1997; Glenn Allison's 1982 900 had been refused certification over lane conditions.

Which bowling variant, played in New England and the Maritimes, uses tall thin pins and a ball no heavier than a pin?

Candlepin's tapered pins stand 15.75 inches tall, and its holeless ball, only 4.5 inches across, weighs no more than a pin at about 2 lb 7 oz, which makes strikes rare.

The candle-shaped-pin game was first played in 1880 in which Massachusetts city?

Justin White, a Worcester billiard-hall owner, is credited with developing candlepins there in 1880; the game later spread through New England and Canada's Maritimes.

Five-pin bowling was devised around 1909 in which Canadian city?

Five-pin was devised at a Toronto bowling club for customers who found the ten-pin ball too heavy; its small hand-sized ball has no finger holes.

What is a perfect score in five-pin bowling?

The Canadian association sanctions only around 15 to 30 perfect games a year.

In which US state does organised nine-pin bowling survive, in clubs founded by German settlers?

Texas nine-pin survives in clubs in the Hill Country towns settled by Germans in the 1800s, played by teams of six on diamond-set pins with a red kingpin in the centre.

The world's oldest surviving bowling green, dating from 1299, is in which English city?

The Southampton Old Bowling Green dates from 1299 and hosts the Knighthood competition, played since 1776, whose winners are addressed as 'Sir'.

Which cricketer founded the English Bowling Association in 1903?

W. G. Grace, the Gloucestershire cricketer, was founding president of the English Bowling Association in 1903 and captained England in its first international bowls match against Scotland that year.

In The Big Lebowski, what do the enforcers who mistake the Dude for a millionaire do to his rug?

The two thugs urinate on the Dude's rug, the one that 'really tied the room together', which sets the whole plot of the Coen brothers' 1998 film in motion.

In The Big Lebowski, why does Walter Sobchak refuse to bowl on Saturdays?

Walter, a convert to Judaism, observes the Sabbath as 'shomer Shabbos' and will not bowl, drive or handle money from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday: 'I don't roll on Shabbos!'

In Kingpin (1996), Woody Harrelson's washed-up bowler manages a talented member of which community?

Roy Munson bowls with a prosthetic rubber hand after losing his real one to a hustle gone wrong; Bill Murray plays his nemesis Ernie McCracken.

Nintendo's Wii Sports, whose bowling mini-game became a living-room staple, sold roughly how many copies?

Wii Sports sold 82.9 million copies, most of them bundled with the Wii console outside Japan, which made its bowling the console's defining party game.

Which billiard-table maker, founded in 1845, began making bowling balls, pins and lanes in the 1880s?

Brunswick, begun by John Moses Brunswick as a Cincinnati billiard-table shop in 1845, moved into bowling equipment in the 1880s and later made balls, pins, lanes and pinsetters.

Which president had a one-lane bowling alley built beneath the White House North Portico in 1969?

Friends of Richard Nixon, a keen bowler, paid for the single lane in 1969; it sits in an underground workspace beneath the North Portico driveway.

The oldest surviving US ten-pin alley opened in 1908 in the Holler House tavern in which city?

Holler House, a tavern on Milwaukee's south side, kept its two 1908 lanes without automatic pinsetters, relying on human pin-setters well into the 21st century.

In which year did Floretta 'Doty' McCutcheon beat reigning ABC champion Jimmy Smith in a bowling exhibition?

Floretta McCutcheon, a Colorado housewife, beat Jimmy Smith 704-697 over three games in Pueblo in December 1927, then toured the country giving exhibitions and clinics.

Prohibition had what lasting effect on American bowling alleys?

The change encouraged women to take up the sport in large numbers.

ABC's Pro Bowlers Tour, which put the PBA on Saturday TV, ran from 1962 until which year?

The Pro Bowlers Tour ran on ABC for 36 seasons, from 1962 to 1997, with Chris Schenkel anchoring most of them before the network dropped the series.

How wide is a regulation ten-pin lane?

A regulation lane is 41.5 inches wide, give or take half an inch, with a gutter of about 9.25 inches on each side.

How long is the approach area a bowler uses before the foul line?

Two sets of dots at 12 and 15 feet behind the foul line help with foot placement.

How many boards make up a wooden ten-pin lane?

A wooden lane is built from 39 boards, each a little over an inch wide and laid on edge; synthetic lanes print the same 39 lines on their surface.

Which pin stands directly behind the head pin, at the centre of the triangle?

The 5 pin sits in the middle of the third row, directly behind the head pin, and is nicknamed the kingpin; a ball that misses the pocket often leaves it standing.

Lane conditioner is roughly 98 percent what?

Lane conditioner is about 98 percent mineral oil with additives for durability and friction; it protects the lane surface and lets the ball skid before it hooks.

What is a THS in bowling jargon?

THS stands for 'typical house shot', the recreational pattern with oil heavy in the middle and light outside, which funnels slightly errant balls back toward the pocket.

On a sport oil pattern, the centre-to-side oil ratio is limited to what?

House shots can exceed 10-to-1, which is why league scores often outrun pro scores.

In what year did polyester ('plastic') bowling balls arrive?

Polyester balls appeared in 1959 and by the 1970s had displaced hard rubber; the first urethane ball, AMF's Angle, followed in 1981.

Which decade brought reactive resin coverstocks that dramatically increased hook?

Reactive resin coverstocks arrived in the early 1990s, with Nu-Line's X-Calibur of 1991 often cited as the first, and their tacky surfaces raised hook and league averages almost overnight.

What is the maximum regulation diameter of a ten-pin bowling ball?

USBC rules cap the diameter at 8.595 inches and the circumference at 27.002 inches, so balls of every weight are the same size.

In an ideal strike, a right-hander's ball touches only which pins?

On a perfect pocket hit the ball contacts only the 1, 3, 5 and 9 pins; the 1 takes out the 2, 4 and 7, the 3 takes the 6 and 10, and the 5 takes the 8.

How far apart are neighbouring pin centres on the pin deck?

Pin centres are 12 inches apart; a pin is 4.766 inches at its widest, so the 7.234-inch gap is narrower than the 8.5-inch ball and the ball can never pass between two pins.

What is a bowler with a smooth, square-shouldered classic delivery called?

A stroker keeps the shoulders square and the swing smooth, producing fewer revolutions and a straighter, more accurate shot; Walter Ray Williams Jr. is the classic example.

Which release style, popular in parts of Asia, makes the ball spin like a top down the lane?

The spinner release turns the hand over the top of the ball so it spins on a near-vertical axis, a style common in Taiwan and elsewhere in East Asia, usually with a light 10-12 pound ball.

Which pro is known for a one-handed, no-thumb delivery?

Tom Daugherty bowls one-handed with no thumb in the ball, cradling it on his wrist and forearm; he is also remembered for rolling a 100 against Mika Koivuniemi's 299 in the 2011 Tournament of Champions final.

A fingertip grip inserts the fingers only to which knuckle?

A fingertip grip seats the middle and ring fingers only to the first knuckle, allowing more lift and revolutions; conventional house-ball grips go to the second knuckle.

Under World Bowling's 'current frame' scoring, how many pins is a strike worth?

World Bowling's current-frame scoring counts a strike as a flat 30 pins, a spare as 10 plus the first-ball count, and an open frame as pins felled, so ten strikes make 300.

What is the German nine-pin game from which ten-pin bowling mainly derives?

Kegelspiel, or Kegeln, is the German game of knocking down nine pins set in a diamond; German immigrants carried it to America, where a tenth pin and a triangular layout produced ten-pin bowling.

Which state passed an 1841 law banning ninepin bowling?

Connecticut's 1841 statute outlawed nine-pin alleys as gambling dens; a year later Charles Dickens noted New York's ten-pin alleys in his American Notes.

Which English town appears in a circa-1810 painting of outdoor ten-pin bowling?

The painting, dated about 1810, shows an outdoor ten-pin game at Ipswich in Suffolk, evidence that ten pins were known in England before the American tale of dodging nine-pin bans.

What was the name of Brunswick's hard-rubber bowling ball introduced in 1914?

Brunswick launched the Mineralite hard-rubber ball in 1914, nearly a decade after the first rubber ball, the Evertrue, had begun replacing hardwood balls.

Who, opening alleys from 1886, became known as the 'father of bowling'?

Joe Thum, a New York restaurateur who opened alleys from 1886 and later the White Elephant centre, convened the 1895 meeting that founded the American Bowling Congress.

Which sporting-goods figure wrote Standard Rules for Bowling in the United States in 1887?

Albert G. Spalding, the pitcher turned sporting-goods magnate, published Standard Rules for Bowling in the United States in 1887, after the National Bowling Association of 1875 had failed to unify the game.

What did the 1933 repeal of Prohibition let breweries do for bowling?

After repeal in 1933, breweries such as Detroit's Stroh's sponsored teams and star bowlers, which cemented the sport's working-class, beer-league image.

In The Big Lebowski, what is the Dude's given name?

The Dude's real name is Jeffrey Lebowski, which is why thugs working for the other, wealthy Jeffrey Lebowski mistake him for their target.

In what year did the American Bowling Congress drop its whites-only membership clause?

The ABC removed its whites-only clause at the 1950 convention after a campaign by unions and civil-rights groups; the National Negro Bowling Association, formed in 1939, had served Black bowlers until then.

ABC membership peaked at nearly how many male bowlers in the 1960s?

ABC membership reached about 4.6 million in the mid-1960s, its all-time high, before league bowling's long decline set in.

Which sports agent founded the PBA in 1958 with 33 members?

Eddie Elias, an Ohio lawyer and sports agent, organised the PBA in 1958 with 33 charter members and staged its first tournaments in 1959.

In which country were Europe's first ten-pin lanes installed in 1909?

Sweden got Europe's first ten-pin lanes in 1909, in Stockholm; the game stayed a niche pursuit on the continent until the British boom after 1960.

In which London district did Britain's modern ten-pin era begin in January 1960?

The Stamford Hill bowling centre, in a converted cinema, opened on 20 January 1960, and a boom that put ten-pin centres in dozens of British towns followed.

What was the prize fund of the Firestone Tournament of Champions when it launched in 1965?

The 1965 Firestone Tournament of Champions offered a $100,000 prize fund with $25,000 to the winner, Billy Hardwick, at a time when top bowlers out-earned football stars.

At which Summer Olympics was ten-pin bowling an exhibition sport?

Ten-pin bowling was a demonstration sport at Seoul 1988 and never returned to the programme; it has been a Pan American Games medal sport since Havana 1991.

Which political scientist's book Bowling Alone used league decline as a symbol of lost community?

Robert D. Putnam's Bowling Alone (2000) noted that Americans bowled more than ever yet league membership had fallen 40 percent between 1980 and 1993.

Which company bought AMF Bowling, Brunswick's centers, Lucky Strike Lanes and the PBA itself?

Bowlero, formerly Bowlmor AMF, bought AMF in 2013, Brunswick's centers in 2014, the PBA in 2019 and Lucky Strike in 2023, then renamed itself Lucky Strike Entertainment in December 2024.

What was the first computer-driven oiling machine, released by DBA Products in 1991?

DBA Products' Lane Walker of 1991 was the first computer-controlled lane conditioning machine, letting operators lay oil patterns by program rather than by hand-set wicks.

In Canadian five-pin bowling, how many points is the centre pin worth?

In five-pin bowling the centre pin counts 5, the two beside it 3 each and the outer two 2 each, 15 in all, so every pin carries its own point value.

In lawn bowls, what is the built-in weighting that makes a bowl curve called?

A lawn bowl is shaped with a bias, one side flattened so the bowl curves as it slows, letting players bend shots around bowls in their path.

What score did Ralph Semb roll in 1984 to set the sanctioned candlepin single-game record?

Ralph Semb's 245 in 1984 became the highest sanctioned candlepin game, a mark Chris Sargent equalled in 2011; a perfect 300 had never been rolled in the sport.

Fallen pins left on a candlepin lane during a frame are known as what?

Fallen pins are 'wood' and are left where they lie for the rest of the frame; a skilled candlepin bowler uses them to knock down the standing pins.

Which Boston TV show, from 1973, paid a jackpot for rolling a candlepin strike?

Candlepins for Cash ran on Boston's WNAC-TV from 1973, paying a cash jackpot when a contestant rolled a strike; WHDH-TV's Candlepin Bowling had been on air since 1958.

Which pins form the split nicknamed the 'bedposts' or 'goal posts'?

The 7-10 split leaves the two rear corner pins, hence 'bedposts' or 'goal posts'; converting it means sliding one pin across the deck into the other.

How many rolls per frame do duckpin and candlepin bowlers get?

The smaller balls and pins make strikes far harder than in ten-pin.

What do duckpin balls lack that ten-pin balls have?

A duckpin ball has no finger holes; it is just 4.75 to 5 inches across and weighs under four pounds, so it is rolled from the palm.

Who devised five-pin bowling at his Canadian bowling club around 1909?

Thomas F. Ryan devised five-pin for club members who found ten-pin too strenuous, trimming the pins to about three-quarters size and using a small hand-held ball.

What is wrapped around the widest part of a Canadian five-pin?

A thick rubber band around each five-pin's belly makes the pins fly farther and scatter more when struck, compensating for the light ball.

Who is Fred Flintstone's best friend and regular bowling partner?

Barney Rubble, Fred's next-door neighbour and fellow member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes, is his regular partner on the Bedrock lanes.

In which South Australian wine region is the nine-pin game Kegel played?

The Barossa Valley's German settlers brought Kegel with them in the 1840s, and clubs such as Tanunda's kept the nine-pin game going, predating ten-pin in Australia.

In skittles, the nine pins are usually arranged in what shape?

Skittles sets its nine pins in a diamond, a 3-by-3 square turned 45 degrees with the 'landlord' or kingpin in the middle; the game survives in pubs of the West Country and Wales.

What is the small target ball in lawn bowls called?

The jack, sometimes called the kitty, is rolled first to set the target; players then try to finish their bowls nearest to it.

Lawn bowls has been contested at all but one edition of which multi-sport event?

Lawn bowls has featured at every Commonwealth Games since the first in 1930 except Kingston 1966, where Jamaica had no suitable greens.

Which medieval English king banned bowling as a distraction from archery?

Edward III banned bowls in the 1360s, ordering able-bodied men to practise archery on holidays instead of games that drew them away from the butts.

Which Provençal town codified pétanque in 1907 or 1910?

Pétanque was born in La Ciotat, near Marseille, when friends of Jules Lenoir, who could no longer run up to throw, adapted jeu provençal so players stood with feet together.

What is the small target ball in pétanque commonly called?

The cochonnet, 'little pig', is the small wooden jack in pétanque; players throw steel boules at it with both feet on the ground inside a circle.

Bocce, bowls and pétanque share ancestry from games played where?

Roman soldiers played a game of tossing stones at a target, the ancestor of bocce, bowls and pétanque, and carried it across the Roman Empire.

Which New York park, built in 1733 on a Dutch cattle market, is the city's oldest public park?

Bowling Green, at the foot of Broadway, was leased in 1733 for one peppercorn a year to three men who laid a bowling green; it later held the George III statue that rebels toppled in 1776.

In The Simpsons, what is the name of Springfield's bowling alley?

Barney's Bowlarama, owned by Barney Gumble's uncle Al, is where Homer bowls and where he briefly took a job in 'And Maggie Makes Three'.

How many strikes in the tenth frame complete a traditional 300 game?

That makes twelve in a row across the ten frames.

Which pin must fall on the first ball for a leave to count as a split?

A leave counts as a split only when the head pin is down and the remaining pins stand apart with at least one pin missing between them; with the head pin up it is a washout.

Which actor plays bowling hustler Ernie McCracken in Kingpin?

Bill Murray plays Ernie 'Big Ern' McCracken, the comb-over rival who abandoned Roy Munson to the hustle that cost Roy his hand and whom Roy faces in the Reno final.

Which company's former executives bought the PBA in March 2000 and moved it to Seattle?

Three former Microsoft executives, Chris Peters, Mike Slade and Rob Glaser, bought the PBA in March 2000, moved it to Seattle and turned it into a for-profit league.

The PWBA ceased operations in 2003 and was relaunched in what year?

The PWBA Tour returned in 2015, backed by the USBC and the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America, twelve years after the original tour folded in 2003.

The USBC was formed in 2005 by merging how many organizations?

Four bodies merged into the USBC on 1 January 2005: the ABC, the WIBC, the Young American Bowling Alliance and USA Bowling.

Where is the USBC headquartered since its 2008 move from Wisconsin?

The move let it share operations with the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America.

Who won the inaugural PBA Tournament of Champions in 1962?

Joe Joseph won the first Tournament of Champions in 1962, an invitation event for PBA title-holders; it lapsed until Firestone's sponsorship revived it in 1965.

Which woman was the first to compete in the PBA Tournament of Champions, in 2010?

Kelly Kulick earned her place by winning the 2009 PBA Women's World Championship, then beat Chris Barnes 265-195 in the final to become the first woman to win a PBA Tour title.

The Weber Cup pits the United States against which side?

The Weber Cup, named for Dick Weber, matches the USA against Team Europe in a Ryder Cup-style contest first held in 2000.

Where was the inaugural Weber Cup held in 2000?

The first Weber Cup was held in Warsaw, Poland, in 2000; the event later moved to England, where Barnsley's Metrodome hosted it for many years.

Which nation's bowler won the men's gold in ten-pin bowling's only Olympic demonstration?

Kwon Jong-yul gave South Korea the men's gold, finishing ahead of bowlers from 20 other nations in the one-off demonstration event.

Which Filipina won the women's gold when bowling was an Olympic demonstration sport?

Arianne Cerdena won the women's gold, the Philippines' first Olympic gold of any kind, though demonstration medals do not count in official tallies.

How many PBA Player of the Year awards did Walter Ray Williams Jr. win?

Walter Ray Williams Jr. won seven Player of the Year awards, in 1986, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003 and 2010, the last of them at age 50.

For how many consecutive seasons did Walter Ray Williams Jr. win at least one PBA title?

Walter Ray Williams Jr. won at least one title in 17 consecutive seasons, from 1993 through 2009-10, a PBA record streak.

What cocktail does the Dude drink throughout The Big Lebowski?

The Dude drinks White Russians, vodka with coffee liqueur and cream, which he calls 'Caucasians', and mixes several over the course of the film.

At which real Los Angeles alley were The Big Lebowski's bowling scenes filmed?

The bowling scenes were shot at Hollywood Star Lanes on Santa Monica Boulevard, a real alley that closed in 2002 and was replaced by an elementary school.

In which year did Earl Anthony become the first bowler to earn $100,000 in a season?

Earl Anthony topped $100,000 in 1975, winning seven titles that year including the PBA National Championship.

How many PBA Player of the Year awards did Earl Anthony collect?

His 43 titles stood as the record until Walter Ray Williams Jr. passed him.

What childhood job taught Don Carter the game?

Don Carter learned the game setting pins by hand as a boy in St. Louis, and went on to anchor the city's famous Budweisers team alongside Dick Weber.

How many times was Marion Ladewig named Female Bowler of the Year?

Marion Ladewig was voted Woman Bowler of the Year nine times by the Bowling Writers Association between 1950 and 1963, and a 1973 writers' poll named her the greatest woman bowler of all time.

How many U.S. Women's Open titles did Marion Ladewig win?

Marion Ladewig won the BPAA All-Star, forerunner of the U.S. Women's Open, eight times between 1949 and 1963; the Grand Rapids native was the first superstar of women's bowling.

What is the 2-4-5-8 leave called in bowling slang?

The 2-4-5-8 leave is the bucket, a tight diamond of four pins that a right-hander's ball must hit squarely to pick up; the left-hander's mirror image is 3-5-6-9.

Which digits go into the three holes of a conventional bowling ball?

A standard three-hole ball takes the thumb, middle and ring fingers; the index and little fingers rest on the surface and help steer the release.

Which left-hander, Player of the Year in 1999, won 35 PBA Tour titles?

Parker Bohn III, a left-hander from New Jersey, won 35 PBA Tour titles, with his best season in 1999, when he was named Player of the Year.

Which leave is known as the 'baby split'?

The 3-10, or its mirror image the 2-7, is the baby split, the easiest split to convert because a ball placed between the two pins takes both.

Who was the first bowler to complete the career Super Slam of all five PBA majors?

Mike Aulby completed the Super Slam in 1996 with the Touring Players Championship, having already won the PBA National Championship, U.S. Open, Tournament of Champions and Masters.

Which nickname is Carmen Salvino known by?

Carmen Salvino, 'PBA's Original Showman', was one of the 33 charter members of 1958, won 17 PBA titles and entered the Hall of Fame's first class in 1975.

At what age did Anthony Simonsen become the youngest PBA major winner, in 2016?

He took the USBC Masters on Valentine's Day, aged 19 years and 39 days.

Which two-hander set the PBA single-season earnings record of $469,200 in 2021?

Kyle Troup, the afro-haired two-hander, earned $469,200 in 2021 by winning the Players Championship and the PBA Playoffs, beating Walter Ray Williams Jr.'s 2002-03 season record.

What is a frame in which the bowler fails to knock down all ten pins called?

An open frame is one with neither a strike nor a spare, so it earns no bonus pins; a game without any open frames is called a clean game.

What is it called when a bowler wins the World, Tournament of Champions and U.S. Open majors?

The PBA Triple Crown is the World Championship, Tournament of Champions and U.S. Open; Billy Hardwick was the first to complete it, in 1969.

What is Wes Malott's nickname?

Wes Malott, 'Big Nasty', a towering Texan with a booming power game, was PBA Player of the Year for the 2008-09 season.

What nickname did Pete Weber go by on the PBA Tour?

Pete Weber, son of Dick Weber, was known as 'The Deuce' and 'PDW', and became famous for his sunglasses and crotch-chop celebration.

Which documentary features Pete Weber's maverick tour personality?

A League of Ordinary Gentlemen (2004) follows the PBA's relaunch under new owners and features Pete Weber alongside Walter Ray Williams Jr., Chris Barnes and Wayne Webb.

Which sibling directors made Kingpin?

Bill Murray plays the villainous pro Ernie McCracken.

Which city's locations stood in for Scranton and Amish country in Kingpin?

Kingpin was shot largely around Pittsburgh, whose neighbourhoods doubled for Roy Munson's Scranton and whose rural fringe played Amish country, before the finale moved to Reno.

Which crime writer's work loosely inspired The Big Lebowski?

The Coens modelled The Big Lebowski on Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels, especially The Big Sleep, transplanting the tangled Los Angeles mystery onto a slacker.

Who plays the flamboyant rival bowler Jesus Quintana in The Big Lebowski?

John Turturro plays Jesus Quintana, the purple-clad, ball-licking rival; he revived the character in his own 2019 spin-off, The Jesus Rolls.

In what year was The Big Lebowski added to the National Film Registry?

The Library of Congress added The Big Lebowski to the National Film Registry in 2014, sixteen years after its 1998 release.

Who created the Bowling for Dollars franchise, having also created Romper Room?

Bert Claster and his wife Nancy created Romper Room in Baltimore in 1953, and Claster Television later syndicated Bowling for Dollars, a local-station format in which home viewers whose postcards were drawn shared the contestant's winnings.

Which five sports are in the original Wii Sports?

Wii Sports offered tennis, baseball, bowling, golf and boxing, and came bundled with the Wii everywhere except Japan and South Korea, where it sold separately.

Which Flintstone won championships with a ballet-inspired bowling delivery?

Fred Flintstone's tiptoe 'Twinkletoes' approach, perfected with ballet lessons, made him Bedrock's bowling champion.

What is the difference between a pinsetter and a pinspotter?

A 'pinchaser' still stands by to clear jams in many centers.

In lawn bowls, what is each round of play, after which the shots are counted, called?

A lawn bowls match is divided into ends; in each end every player delivers their bowls before the shots are scored, and play then turns back up the green.

Which wood are bowling pins usually made of?

Pins are turned from hard rock maple, often laminated from glued blocks, then coated in plastic and painted white with red neck stripes.

How tall is a regulation ten-pin?

A regulation ten-pin stands 15 inches tall, 4.766 inches across at its belly and just 2.031 inches at its base.

What is distinctive about how a candlepin can be set?

A candlepin is symmetrical top and bottom, so it can be set on either end and the pinsetter needs no step to orient it.

How many lanes does Reno's National Bowling Stadium have?

The National Bowling Stadium has 78 championship lanes and a geodesic dome theatre styled as a giant bowling ball; it opened in 1995 and hosts the USBC Open Championships in rotation.

What nickname does the National Bowling Stadium in Reno carry?

Nicknamed the 'Taj Mahal of Tenpins', the stadium opened in 1995 as a tournament-only venue built by the city of Reno to draw the USBC's big championships.

What does a game of ten spares, each after a nine-pin first ball, score?

Each frame scores 10 for the spare plus the 9 from the next first ball, 19 a frame, and the tenth frame's bonus ball of 9 makes 190.

A game of pétanque is played up to how many points?

A pétanque game is played to 13 points; only the team closest to the target ball scores in each end, one point per boule nearer than the opponents' best.

Which bowling games use small palm-sized balls without holes?

Ten-pin and American nine-pin balls traditionally have holes for two fingers and the thumb.

What is the sunken area behind the pin deck where fallen pins drop called?

The pit is the sunken area behind the pin deck into which the ball and fallen pins drop; a curtain cushions the ball before it is returned to the bowler.

What is the last, driest section of a bowling lane, where the ball hooks, called?

The backend is the final stretch of lane before the pins, left nearly dry so the ball grips and hooks; the front section is the heads and the middle the pines.

Which ESPN announcer popularised 'hambone' as the term for four consecutive strikes?

ESPN's Rob Stone popularised 'hambone' for four consecutive strikes on PBA telecasts in the mid-2000s, and the term stuck despite purists preferring 'four-bagger'.

In The Simpsons episode 'Team Homer', what name does Homer's bowling team adopt?

Homer's team calls itself the Pin Pals, with Moe, Apu and Otto; when Mr. Burns learns he funded them he forces his way onto the roster in Otto's place.

In the NBC series Ed, the lawyer hero buys a bowling alley in which fictional Ohio town?

Ed Stevens returns to his hometown of Stuckeyville, Ohio, buys the bowling alley and practises law from it, earning the nickname 'The Bowling Alley Lawyer'.

How many PBA Tour titles did Pete Weber win over his career?

Pete Weber won 37 PBA Tour titles between 1982 and 2013, ten of them majors, before moving on to the PBA50 Tour.

Which pins make up the split known as the 'big four'?

The big four is the 4-6-7-10, both rear corners plus the 4 and 6 in front of them; like the 7-10 it can only be made by sliding one pin across into the other.

What was Dick Weber's day job when he first made bowling headlines in early-1950s Indianapolis?

Dick Weber was working as a mailman in Indianapolis when the St. Louis Budweisers recruited him in 1955; the team's 3,858 five-man series of 1958 stood as a record for decades.

Where did the PBA rank Dick Weber on its 2008 list of the 50 greatest players of the last 50 years?

The PBA's 2008 list put Dick Weber third, behind only Earl Anthony and Walter Ray Williams Jr., the tour's two all-time title leaders.