Nine-pin bowling is a bowling

Bowling

Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...

 game played primarily in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. European championships are held each year. Over 90,000 members are on teams in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, often playing in officially registered Bundeskegelbahnen (federal bowling alleys) to be found in almost every sizable town. In Europe overall, there are some 130,000 players. Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

, Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein

The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 are other countries in which nine-pin bowling lanes are often found.

Game play

This game is one in which a player brings a plastic or wooden ball that is rolled down an alley to nine pins. The "bowling ball" is smaller and lighter than in ten-pin bowling

Ten-pin bowling

Ten-pin bowling is a competitive sport in which a player rolls a bowling ball down a wooden or synthetic lane with the objective of scoring points by knocking down as many pins as possible.-Summary:The lane is bordered along its length by semicylindrical channels Ten-pin bowling (commonly just...

, and the ball may have two or no finger holes. Being smaller, the ball will actually roll, rather than slide, down most of the lane distance. The lanes are shorter than those for ten-pin bowling. The nine pins (cones) are placed in a diamond shape on the alley. In most lane systems the pins have a rope on top, as part of a "string-setter", to pick up the pins and replace them back in to the diamond shape for the next roll. In Germany there are three kinds of bowling lane systems in different regions of the country (not counting ten-pins which has made some inroads). The systems differ both in their measurements and in the materials used for construction. One of the systems uses a lane that starts out narrow, but widens when approaching the pins. One uses flat asphalt lanes, while two use wooden lanes that are slightly elevated at the outer edges. There is one more special lane system only used in a small region of eastern Germany (Mansfelder Land), in this a very heavy ball is literally thrown at rather than rolled towards the pins; it is usually played outdoors. The different lane systems require noticeably different throwing techniques for successful play.

The game is played in 120 throws of four lanes. On each lane 30 throws. On one lane there are fifteen throws on all nine pins (full) and fifteen throws where knocked down pins remain out of play until no pins are left (cleaning). One of the lane systems doesn't use cleaning, so that all throws are on nine pins.

The standard diameter of the ball is 160 mm, the weight is approximately 2.85 kg. The U14 (11–14 years) plays with 140 mm/1.9 kg.
The pins usually have a weight of approximately 1730 g.

In Switzerland the nine-pin bowling balls are much bigger and heavier, bigger even than ten-pin bowling balls. There are two holes, one for the thumb and one for the other fingers.

Points

Pin points are added up for each throw. Professional players get up to 900 points (which means an average of 7.5 points per throw) and more (120 throws, "Schere"). Usually, the number of points awarded equals the number of pins thrown down.

In intra-club play and leisure play, many different games can be played, such as aiming for a specific sum without overshooting, throwing at specific combinations of less than nine pins, aiming to achieve results from "one" to "nine" in a row with the least number of throws, etc.

The Rule that twelve Points are awarded if, when throwing on all nine pins, the specially marked central pin ("kingpin") remains standing while all others are thrown down, is only employed in leisure play and not in competitions.

Origins

Standardized rules and organization of nine-pins were developed by the American Bowling Congress in 1895. Nine-pins was the most popular form of bowling in much of the United States from colonial times until the early nineteenth century, when it was outlawed in many areas and replaced by ten-pins. Today, nine-pins has disappeared from all of the United States except Texas, where both nine and ten pin bowling have been known since the 1830s. In the 1830s, several cities in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 banned nine-pin bowling out of moral panic

Moral panic

A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. According to Stanley Cohen, author of Folk Devils and Moral Panics and credited creator of the term, a moral panic occurs when "[a] condition, episode, person or group of...

about work ethic, gambling, and organized crime. Ten-pin bowling was invented in order to meet the letter of these laws. Ninepin alleys were numerous enough in Texas by 1837 that rather than a ban, the First Congress of the Republic of Texas chose to subject them to an annual tax of $150, and all forms of bowling have remained legal and subject to taxation in Texas ever since. Whereas tenpin alleys were usually found in saloons and other establishments frequented exclusively by men, ninepin alleys were often built by clubs patronized by families.

Unique to Central Texas

By World War I most Texas bowling establishments, both private and commercial, had changed to ten-pins. However, nine-pins remained popular in predominantly German communities like Fredericksburg, New Braunfels and Bulverde, until the introduction of fully automated pin-setting machinery in the 1950s caused most of them to make the change as well. Those bowlers who still preferred the teamwork and camaraderie of nine-pins then moved to the nine-pins clubs in the small outlying communities of Bexar, Comal, and Guadalupe counties.

Organizations like the Turner Club (Downtown San Antonio), Barbarossa, Bexar, Bulverde, Blanco, Bracken, Cibolo, Fischer, Freiheit, Germania(the oldest club, organized in 1889), Highland, Laubach, Marion, Martinez, Mission Valley, Solms, Spring Branch, and Zorn bowling clubs maintain the only active nine-pins leagues in the United States.

League Organization and Gameplay

These bowling clubs typically have league bowling Monday through Friday, dependent on the number of bowling lanes and number of league bowlers. The smaller clubs (Zorn, Barbarossa, and Laubach, for example) have only four lanes while the bigger clubs may have eight or more lanes. League bowling consists of two teams bowling head-to-head for three games, with each nine-pin team having six bowlers. Each game consists of six frames. Each bowler will roll the ball twice in each frame regardless of the number of pins knocked down on each roll. When a bowler’s turn is completed, the next bowler will not receive a “Full House” to bowl at: rather, the next bowler must attempt to knock down the pins that were left by the previous bowler. For example, if the first bowler is only able to knock down seven pins, the second bowler must attempt to knock down the remaining two pins. Should the second bowler be unsuccessful in knocking down both of these pins in the allotted two rolls, the third bowler will attempt to knock down the remaining pins. This will continue until the remaining pins are knocked down or until the end of the frame. Once all pins are knocked down, the “12-pin”/”Redhead” is left standing alone (see below), or the end of the frame is reached, all nine pins (a Full House) will be reset.

Something that makes nine-pin bowling different from ten-pin bowling is that the bowlers do not have to bowl in the same order in each frame. Each team can designate a bowler to “Captain” each game. This Captain has complete discretion in determining the bowling order in each frame. These decisions are made on-the-fly: If the remaining pins are on the left side, and there is a remaining bowler who is better than the rest on left side pins, the Captain will send that bowler. This gives the Captain the flexibility to help maximize the team’s score. However, each bowler must roll two balls in each frame.

The pins are set up in a diamond (1-2-3-2-1) configuration. The pin exactly in the center has a special purpose in nine-pin bowling. This pin is typically painted red, either partially or completely, and is called the “12-Pin” or the “Redhead”. From front to back, the pins are 1) the Head Pin, 2) the Left Front Beer and Right Front Beer Pins, 3) the Left Corner, the 12-Pin/Redhead, and the Right Corner, 4) the Left Back Beer and Right Back Beer Pins, and, finally, 5) the Sleeper Pin.

Scoring

Scoring in nine-pin is also different. Each frame begins with a “Full House”. If a bowler knocks down all nine pins in a “Full House” that bowler has bowled a “Nine-Ringer” and is given a score of 9 with a circle around it. Note that the circle is just to show that this was a “Ringer”. There are no additional points for a “Ringer”. If a bowler knocks down all the pins except for the “12-Pin”/”Redhead” in a “Full House” that bowler has bowled a “12-Ringer” and is given a score of 12 with a circle around it. Again, the circle does not add additional points; it simply shows that a Ringer was bowled. If a bowler takes a turn and knocks down the remaining pins, that bowler receives nine points for that shot, regardless of the number of pins knocked down to receive these nine points. If a bowler knocks down the remaining pins, except for the “12-Pin”/”Redhead”, that bowler receives 12 points for that shot regardless of the number of pins knocked down to receive those 12 points. If a bowler’s roll does not result in either “9” or “12” points, that bowler’s roll is given a “-“ (dash) or a “√” (check) which carries no point value. The one exception to this is the last ball rolled by the last bowler in the frame. This bowler will receive credit for the number of pins knocked down. For example, if the last bowler has rolled his second ball for this frame, and three pins remain standing (six pins knocked down), that bowler will receive credit for those six pins, regardless if that bowler knocked these six pins down or not.

Because bowlers face the pins their teammates have left, the better teams are those who have a mix of bowlers that can “hit the left side”, “hit the right side”, or can “roll ringers”. This leads to “specialization”. A good team “Captain” can also help their team by sending the bowlers in the order that maximizes their success.

Typical nine-pin league bowling teams have both male and female bowlers with ages that span from teenagers up to 80 and 90-year old great-grandparents. It is not unheard of for an 80-something grandmother to be on a bowling team because “she can hit the left side every time”.

Pin-Setters

Nine-pin bowling also uses human “pin-setters” who have the responsibility of a) returning the bowling ball, b) shoving the fallen pins into the pit, and c) resetting the “Full House” as necessary. While this may be a throw-back to a forgotten age, there are many civic leaders in the Guadalupe-Comal-Bexar counties whose first job was as a pin-setter.

Compared to Ten-Pin

It is interesting to note that there are many successful ten-pin bowlers with 200+ averages who struggle with nine-pin bowling. There are many theories as to why this is true. First, the angle of the pins from the “Head-Pin” to the "Corner-Pin” is different in nine-pin when compared to ten-pin bowling. Because of this, the bowler who uses a lot of rotation can expect to roll a strike in ten-pin. However, this same bowler may tend to leave a split in nine-pin bowling. There is much anecdotal evidence that nine-pin bowling rewards a straighter roll versus a hook. Another possible explanation is the fact that many of these bowling clubs are what have been referred to as “country lanes”. That is, lane maintenance is left to the individual bowling clubs based on their own traditions. The amount of oil on the lanes may have significant variation. Another possible explanation is shifting foundations. Many of these clubs are located in rural areas. Foundations, floors, and/or pylons can expand or contract based on current drought or humidity conditions. A ball rolled with a large amount of rotation that never seemed to hook may be described as looking like “it was trying to hook up a hill”. This description may very well be more accurate than originally intended. Because of this, some lanes develop reputations as being “crooked”. The local bowling octogenarians can act as unofficial historians for their respective bowling clubs and can express opinions as to the characteristics of the individual lanes. The game was banned soon after.

Members Only

The bowling clubs are typically membership clubs. For a nominal fee, a bowler can apply for membership. Membership is usually renewed annually, depending on the by-laws for each club. There are also fees for each night of bowling. Additional fees may be charged for snacks and drinks. Another characteristic of nine-pin bowling leagues is that the league may require each team to bowl a different night each week, depending on the schedule created for the league.