Rules of Bowling
The basic rules of tenpin bowling are fairly simple to pick up, though they do seem confusing at first. The game is played on a 60 foot lane, and the object of the game is to bowl a weighted ball down the lane at ten pins, arranged in a triangle. You bowl 10 frames, which consist of two bowls per frame. The object of each frame is to knock down 10 pins in a combination of two bowls or in one bowl.
Scoring
Scoring in essence is worked out by the amount of pins knocked down over the course of the game, however two important variations exist.
If you knock over all ten pins in one go, this is called a strike. Not only do you get 10 points, but the you also get what you score in the next two balls added to your score. So, if you bowl a strike in your first frame, and in the next frame you bowl a 6 and a 3, your frame 1 score will be 19, and your frame 2 score will be 9, which means in frame 3 you will be on 28. If you bowl a strike in frame 10, you will recieve two extra bowls to compensate this.
If you knock over all ten pins in two goes, this is called a spare. As well as the 10 points, your next bowl is doubled. So, if you bowl a spare, then your next bowl is 5, your score for the spared frame would be 15. If you score a spare in frame 10, you get one extra bowl to compensate this.
How To Win
The winner is the person who scores the most points. It is possible to win by knocking over less pins than an opponent, but it's very rare. The highest game you can score is 300.
Handicap
There is a handicap system which is designed to average out bowlers. The way it works is that if everybody bowled to their handicap then the game should be even.
The formula for working this out is this:
(200 - Average) * 0.8 = Handicap
Some leagues operate on a 210 Handicap system. Simply replace the 210 with 200 to work it out.
Fouls
You score a foul if you put your foot over the game line. Most lanes can detect this and will penalise you.