TEN PINS.

The standard American game of Ten Pins is played upon an alley 41 or 42 inches wide, and 60 feet long from the head pin to the foul or scratch line, from behind which the player must deliver his ball. There should be at least 15 feet run back of the foul line, and the gutters on each side of the alley must be deep enough to allow a ball to pass without touching any of the pins standing on the alley.

The Pins are spotted as shown in the margin, the centres 12 inches apart, and those of the back row 3 inches from the edge of the pit. The regulation pins are 15 inches high, 2¼ diam. at the base, 15 inches circumference 4½ from the bottom, and 5¼ at the neck. The Balls must not exceed 27 inches in circumference in any direction, but smaller balls may be used.

Frames. Each player rolls ten frames or innings, in each of which he is supposed to have three balls, although as a matter of fact he rolls two only. In match games, two alleys are used, and the players roll one inning on each alternately.

A Strike is made when all ten pins are knocked down with the first ball of the innings, and it is scored on the blackboard with a cross, the number of pins made with the three balls being filled in afterward. A Spare is made when all ten pins are knocked down with the two balls of one inning, and it is marked with a diagonal stroke. If the player fails to get either a strike or a spare, it is a Break, marked with a horizontal line, under which is written the actual number of pins down. After each ball is rolled any pins that have fallen on the alley are called deadwood, and must be removed before the second ball is rolled.

Counting. If a player makes a strike in one inning, all that he makes on the next two balls rolled, whether in one inning or not, counts also on the strike, so as to give him the total score on three balls for the frame. Three successive strikes would give him 30 points on the first frame, with a ball still to roll to complete the second frame, and two balls to roll to complete the third. If he got two strikes in succession, and 5 pins on the first ball of the third frame, 4 on the second ball, the first frame would be worth 25, the second frame 19, and the break on the third frame 9; making his total score 53 for the three frames.

If the player makes a spare in one inning, all the pins knocked down by the first ball of the next inning count also on the spare. Suppose a spare to be followed by a strike, the frame in which the spare was made would be worth 20. If he made 5 pins only, the spare would be worth 15.

Although the player is supposed to have three balls in each inning, and is allowed to count all he makes on three balls if he gets a strike or a spare, he is not allowed to roll three balls on a break. It was formerly the custom to let him roll the third ball on the chance of getting a break of 10. This was afterward changed to giving him 10 pins, without rolling for them, if he got 9 on two balls; but the present rule is to call it a break if he does not get a strike or a spare in two balls, and not to waste time in rolling the third ball.

Scoring. Instead of putting down the amount made in each inning, the total of the frame is added to the total of the previous score, so that the last figure put down shows the total score up to and including that frame. The following illustration shows the total score of a player for ten innings. The top line of figures gives the number of the frame. The second shows the number of pins knocked down by each ball rolled, and the third line shows how the scores would be actually put down on the blackboard, the strike, spare, and break marks being placed above the figures. With the exception of the second line of figures, which is put in for purposes of illustration only, this might be a copy of an actual score.

Frames	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Pins	8-2	5-5	10	9-0	7-2	8-2	10	8-2	8-1	7-3-9
	\	\	X	-	-	\	X	\	-	\
Score	15	35	54	63	72	92	112	140	149	168

As the player made a spare on the last frame, he had another ball to roll, on what was practically a new frame, with which he made 9 pins.

Averages. If a team is playing a match, and one of the players is unavoidably absent, it is the custom to give him credit for his average, according to the records of his previous games during the tournament or the season. This is considered better than appointing a substitute to play for him.

There are a great many varieties of Ten Pins, the most interesting of which will be found described in the following Laws of the game, which are reprinted here by the kind permission of the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co., from their 1908 edition of the “Bowler’s Guide.”