Dimensions for Tenpin Bowling

Tenpin bowling is a sport in which a player (bowler) rolls (bowls) a bowling ball down a narrow, straight, flat, wooden or synthetic ‘lane’ with the object of scoring points by knocking down as many of the ten pins as possible set in a triangular formation at the end of the lane.

A game consists of 10 frames with the bowler having a maximum of two attempts to knock down the 10 pins in each frame. The maximum score for a game of 10 frames is 300.

Bowlers compete with each other (singles) or in teams of two (doubles), three (trios), four or five persons.

Bowling lane

The most common type of lane is wood. Synthetics are becoming more popular and some lanes are a combination of wood and synthetic. The lane is 18.288m from the foul line to the centre of the headpin.

Approach

The approach is a minimum of 4.5m long. There is a large dot embedded in the middle of the lane at 3.8m with two dots either side, five boards apart, that are used for lining up the feet of the bowler. Some centres have an extra set, making a total of seven dots.

Foul line

The foul line is at the start of the lane and measures 0.95cm–2.54cm wide. There are dots embedded into the approach side of the lane situated at five boards apart and used for lining up and targeting.

The boards

There are 39 to 42 boards on a lane. The first arrow from the gutter is the 5 board, the second arrow is the 10 board etc. and the middle arrow is the 20 board.

The dots

The dots are markers on the lane situated 2.13m from the foul line and are used for targeting. They are located from the right from the gutter on the 3, 5, 8, 11 and 14 boards. It is the same from the left side.

The pin deck

The pins are located within a 91.44cm equilateral triangle, with each of the pins aligned 30.48cm apart centre to centre.

Pins

Bowling pins are made from hard maple and when shaped, coated with a white plastic. The weight for all pins is 1.5kg−1.6kg. Each pin is 38.10cm high and 11.40cm wide.