History of Bowling Essay

In recent years, bowling has become not just professional kind of sports, but also active type of amusement and lifestyle. Now everybody enjoy playing it, no matter how old the person is. Bowling is a hazardous and fascinating game in the balls and skittles. Bowling is interesting for its centuries-old traditions. Not everyone knows, but the game must follow these traditions: the length and handling of the track, weight and size of the ball, special shoes and even the weight and shape of the pins! There are many opinions about where bowling has been first introduced. In different countries, there are found prototypes of balls and pins. On every continent of the globe you can easily find all sorts of varieties of this game. The rules and the name of games can differ, but the essence remains unchanged: the ball knocks the pins. Bowling is an interesting and popular game with a long history.
The history of bowling dates back to antiquity. Prototypes of balls and pins have been found by archaeologists in the excavation of ancient Egypt and date back to 5200 BC. In the tomb, archeologists have found a few small stone balls, three pieces of marble and nine thin pins. Sir Finders Petrie, professor of Egyptology at the University of London, in his monograph “The formation of Egypt” (1939) suggested that the ball had to leave through the gate formed from pieces of marble (Benson 2000). The goal was nine pins arrayed in the shape of a rhombus. Thus, the first player in the 9-pins bowling probably threw the ball more than 7000 years ago (Benson 2000).
German historian William Peel in his book “Bowling” says that the game originated in Germany in the 3rd century, but not as a sport but as a religious rite (Dorion 2007). The Germans in those times had a weapon called “Kegel”. According to Peel, “Kegel” was placed at one end of the monastery, and people threw the ball from the other end of the room. “Kegel” symbolized the pagan. So the game embodied the eradication of paganism. Obviously, most welcomed were those, who could knock down more “pagans”. At the end of the ceremony they were congratulated at the banquet (Dorion 2007).
At the early development of bowling, tracks were made of clay, slate or ash, and there could be from 5 to 17pins. But in 1200, people started play bowling on wooden tracks, which sometimes had a width of about one foot. Pins were installed on a wider platform (36-48 feet wide) at the end of the track. Traces of those tracks can still be found in Germany.
Not only Germans played bowling; it is known that the ancient Polynesians played bowling on lanes of the same length as today – 18.228 meters. Even Martin Luther played bowling. British kings Edward II and Richard II banned the game because they believed that people were just wasting time playing it. But Sir Francis Drake played one game of bowling before going to the war with the Spanish armada.
At those times, there were many options of games with pins, as well as games in which a ball knocked other subjects. Bowling was not automatic, pins were arranged by so-called “pinboy”. Both young and older people worked as pinboys receiving for their routine work five cents per game.
Talking about Europe, it is worth noting that people played that game not only in Germany, but also in France, England and Spain. Found in England written records of bowling are referred to the 12th century. English bowling, perhaps, introduced some zest to the very essence of the game, which then affected the development of American bowling.
In England, traditionally playing balls was considered a privilege of high society, and playing in pins was considered to be a fun of ordinary people, not worthy of decent English. Gradually, the bowling was gaining popularity. The first public bowling centers (bowling alley) were opened in London in the 15th century. The term “alley” meant a closed court for bowling. Later, bowling centers were moved closer to public places and places of recreation (taverns and hotels), because there were many people who wanted to play there (Pezzano 1984).
Bowling afterwards suffered greatly. Repeatedly somebody attempted to ban that game. In the 18th century, one judge tried to close all the places in and around London, where people were playing Skitlz, Dutch bowling and other varieties of bowling. Therefore, in many places people began to play a game called “cheat justice”, in which instead of 9 pins there were nine holes. Naturally, the judge didn’t ban that game despite the fact that it strongly resembled bowling alley. The game differed only in that the players now had to throw the ball into the holes.
In the Netherlands, people also played bowling. In the XVII century the game came to America from Netherlands, contrary to popular belief about the American origin of this ancient game. First, in America it was called “Dutch pins”. On the territory of modern New York there is still a quarter “Bowling Green”, where Dutch settlers lived. However, the privilege of spreading bowling in the New World belongs to the Germans. The first settlers came from Germany in 1683, that time the Germans were the third largest ethnic group of the white race in the colonies.
Undoubtedly, the British, Dutch and German settlers brought with them to America their own kinds of bowling. The first mention of bowling in serious American literature took place in the book of Washington Irving, when the famous character Rip Van Winkle woke up from the sound of “pins knocked down.” The first permanent American “bowling center,” may have become a lawn in the New York area “Battery”. Now this place is situated in the heart of the financial center of New York, but New Yorkers still call it “Bowling Green”.
In the 17th century the game was becoming more and more popular in America – from comfortable lawns to mansions of big industrialists, where it became fashionable to establish bowling alley. Soon people began to gamble, which caused a public reprimand. As a result, authorities in some states outlawed the “game in balls with 9 pins”, the name of the modern bowling. To circumvent this prohibition, bowling fans have added one more pin, that way appeared variant of the game with 10 clubs, the most common today. So the game was called “Bowling” from the English verb “to bowl”.
As the largest number of German immigrants moved to New York, the city became the capital of bowling in America of the 19th century. The first indoor bowling center (“Knickerbocker” with tracks made of baked clay) was opened on January 1, 1840 in Manhattan. Gradually, indoor bowling centers gained huge popularity in New York. In Broadway area, from Barclay Street to 18 Street, the tracks could be seen at every turn (A Great Boom in Bowling 1890).
The first National Bowling Association (NBA) was founded in 1875. It included 27 bowling centers in Manhattan. Association established certain rules regarding the size of the ball, removing downed pins from the track and installation of central the pin. In 1880, those rules were published for the first time, and like all first did not receive recognition. Some described bowling as a game that was played by everyone the way he liked. In 1890, there was founded American Bowling League (ABL), which introduced the concept of the game, consisting of 20 throws, so the tour had only two throws instead of three. In this connection, the maximum possible score was 200, which could be earned by knocking out 10 strikes. ABL also reduced the height of the pins to 15 inches (and currently the standard height is 15 inches). Many players did not agree with such innovations, which led to the demise of the organization. In 1891, the American Amateur Bowling League (AABL) was established, which also found 20 throws in the game and banned cash prizes at tournaments in bowling. However, such an idea was quite unattractive, and under the pressure of bowling centers in New York the League was soon closed.
Up until 1895 there wasn’t created a single organization that could effectively manage bowling alley in the country. Leading bowling players, wanting to play in accordance with the standards, decided that the sport needed at least elementary rules. In 1895 they have founded the American Bowling Congress – an organization that even today is a thriving and prosperous governing body; they have created the first official game rules. Even that organization spent 10 years to officially declare that bowling was now completely controlled.
In the early twentieth century technology of bowling has taken a great step forward. Previously, the main material for the manufacture of the balls was guaiac wood, or lignum vitae (Guaiacum officinale, lat.) – wood of very hard rock. The first tournament of the American Bowling Congress was held in Chicago in 1901 with the participation of 41 teams. In 1905 there appeared the first rubber ball “Evertrue”, and in 1914 Brunswick Corporation successfully presented the ball “Mineralite”, advertising its “mysterious rubber material.” In 1916, the first Women’s International Bowling Congress was held.
Although women had played bowling since the late nineteenth century, the American Bowling Congress was only for men. Only in 1917 in St. Louis, International Women’s Bowling Congress (WIBC) was created. After the women’s tournament, initiated and organized by the owner of the bowling center Dennis Sweeney, women from across the country, who participated in the tournament, decided to create an organization which at that time was called the Women’s National Bowling Association (WNBA).
The number of bowling centers was growing, and everything would be fine if not purely technical difficulties. The fact was that there were not enough of boys, who were supposed to set the knocked down pins. It was difficult to find such young apprentices, they were dirty, unreliable and rude to visitors. As always, the problem was decided accidentally.
In the 30’s in New York, there was a small bowling center of George Berkeley, an engineer Gottfried Schmidt, who worked in the company of Dexter Fodder was a frequent visitor there. In the late 30-ies of 20th century there appeared equipment for automatic setting of pins and ball return. After that bowling has become a truly popular game. One day at a Fodder factory Berkeley saw machine, which sucked the paper and thus raised it at the presses. They decided to make something like for pins. “Bob” Kennedy at that time was working on such an idea. Seeing the development of Berkeley and Schmidt, Kennedy was excited to make it, but the company didn’t show any special interest in the invention. Time of searching for sponsors to create pinspotter – that was the name given to this car – was delayed. Then the Second World War started and there was no place for bowling (Lowe 2006).
At the end of 1945, Morehead Patterson, vice president of the company AMF (American Machine and Foundry), which was engaged in manufacturing equipment for the food, tobacco and light industries, bought Gottfried Schmidt’s patents on the automatic device for the installation of pins (pinspotter). In 1946, it was shown at the exhibition.
For the first time pinspotter was established in Michigan in 1951, and by the end of 1952 industrial models of pinspotter were presented. Owners of bowling centers didn’t have to rely on pinboys any more; one engineer could monitor the equipment on several tracks, functioning for many hours a day.
Today, bowling is a recognized form of family recreation and professional kind of sports. Today, bowling is played in over 120 countries, by more than 100 million people. In the U.S. there are about 8.000 of bowling centers and 140.000 tracks. The world’s largest modern bowling center is located in Japan and has 141 tracks (Pinkerton 2010).
The International Olympic Committee in 1970 recognized bowling as a sport. International Bowling Federation (FIQ) unites 125 National Federations: WTBA (Association of bowling pins on the system 10) – 97 countries and the WNBA (Association of bowling pins on the system 9) – 28 countries. In 2004, bowling was inducted into the Olympic program.
Summing everything up, it’s worth mentioning that among the great variety of sports, bowling is one of the best known. Only in the United States, about 50 million people play bowling. This game has more than 5000 years of history. The most important root cause of the popularity of bowling as a game, is its flexibility. Fairly simple tools and techniques allow both children and adults playing this exciting game. About 95% of bowling players recognize bowling as a sport, a wonderful form of recreation, an effective form of relaxation of the body, a powerful method of socialization and as a defiant challenge to the competitive nature of man (Visit 2010). Due to the fact that the rules are fairly easy to understand, more and more people are engaged in this great sport – not concentrating only on how to compete, but on good way to spend time in the circle of friends and family. Besides, bowling is a useful game. Physical activity during the game successfully influences health and mood of the players. This game is one of the most popular in the world and has tremendous growth potential.