Bowling Trivia

Do you know which sport uses the heaviest balls?

Tenpin Bowling of course!

Answers

(submitted my Raymond)
"I would have to guess at something like 165? It's anyone's guess really isn't it!"

(submitted by James)
"According to http://www.balmoralsoftware.com/bowling/bowling.htm: The bowling score that has the most probabilities to arrive at that score is 77. They offer a very scientific explanation to it..."

Also from the Balmoral website: How many possible games? "First, it seems evident that the total number of possible ten-pin bowling games is quite large. We have eleven possibilities for the first ball thrown in the first frame (gutter, 1, 2, ..., 9, strike), and the same possibilities occur for each of the other nine frames. So without even considering the second ball in each frame, at a minimum we have 11¹º = 26 billion possibilities. In fact, the true number of games is much, much larger due to the effect of the second ball in each frame. It's easy to show that the total number of possible games is 66^9 x 241 = 5,726,805,883,325,784,576 (about 6 billion billion, or 6 quintillion)!"

(Submitted by Keller)
According to my neurons calculations the answer is: 129.  3 possibilities per frame: Strike Spare or Open. Average pins per spare is 5.5. Average open frame score is ( 5.5 + 2.25 ). So, three strikes + 3 spares + 3 opens = ( 46.5 + 46.5 + 23 ) / 9 x 10 = 129

Seems like we have the best answer. Any comments? let me know.

Answers:

• because if you bowl a 111 by the seventh frame you are able to bowl a 200. If you don't have a 111 by the seventh frame you will not bowl a 200 (thanks to Tia).
• Thanks also to Bob who clarified the maths - if you have 110 by the 7th frame and strike out you will end up with an even 200.
  

Answers:

• (from Christine) The answer is yes, it happened in Australia at the AMF Mt Gravatt Lanes in Queensland I believe in 2007. It was posted in the AMF monthly magazine. Two competing bowlers in league both bowled a perfect game each, but 1 bowler actually won as it also was a league with a handicap system in place giving the winner the extra pins. We also had the first ever Australian bowl back to back 300’s about 4 years ago. It was done by a Junior bowler at the Nerang Tenpin bowling centre in Queensland Australia, his name was Derek Adams and it happened about 5-6 years ago. I believe he also bowled a 297 for his 3rd game.

• 19 gutter balls in a row during a league game: Richard Caplette, Danielson, Conn., Sept. 7, 1971. Can anyone beat that!

• Also, Jim asks - a 190 without a strike - has it been done ?

• Can you tell me the most 300 games ever bowled by the same individual, amatuer and/or pro? Question from Denise