1. Duckpins Hatched
The game of duckpin bowling was created in Baltimore in the early 1900s. Most traditional bowling alleys were only open in the winter, but a few bowling alleys stayed open year round. Avid bowlers kept up their skills by playing games slightly different than traditional ten-pin, using smaller balls weighing 2 to 4 lbs. One day, someone pointed out that the worn out 10-pins could be made into smaller pins, which might go better with the smaller balls. Some of the worn out ten pins were sent to a local woodworker, who downsized them and returned them to the bowling alley. thus, the game of duckpin bowling was born.
2. How Duckpin Bowling Got Its Name
One of the first people to play the game of duckpins was a man who also happened to be an avid duck hunter. When he saw the pins fly when the ball struck them, he said it looked like a flock of flying ducks. A sportswriter for the Baltimore Morning Sun wrote an article on the new game, quoted the man and dubbed the game "duckpins" and it's been called that ever since.
3. Strikes, Spares and Scores
Play for duckpin bowling is similar to 10-pin in that you have a 10-frame game. But with duckpin bowling, you get three rolls per frame as opposed to two with 10-pin bowling. Should you knock all the balls down with your first ball, it's scored as a strike. It's scored as 10 points plus the total of first two balls of the next frame. If all the pins are knocked down with the second ball rolled, it's recorded as a spare and scored as 10 plus the value of the first ball of the next frame. If all the pins are knocked down with the third ball, it's simply scored as 10 for that frame.
4. East Coast Phenomenon
Duckpin bowling is mainly an East Coast sport; in fact, many people from other areas of the country have never even heard of duckpin bowling. New equipment and replacement parts are actually hard to come by, as the largest manufacturer of bowling equipment, Brunswick, no longer makes duckpin bowling equipment. Equipment is now only available when a duckpin bowling alley closes its doors.
5. An All-Inclusive Game
Due to the weight of the duckpin bowling balls being much lighter than those of 10-pin bowling, anyone can play--from children to those who aren't as strong, such as the elderly. It's actually a more challenging game than 10-pin. Scores are typically lower in duckpin bowling, and a perfect game of 300 has never been recorded.
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