Game rules

Bowling Rules: How to Play and Keep Score

Bowling Simulator on Selminha.com uses official lane dimensions and official ten-pin scoring. The ball skids through the oil and hooks on the dry back end, and real physics sends the pins flying. It's always a five-player game, each bowler on their own lane: you against the computer or with up to four friends. Below are the complete rules, exactly as they're played on Selminha.com.

The lane, the pins and the ball

The lane runs 60 feet from the foul line to the headpin and is 41.5 inches wide, made up of 39 boards, with a gutter on each side. The ten pins stand in a four-row triangle, 12 inches apart, center to center, numbered 1 to 10: the 1 pin is the headpin up front, and the 7 and 10 pins are the back left and back right corners.

The first 40 feet of the lane are oiled, and the back end is dry. In the oil, the ball skids; on the dry boards, it grips and hooks.

Foul line: The line between the approach, where you walk up, and the lane. Your foot can't touch it or cross it.
Arrows: The seven targets 15 feet past the foul line. Most bowlers aim at the arrows, not at the pins.
Pocket: The gap between the 1 and 3 pins for a right-hander, or the 1 and 2 pins for a left-hander. That's where you want the ball to hit for a strike.
Gutter: The channel on each side of the lane. A ball that drops into it rolls to the end without knocking down any pins.

How scoring works

A game has ten frames. In each frame, you get two balls to knock down all ten pins. Every pin you knock down is worth one point, and strikes and spares earn bonus points from the balls that follow. A perfect game is 300: twelve strikes in a row.

Example: a strike in the 1st frame, then 7 and 2 in the 2nd. The 1st frame is worth 10 + 7 + 2 = 19, and the 2nd adds 9 more, for a score of 28.
Another example: 6 and 4 (a spare) in the 1st frame, then 8 on the first ball of the 2nd. The 1st frame is worth 10 + 8 = 18.
The score for a frame with a strike or a spare shows up only after the bonus balls are rolled.
Two strikes in a row is a double, and three in a row is a turkey.

Strike: All ten pins on the first ball of a frame. The frame ends there (except in the 10th), and it's worth 10 plus the pins from your next two balls.
Spare: All the pins left standing, knocked down with the second ball. It's worth 10 plus the pins from your next ball.
Open frame: Pins are still standing after both balls. It's worth only the pins you knocked down.
The 10th frame: A strike or a spare earns you bonus balls to finish the count: two more after a strike, one more after a spare. That's why the 10th frame can have up to three balls. After each strike or spare, all ten pins are reset. With no strike or spare, it ends after the second ball.

Scoresheet marks

X: Strike.
/: Spare.
−: A miss: no pins down, but not a gutter ball.
G: A gutter ball, with no pins down.
F: Foul: the pins from that ball don't count.
Circled number: Split: your first ball knocks down the headpin but leaves two or more pins standing with a gap between them, like the 7-10, or with the pin right in front of them down, like the 5-6 with the 3 pin gone.

During a game, tap or click the standings to see the full scoreboard, with all ten frames for all five bowlers.

Fouls, gutter balls, splits and the clock

Foul: if a bowler's foot touches or crosses the foul line on delivery, the ball counts, but the pins it knocks down don't. If it was the first ball, all ten pins are reset for the second. In this game, your bowler always stops short of the line, so only the computer's bowlers can foul.
A gutter ball isn't a foul: it counts as a ball that knocked down no pins.
A split carries no penalty: it just marks a tough leave. Picking up a split counts like any other spare.
When you play with friends, you have 45 seconds for each ball. If time runs out, that ball counts as a zero, and the pins stay where they are. There's no clock when you play the computer.

Your ball

The ball button, in the bottom-left corner, lets you choose the coverstock, the weight, your bowling hand and your style. The diagram shows the path the ball will take down the lane.

Coverstock: The ball's outer shell, which determines how much it hooks and where. Plastic: almost straight, the spare ball. Urethane: a small, early hook. Solid: grips early and hooks hard all the way down. Pearl: skids through the oil and turns hard at the end. Hybrid: the strongest hook, late on the lane.
Weight: From 10 to 16 pounds. A lighter ball leaves your hand faster; a heavier one deflects less off the pins and knocks down more.
Hand: Right-handed or left-handed. It changes which way the ball hooks and which pocket you aim for: 1-3 for right-handers, 1-2 for left-handers.
Style: Straight: no revs, so the ball goes straight. Classic: the standard hook. Power: lots of revs and a big hook. Spinner: the ball spins on its side like a top, skids and hooks only a little.

How to bowl

Aim: drag sideways. Your bowler moves left or right to pick where the ball is released.
Bowl: swipe up and let go. With a mouse, drag up quickly. The faster you swipe, the faster the ball.
Hook: at the end of your swipe, curve left if you're right-handed, or right if you're left-handed. The ball spins, skids through the oil and hooks into the pocket.
Backup ball: curve the other way, and the ball spins the opposite way and heads for the other pocket.
Straight ball: swipe straight, with no curve. It's the best shot for picking up spares.
On a keyboard, ← and → (or A and D) aim, and Space or Enter bowls with the spin of the style you picked. On a controller, the left stick or D-pad aims, and A bowls.
The HOW TO BOWL button, in the bottom-left corner, walks you through the motion step by step.

Playing the computer or friends

There are always five bowlers, each on their own lane. You pick your bowler from the club members: Diego, Valentina, Niklas, Mateo and Hugo. The computer bowls for anyone nobody picks.

Against the computer: You take on the other four club members, each with their own style, at one of three levels: Beginner, Intermediate or Pro.
Friends on this device: Two to five people, each on their own lane, taking turns: when it's someone else's turn, pass the device. The computer takes any lanes left over.
Friends by link: Two to five people, each on their own device, all bowling at the same time. Whoever sets up the game sends the link, and anyone who opens it picks a bowler nobody has taken and joins in. Once at least one friend has joined, the host taps START, and the computer takes any lanes left over. Up to 50 people can watch.
Leaving or dropping out: In a game by link, if you leave, the computer bowls on your lane until the end. If you're away for more than 60 seconds, the computer bowls for you until you're back, and that game won't count toward the leaderboard.
Who wins: The highest total over the ten frames wins. In a tie, the bowler with more strikes wins, and if it's still tied, the one with more spares.
Rematch: At the end, REMATCH starts a new game with the same bowlers. In a game by link, everyone gets an ANOTHER GAME? prompt, and the new game starts once everyone says yes.
Leaderboard: If you finish all ten frames without the computer bowling for you, your score can make the leaderboard. With friends on the same device, the highest score among you counts. Spectators can't make the leaderboard.