Duckpin bowling

Duckpin bowling is a variation of the sport of bowling.

Duckpin balls are 4+3⁄4 in (12 cm) to 5 in (12.7 cm) in diameter, weigh 3 lb 6 oz (1.5 kg) to 3 lb 12 oz (1.7 kg) each, and lack finger holes. They are thus significantly smaller than those used in ten-pin bowling but are slightly larger and heavier than those used in candlepin bowling.

Duckpins, although arranged in a triangle identical to that used in ten-pin bowling, are shorter, slightly thinner, and lighter than their ten-pin equivalents, which makes it more difficult for the smaller ball to achieve a strike. For this reason, similar to candlepin bowling, the bowler is allowed three rolls per frame.

Duckpins are shorter and squatter than the pins used in ten-pin bowling.

A duckpin bowling ball in an adult hand

Duckpin balls are small enough to pass between same-row duckpins.

Scale diagram of balls and pins for three popular variations of bowling. The horizontal blue lines are one inch apart vertically.

Duckpin bowling has rules^[3] similar to ten-pin bowling. In a 10-frame game, bowlers try to knock down pins in the fewest rolls per frame. Bowlers have three balls per frame, instead of two as in ten-pin bowling, to knock over a set of 10 pins. If a bowler knocks down all 10 pins with their first roll in a frame, it is scored as a strike. If all the pins are knocked down in two rolls, the bowler has made a spare. If all the pins are knocked down in three rolls, it is scored as a ten, as in candlepins, with no bonus. If pins are still standing after the third ball, the bowler gets one point for each pin knocked down.

In the case of a strike, the bowler gets 10 points plus the total number of pins knocked down with the next two balls rolled, for a maximum of 30 points. In the case of a spare, the bowler gets 10 points plus the number of pins knocked down with the next ball, for a maximum of 20 points. If it takes three balls to knock down all 10 pins, the bowler gets 10 points, with no bonus. A bowler's final score is the sum of the points earned over 10 frames (a spare or strike in the tenth frame earns one or two rolls respectively). The maximum possible score of 300 points, which is accomplished by rolling 12 strikes in a row, has never been achieved under official conditions.

Duckpin bowling lanes are the same size as ten-pin bowling lanes, but with smaller gutters.^[4]

A January 2, 1893 article describes "bowling fever" and closes with a mention of playing "duck pins".^[5]

Early documentation of a "duck pin" bowling tournament in Lowell, Massachusetts, published on May 19, 1894. Quoted game averages range from about 73 to about 94.^[6]

The origin of duckpin bowling has been disputed. A commonly recited assertion is that the sport began in Baltimore around 1900, at a bowling, billiards and pool hall owned by future baseball Hall of Famers John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson,^[7] both of the old (1882–1899) Baltimore Orioles.^[8] One such claim is reported in the Pittsburgh Press of March 3, 1929.^[8] However, research has since found references to duckpin dating to the early 1890s in New Haven, Boston and Lowell, Mass.^[7] Author Howard W. Rosenberg wrote in 2005 that his research showed the sport was around "at least as of 1894, and probably well before that",^[9] with former Duckpin News editor Stacy Karten stating in a 2016 publication that Rosenberg found an 1892 reference to duckpin in The Boston Globe.^[10]

Duckpins was not an organized sport until the National Duckpin Bowling Congress (NDBC) was founded in 1927.^[11]

In 1953, submarine designer Ken Sherman developed the first automatic duckpin pinsetter, its design having over 1,000 moving parts.^[7] Sherman's refusal to sell his patent to ten-pin competitor Brunswick caused him to lack corporate investment needed to manufacture large numbers of duckpin pinsetters.^[12] Further, no parts for the Sherman pinsetter have been manufactured since 1973,^[12] so that anyone wanting to open a new bowling center must cannibalize parts.^[13] The absence of new pinsetter machines is thought to curtail growth of the sport, and spare parts must be scavenged or obtained from alleys that have closed.^[7] Only one company makes duckpins, and it only leases them.^[13]

The executive director of the National Duckpin Bowling Congress said in 2016 that there were 41 congress-certified duckpin bowling alleys, down from nearly 450 in 1963.^[7] In comparison, there were about 4,000 ten-pin centers in 2018.^[14] The Baltimore Sun reported in 2017 that the number of professional duckpin bowlers is down by more than 90 percent.^[13]

In 1982, the Women's National Duckpin Association (WNDA) was formed, conducting tournaments for women to compete professionally,^[15] with Ladies Professional Duckpin Tournament (LPDT) events extending back at least as early as 1974.^[16]

In 1999, Sports Illustrated named Elizabeth "Toots" Barger among the fifty top Maryland athletes of all time, Barger having claimed thirteen NDBC No. 1 rankings for having the highest female duckpinner average.^[10] Barger won nine world championships, and, in 1961, became the second woman to be inducted into the Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame.^[19]

In 1905 a variant called rubber band duckpins was introduced in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area by William Wuerthele,^[21] in which the pins are circled with hard rubber bands to increase rebound action in collisions, and therefore scoring. Wuerthele observed bowlers wasting their third ball as well as flying pins injuring pin boys, so, according to a defunct publication called The Ducks, Wuerthele added the rubber band to increase scoring.

The American Duckpin Congress was formed in the 1920s to govern the game of rubber band duckpins. The organization later became the American Rubber Band Duckpin Bowling Congress in 1945 and became an affiliate of the National Duckpin Bowling Congress. The rubber band game is now almost extinct, with most of the lanes located in private clubs, though there is one alley in the U.S. still open to the public in Glassport, Pennsylvania.^[22]

As of 2018, rubber band duckpins was mostly limited to Québec, where it is called petites quilles.^[23]

There have been perfect games bowled in rubber band duckpin, including the largest duckpin prize ever won on television, C$50,000 in 1994.^[24] Since it is easier to knock down pins in rubber band duckpin, its rules are identical to those of ten-pin bowling.

In mini duckpins, the lane is shorter than a standard duckpin lane, and the width of the lane is not standard.^[2] While there has never been a sanctioned perfect game in regulation duckpin bowling, 300 games are said to be relatively common in mini duckpin play.^[2]

The USBC reported that there were 55,266 certified 300 games in ten-pin bowling in the 2013–2014 season alone, but there has never been a certified 300 game in duckpin bowling.^[7] A Connecticut man named Pete Signore Jr. came closest with a 279 game in 1992.^[7]

• The Ducks Magazine, October 1928, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Duckpin bowling.

• National Duckpin Bowling Congress (NDBC) (archive)
• The Duckpin News list of duckpin proprietors (archive)
• National Duckpin Youth Association (NDYA)