Nine-pin bowling
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 Ninepin bowling pins and ball |
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| Highest governing body | WNBA |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | ninepins, 9-pin, kegeln ... |
| First played | Medieval times, Germany |
| Registered players | about 130,000 |
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | No |
| Team members | 6 per side + reserves |
| Mixed gender | Yes, separate competitions |
| Categorization | Team sport, ball sport |
| Equipment | Ninepin bowling ball |
| Venue | Ninepin bowling lane |
| Olympic | No |
Nine-pin bowling (also known as ninepin bowling, nine-pins, 9-pins, etc.) is a bowling game played in Europe and to a small degree in rural Texas. European championships are held each year. Over 90,000 members are on teams in Germany, often playing in officially registered Bundeskegelbahn (federal bowling alleys) to be found in almost every sizable town. In Europe overall, there are some 130,000 players. Austria, Switzerland, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Liechtenstein are other countries in which nine-pin bowling lanes are often found.
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[edit] Game play
This sport is one in which a player brings a plastic or wooden ball that is rolled down an alley to nine pins. The "bowling ball" is smaller and lighter than in ten-pin bowling, and the ball may have two or no finger holes. Being smaller, the ball will actually roll, rather than slide, down most of the lane distance. The lanes are shorter than those for ten-pin bowling. The nine pins (cones) are placed in a diamond shape on the alley. In most lane systems the pins have a rope on top, as part of a "string-setter", to pick up the pins and replace then back in to the diamond shape for the next roll. In Germany there are three kinds of bowling lane systems in different regions of the country (not counting ten-pins which has made some inroads). The systems differ both in their measurements and in the materials used for construction. One of the systems use a lane that starts out narrow, but widens when approaching the pins. One uses flat asphalt lanes, while two use wooden lanes that are slightly elevated at the outer edges. There is one more special lane system only used in a small region of eastern Germany (Mansfelder Land), in this a very heavy ball is literally thrown at rather than rolled towards the pins; it is usually played outdoors. The different lane systems require noticeably different throwing techniques for successful play.
The game is played in 120 throws of four lanes. On each lane 30 throws. On one lane there are fifteen throws on all nine pins (full) and fifteen throws where knocked down pins remain out of play until no pins are left (cleaning). One of the lane systems doesn't use cleaning, so that all throws are on nine pins.
The standard diameter of the ball is 160 mm, the weight is approximately 2.85 kg. The U14 (11-14 years) plays with 140 mm/1.9 kg. The pins usually have a weight of approximately 1730 g.
In Switzerland the nine-pin bowling balls are much bigger and heavier, bigger even than ten-pin bowling balls. There are two holes, one for the thumb and one for the other fingers.
[edit] Points
Pin points are added up for each throw. Professional players get up to 900 points and more (120 throws, "Schere"). Usually, the number of points awarded equals the number of pins thrown down.
In intra-club play and leisure play, many different games can be played, such as aiming for a specific sum without overshooting, throwing at specific combinations of less than nine pins, aiming to achieve results from "one" to "nine" in a row with the least number of throws, etc.
The Rule that twelve Points are awarded if, when throwing on all nine pins, the specially marked central pin ("kingpin") remains standing while all others are thrown down, is only employed in leidure play and not in competitions.
[edit] Controversy
In the 1830s, several cities in the United States banned nine-pin bowling because workers were slacking off to play it rather than turning up for work. This was one of the main reasons ten-pin bowling became so popular in the US, as opposed to Europe where nine-pin bowling remains more popular.
[edit] Texas nine-pins
Standardized rules and organization of nine-pins were developed by the American Bowling Congress in 1895. Nine-pins was the most popular form of bowling in much of the United States from colonial times until the early nineteenth century, when it was outlawed in many areas and replaced by ten-pins. Today, nine-pins has disappeared from all of the United States except Texas, where both nine and ten pin bowling have been known since the 1830s. Ninepin alleys were numerous enough by 1837 to be subjected to an annual tax of $150 by the First Congress of the Republic of Texas and all forms of bowling have remained legal and subject to taxation in Texas ever since. Whereas tenpin alleys were usually found in saloons and other establishments frequented exclusively by men, ninepin alleys were often built by clubs patronized by families.
By World War I most Texas bowling establishments, both private and commercial, had changed to ten-pins. However, nine-pins remained popular in predominantly German communities like Fredericksburg, New Braunfels and Bulverde, until the introduction of fully automated pin-setting machinery in the 1950s caused most of them to make the change as well. Those bowlers who still preferred the teamwork and camaraderie of nine-pins then moved to the nine-pins clubs in the small outlying communities of Bexar, Comal, and Guadalupe counties.
Organizations like the Turner Club (Downtown San Antonio), Bexar, Bulverde, Blanco, Bracken, Cibolo, Fischer, Freiheit, Marion, Martinez, Mission Valley, Solms, Spring Branch, and Zorn bowling clubs maintain the only active nine-pins leagues in the United States.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- http://www.bulverdebowlingclub.com/
- Pin (cones) Layout Yahoo Translation of cones
- Deutscher Kegler- und Bowlingbund (DKB, "German Kegel and Bowling Association"). German language only.
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