Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-30
BOWLING GAME
IS ANCIENT
POPULAR SPORT HAD EARLY
ORIGIN
Originated In the Middle Ages and
Since That Time Has De-
veloped Considerably.
The Rules

Bowling, which is about the most
popular indoor winter sport of this
country, is also one of the Oldest games
known to the civilized world.
Our ancestors hundreds of years ago
indulged in q pastime which, except
ing a few radical changes during the
| last century or so, was substantially
the same G9 the present game of bowl
| ing, and seems to have been just as
popular with them.
Bowling seems to have been origi-
mated early In the middle ages. 1t was
at that time purely an outdoor sport.
AS was the rule with everything of that
period, the sport known by a variety
Iof names. 1t was called bowls
"F'rench bowls" and "carrean."
Those three names seem to have been
the most common. At that time the
game was very different from the pres
ent sport, but there was much SINH
larity. The game was played with
teams as today. The balls or bowls, as
they were then called, were made of
stone, one-half spherical, the other half
oval shape.
This gave the ball a curve t.S it sped
down the bowling alley or green, as an
alley was called in that day. The
scene of the game was a lot of ground
called a rink or bowling green, at
each end of which was placed q cone,
which was the mark for the bowlers
to roll into.
The cones were bowled to from one
| end of the rink, and then from the
other. The object of the game was
for one side to place the ball nearer
the cone than it's opponents. Thus the
side bowling would try and knock their
opponents ball away from the cone,
supplanting their own, as in the game
of quoits, the nearer the cone scoring
one point for his team.
| Skill was required to bowl so as to
get nearer the cone without knocking
the opponents ball closer.
New Ball Is Used
Later the stone ball was supplanted
| by one made of lignum vitae. The lat
ter being made spherical, the outside
of the tree from which the balls were
made being lighter than the heart,
naturally gave the bowl the desired
one side of the ball with heavy metal,
so as to obtain the desired effect for a
curve.
The cones were finally done away
with and superseded by a stone or
earthen ball about three and one-half
inches in diameter. These new ones
were known as 'jacks." Instead of
having stationary mark at which to
bowl, the jack was knocked all over
the green and it required strategy and
skill to play good game.
The bowling green of that period was
one of the most cared-for spots about
village or an estate. plot of ground
as level as it was possible to find was
picked out for it. Draining was the
first process in making. This was done
| in such manner that even the hard
est rains could not soak the ground and
make it muddy.
The size of the plot was usually
about 9Ox150 feet, surrounded by a
ditch or gutter four or five inches
deep.
During the reign Of Queen Anne and
the first three Georges bowling green
was as popular and necessary to q
| gentleman's country seat as a billiard
| table is today. AS an after-dinner
fsport of our British and Dutch an
ceStors ii was very popular.
The game was introduced into Amer
lea early in the eighteenth century 1t
seems to have been very popular in
New York early in the eighteenth CEN
| tury. In 1882 there was a locality In
New York at the foot of Broadway
called Bowling Green, and it is still
known by that name.
| From the time that the sport was
| introduced into America it has rarely
ever died out, although the outdoor
| game has long since given way to the
indoor.
AS an indoor sport the game origi-
mated from several games, among
which were eagles. French quilles,
| Skettles. leggetS and sayles. In the
game of cayles and leggets conical
shaped pins made Of bone were set in
| rows of six or eight, and the players
tried to knock them down by throw
| ing clubs at them.
Knocking the pins down by bowling
a ball came at a much later period. The
sport was stopped for a short time by
some laws which prohibited the play
ing of nine pins and similar games.
| The Objectionable features were cut
out, and instead of having nine pins
set up in a diamond-shapedf frame, ten
pins were set up in triangular-shape
frame.
Played in the Twelfth Century
The first game known to have been
| played indoors was in a covered alley
some time in the twelfth century. The
first match game indoors in this coun-
try was a game played on the Knicker-
booker alleys in New York on Janu-
ary l, 1910.
n Until 1876 there was no standard
length Of the alleys or the size Of the
balls and pins. Before that time the
pins were longer and much heavier
| imam tnOSe OIL Ine present DAY, ana IL
was much easier to get the "strike."
The rules and regulations for the
bowling game came into effect in 1875,
| when number of bowlerS from the
large cities got together and adopted
them. Up to 1890 the games of the east
Were played under the rules of the Ma
tional Bowling league, while bowlers
of the west played "go-as-you-please
game"
The game was brought down to a
scientific point in 1896, when the Amer
lean Bowling congress was formed,
which has made it one of the important
factors in the indoor winter sports.
New style OF alleys was soon adopted,
the narrow ones giving way to the
wider ones, which are sixty feet long
and four feet wide.
The old-style solid ball was replaced
by one with thumb and finger holes,
and the eighteen and sixteen-inch pins
were done away with and the regula-
tion size used. The balls of the present
time weigh about fourteen or fifteen
| ranInda WA