Bowling Bulb

*Bowling Bulbs rolls shots that can bounce into multiple zombies.*

**Guess which team has won the League Championship for five years running now? Team Bowling Bulb, that's who. They are on a ROLL. You and your pals think you got what it takes to stop 'em? Yeah sure. Keep dreamin, bub.**

**Bowling Bulb** is a plant in *Plants vs. Zombies 2: Reflourished* and the third plant obtained in Big Wave Beach. They are unlocked at Big Wave Beach - Day 11.

Bowling Bulb can charge up to three types of bulbs of varying damage and recharge rate, launching a bulb every 2 - 2.25 seconds. Their bulbs bounce diagonally between zombies, crossing into other lanes.

Bulbs are both fired and charged in the same order: aquamarine first, then blue, and finally orange. Bowling Bulb's attacks are only triggered by a zombie appearing in the same lane in which they are planted.

The aquamarine bulb is the weakest and takes 2.5 seconds to recharge. The blue bulb takes another 2.5 seconds to recharge, while the orange bulb is the strongest and takes an additional 5 seconds to recharge, taking 10 seconds to fully recharge. Bowling Bulb will only use their blue and orange bulb if enough time is given for them to recharge before zombies enter their lane.

## Almanac entry

**Bowling Bulb**

Bowling Bulbs rolls shots that can bounce into multiple zombies.

Damage Details: larger bulbs do more damage

Guess which team has won the League Championship for five years running now? Team Bowling Bulb, that's who. They are on a ROLL. You and your pals think you got what it takes to stop 'em? Yeah sure. Keep dreamin, bub.

## Plant Food effect

When fed with Plant Food, Bowling Bulb will get supercharged and armed with three explosive plasma bulbs. It will then proceed to rapidly fire them, unless there is no valid target in its lane. Each plasma bulb explodes on impact and deals 600 damage to all zombies in a one tile area, and can also bounce like normal bulbs. After firing all three plasma bulbs, Bowling Bulb will regain all of its normal bulbs back. Jester Zombies cannot deflect these plasma bulbs, unlike the normal bulbs.

## Strategies

Bowling Bulb specializes in dealing high amounts of damage to the backline of the zombie horde, being more competent at doing so compared to other plants when used properly. However, Bowling Bulb has one of the highest skill curves of any plant in the entire game. As it is fairly unreliable by itself due to its inconsistent way of attacking, it can wreak havoc on a swarm of Buckethead Zombies while equally struggling against a lone Conehead Zombie. In disadvantageous zombie formations, zombies can build up along a single, isolated lane, nullifying the benefits of bouncing bulbs.

In spite of this, however, Bowling Bulb is incredibly powerful when used in the right hands and with proper support. The best plants to use with Bowling Bulb are highly damaging single-target plants like Red Stinger and Homing Thistle or Chomper-like plants that can dispatch the zombie frontline, preferably ranged ones like Witch Hazel and Snap Pea, since - due to how fast bulbs can rack up damage by bouncing between zombies - Bowling Bulb's method of attacking tends to do the most damage to zombies on the backline, leaving the single-target plants to finish off the surviving zombies on the front-line, which will usually be tanky zombies like Buckethead Zombies.

Instant-use plants also synergize greatly with Bowling Bulb as they can help clear up lanes that Bowling Bulb would otherwise struggle with. This can also, at times, buy Bowling Bulb time to regenerate all three of its bulbs, therefore increasing its potency against hordes. Since the way bulbs bounce often tends to permit zombies to build up in a single lane, Jalapeno and Ghost Pepper are particularly helpful for cleaning said lanes.

Perhaps making up for the down points in Bowling Bulb's power, it possesses an incredibly devastating Plant Food effect. With its powered up bulbs dealing indiscriminate explosive damage with every hit, this can easily wipe hordes clean in just a few bounces. Combined with Tile Turnip and levels that contain Power Tiles, Bowling Bulb's Plant Food effect becomes an excellent way to destroy almost any zombies on-screen, barring mechanical threats and mighty Gargantuars.

It is highly inadvisable to use Bowling Bulb in levels with Jester Zombies, as deflected bulbs can bounce between plants, causing grievous damage to swathes of your defense.

## Trivia

* Bowling Bulb's "Bowling Baubles" costume is one of the Feastivus Costume Contest winners, submitted by JamesTheSkunk#6376 and redrawn to fit the game's art style.