How to Score Bowling Games

Scoring a bowling game is often the most difficult part of the sport for a beginner, though it soon becomes second nature for most bowlers. Learning to score bowling is a great way to integrate math into the lives of children and to make learning fun. And, since bowling is one sport that can be played by people of any age, learning to score is a skill that can be used for the rest of your life.

Instructions

    • 1

      Create your own score sheet, if necessary, by drawing a line of 10 squares for each player. Inside the top right-hand corner of each square, make a small box, about a quarter of the size of the square. In the 10th and final box, or "frame," make three squares on the top half of the square instead of just one, dividing the top half of the frame into thirds.

    • 2

      Mark the number of pins knocked down with the first ball in the open space at the top left of the square. Mark the number of pins knocked down with the second ball in the square at the top right. For the first frame, these two numbers are added together and the total is written in the open space in the bottom half of the frame. For each additional frame, the two numbers are added together, and their total is added to the bottom number from the previous frame.

    • 3

      Mark a spare, which is knocking down all the remaining pins with the second throw, by drawing a right triangle in the small box in the corner of the frame and shading it in, or using a slash (/). The line of the triangle should extend from the bottom left corner of the little box to the top right corner, and the right portion should be colored in. To score this achievement, wait to add the first ball of the next frame to the current frame's score, then total up that frame with the bonus.

    • 4

      Score a strike by completely blacking in the small box in the corner, or using an "X." Add the next two balls thrown in the following frame to the current frame's total of 10 and add that to the total from the previous frame.

    • 5

      Learn how to score the final frame. You are given the normal two throws, and the number of pins knocked down during these throws are placed in the first and second boxes. If a spare is thrown, the second box is marked with the spare symbol, and a bonus third ball is thrown. The result marked in the third box. For a strike, the first box is marked with the strike symbol, and a bonus second and third ball are thrown, with the results marked in the second and third boxes, respectively. The maximum score that can be achieved in the 10th frame is 30.