How to Calculate a Bowling Score

Calculating your bowling score may seem like a daunting task as your score in bowling is not added like a score in any other sport. Most people do not attempt to calculate their bowling score manually, and will opt to calculate it through electronic means. Despite the complicated appearance of calculating a bowling score, there are only several rules that you must remember in order to master this skill.

Instructions

    • 1

      Notice that your scoring sheet has 10 boxes for each frame of bowling. Additionally, each box will have two smaller boxes in the upper right hand corner. These boxes are there because you get two chances on each frame to knock down all 10 pins.

    • 2

      Keep track of how many pins you knock down on your first try on the first frame. If you knock all 10 pins down, you have just scored a strike. If you do not knock down all the pins, you will be afforded another opportunity to knock down the remaining pins. If you do knock down the remaining pins, you have just scored a spare. If you do not knock down the remaining pins, your score will be the amount of pins you have knocked down for that particular frame. Scoring a spare or a strike have different scoring consequences that will be discussed later.

    • 3

      Write down the score you received on your first frame of bowling if you did not knock down all the pins. Your score will be the number of pins you knocked down. Remember that you should write down how many pins you knocked down in the two boxes in the upper right hand corner of the frame boxes to keep an accurate score.

    • 4

      Do not write your score down if bowl a spare. In the two boxes in the upper right hand corner of the frame box, write down how many pins you knocked down in the first box but write down a "/" in the second box to indicate that you have bowled a spare. The "/" will indicate that you can add an additional 10 points to your next frame of bowling. For example, if you scored a spare on your first frame of bowling and then score seven points on your second frame, you second frame score will actually be 17 points.

    • 5

      Do not write down your score if you bowl a strike. Write down a "x" in the last box in the upper right hand corner of the frame box. The "x" indicates that you have just bowled a strike. The strike allows you to add ten additional points to the next two frames of bowling. For example, if you bowl a strike during your first frame of bowling and then score seven points during your second frame and nine points during your third frame, your second and third frame points will be 17 and 19 respectively.

    • 6

      Continually add 10 points if you score consecutive spares or strikes in a row. For example, if you score a strike on your first frame and a strike on your second frame, you will already start with 20 points on your third frame from the 10 points that carried over from the first frame and the 10 points from the second frame. Thus, if you score seven points on your third frame after scoring two consecutive strikes, your score for the third frame will be 27 points.