How to Keep Bowling Score

A standard game of bowling consists of 10 frames. In each frame, you get up to two throws to knock down all 10 pins. Your score for that frame depends on how many pins you knock down AND whether you knocked all 10 down (earning a bonus).

There are three possible outcomes for any frame:

• Strike — All 10 pins on the first throw. Marked with an X. Scores 10 plus the next two throws.
• Spare — All remaining pins on the second throw. Marked with a /. Scores 10 plus the next one throw.
• Open Frame — Pins remain after both throws. No bonus. Score is the number of pins knocked down.

The maximum possible score is 300 (a perfect game). The minimum score is 0 (every ball in the gutter). An average recreational bowler scores around 120–140.

A strike is thrown when you knock down all 10 pins on your first ball in a frame. It is marked with an X in the small box at the top right of the frame. Since all 10 pins are down, you do not need a second throw in that frame.

Scoring a strike: The frame is worth 10 plus the total pins knocked down on your next two throws. You cannot score the frame until those two throws are completed — that is why the score cell often stays blank until later frames are played.

Double (two consecutive strikes): If you throw a strike in frame 1 and a strike in frame 2, the first frame scores 10 + 10 + (next throw after frame 2). You still cannot score frame 1 until the throw after frame 2 is completed.

Turkey (three consecutive strikes): Frame 1 now scores 10 + 10 + 10 = 30, which is the maximum any single frame can score. A turkey in frames 1–3 means frame 1 = 30, frame 2 = 30 + next throw, and so on.

A spare is thrown when you knock down all remaining pins on your second ball. It is marked with a / in the right cell of the frame.

Scoring a spare: The frame is worth 10 plus the number of pins knocked down on your very next throw (the first throw of the next frame). Like a strike, you cannot finalize the score until that next throw is complete.

Notice the first throw in frame 1 was 7, and the / means the remaining 3 pins were knocked down. The score notation does not show the individual count for a spare — just the slash. However, the actual count (3) is used when calculating whether the next frame's opening throw would follow a spare.

An open frame is any frame where you fail to knock down all 10 pins in two throws. There is no bonus — you simply add the two throw counts together.

A game with all open frames and an average of 8 pins per frame would score 80. This is why spares and strikes are so valuable — they give you bonus pins on top of the base count.

The 10th frame is special. Unlike frames 1–9, it has no look-ahead bonus — but it does allow bonus throws to fill in the bonus that was promised.

Rules:

• If your first throw is a strike, you get two more throws (3 total). Score = sum of all 3 throws.
• If your first two throws total a spare, you get one more throw (3 total). Score = 10 + the bonus throw.
• If your first two throws are an open frame, you get no bonus throw (2 total). Score = sum of 2 throws.

The maximum for the 10th frame is 30 (three strikes). There is no look-ahead beyond the 10th frame — the bonus throws are contained within the 10th frame itself.

A perfect game is 12 consecutive strikes — one per frame in frames 1–9, then three strikes in the 10th frame. Each frame 1–9 scores 30 (10 + 10 + 10). The cumulative score progresses in increments of 30.

A perfect game requires 12 strikes in a row. The probability of a professional bowler throwing a perfect game is roughly 1 in 460. For a recreational bowler with a 150 average, it is essentially impossible in a single sitting — but every bowler dreams of it.