What is Candlepin Bowling and scoring system?

Many bowlers tend to ask many questions on candle bowling, below are some of the most frequently asked questions highlighted and discussed below.

Candlepin bowling is a type of bowling game where a bowler rolls a ball towards an object with the aim of knocking them over.
This game was first played back in 1880 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Candlepin bowling was first developed by a player of billiards and bowling hall called John J. Monsey. John J. Monsey introduced the game with the aim of standardizing the bowling game.
He regulated the ball size, pin shape and size and also the surface lane characteristics resulting in a candlepin bowling game and also a duckpin bowling game.

The name candlepin bowling was as a result of the reshaping of pins that initially were inch-thick dowels, resembling candles, hence the name candlepins. John J. Monsey, the man behind the invention of candlepin bowling and duckpin bowling, also went ahead and created a National duckpin and candlepin bowling congress. This further the success of candlepin bowling as an upcoming game in the following years, including the first-ever televised show of candlepin bowling in the station WCVB(TV-5) from 1958-1996 and also establishment of the first-ever candlepin bowling tournament in 1964 that was initiated by The Boston Globe.

Candlepin bowling is different from other bowling games this includes duckpin bowling and other standard bowling games.
Many bowlers who have both experiences in other standard bowling games and also candlepin bowling, regard candlepin bowling as a harder bowling game as compared to other standard bowling games, its hand to make a score in candlepin bowling since both the ball and the pin size is regulated. Smaller thickness of the pins makes throwing a strike extremely hard.

Candlepin bowling is majorly played in the Canadian Maritime provinces and in the New England states. The game is often referred to as string in the New England, candlepin bowling game is divided into ten rounds, and each round is called a box as opposed to tenpin bowling where the rounds are called frames. A bowler in candlepin bowling is given a maximum of three opportunities to knock down as many pins as possible in each row. A bowler has up to three balls for striking, one for some spare shots and lastly for accumulated totals.

During candlepin bowling game, if the bowler falls all the pins using the first ball, it’s considered a strike and it’s marked with double lines. If the bowler falls all pins using the first two balls, it’s considered a spare and it’s marked with a single line.

Terms used in candlepin bowling

Candlepin bowling is a game that is majorly in the New England States and also in many states of Canada, that has rules and terms that both bowlers and also referees use during the play.
Below are frequently terms used in candlepin bowling:

Anchor Last bowler standing in the team line up.
Pinning It is the state where a bowler gets single pins and pairs after the first ball.
Pit The area of the machine where the pins fall into after each frame.
Pin deck This is the area upon which all pins are set.
Pocket Space between the three headpins.
Action It is when pins fly and mix, resulting in an end with a good makeable leave.
Reset State where a bowler starts the pinsetter for a full rack of pins.
Object pin It’s the specific pin that must be hit by a bowler to make a shot.
Sidewall These are the division boards between lanes at end of the pin.
Scratch State where the actual score is used without the benefit of a handicap system.
Season These are the number of games scheduled in a league.
Luck Specific advantage that one bowler has over another.
Mark This refers to the double line or a single line drawn for a strike or a spare.
Sweep This is a device on the pin-setter that clears the pin deck.
Standings This is the relation between individual teams figured out from week to week observation based on the number of games each team won.
Approach The area of the lane where a bowler moves up to the foul line during his/her delivery.
Barn door Any suitable wood directly ahead of the key pin.
Block An unsuitable wood ahead of the key pin.
Box A turn where up to three balls are rolled showing a strike, spare or accumulated total.
By the back door State where front pins or pin fall last.
Choke Over-anxiety that leads to a bowler missing the target.
Deadwood Is the pin that crossed the deadwood line or gone inside the gutter which is not accounted for in playing.
Fill Bonus awarded on a strike or spare.
Cross alley ball A bowling ball that starts at the starting edge of a lane aiming at the head pin.
Four bagger These are four strikes in a row.
Frame This is a turn in candlepin bowling in which up to three-balls are rolled. Showing a strike, a spare or accumulated total.
Game Refers to a string made up of 10 frames,
Foul Penalty is given when bowler steps on or over the foul line, touching the lane with any part of the body or when one lobs the ball.
Gutter ball State where the ball goes into the gutter.
Handicap Adjusting the score between players or teams for an obvious superiority. This is mostly done to opponents with a higher average.
Head pin It’s simply the front pin.
High single The individual top game on the league.
Hot State where the bowler is in a streak.
Kickback These are the division board between lanes at the pin end.
King pin Is the #5 pin located at the center of the group of ten pins.
Lead off This is the bowler at the beginning of the line-up team.
Leaves Pins left standing during the game.
Wood Fallen pins but are still in the play area.

How do you play candlepin bowling?

Candlepin bowling is a game that is majorly played in the Canadian Maritime provinces and in the New England states.

When playing the game one should relax his/her hands this will loosen your wrist unwinding your forearm, unwinding your elbow and also your bicep/triceps that will loosen your shoulder, this way, each shot will go in which you aim. When shooting the ball during the play, this is essential.

Candlepin bowling game is divided into ten rounds, and each round is called a box.
A bowler in candlepin bowling is given three opportunities to knock down as many pins as possible.
Candlepin bowling game comprises of 10 boxes, the bowler is not allowed to use more than three balls in each box. The bowler has three balls for striking, one for some spare shots and lastly for accumulated totals.
During candlepin bowling game, if the bowler falls all the pins using the first ball, it’s considered a strike and it’s marked with double lines.
If the bowler falls all pins using the first two balls, it’s considered a spare and it’s marked with a single line.
If the bowler falls all the ten pins using all the three balls, it’s considered a derby marked with an X.

Scoring system for candlepin bowling

Candlepin bowling is a game that involves competition at different levels, for both men and women. For a competition in candlepin bowling to be fair and standard, scores are awarded to bowlers depending on their level of performance. Scoring can be both vertically or horizontally.

A point is awarded for each pin that falls.
Given a player falls 3 pins with the first ball, then falls 5 pins using the second ball and lastly falls 1 pin using the last ball the player will be awarded a total of 9 points.
Given a bowler makes his/her hit using the first two balls, he/she is awarded 10 out of the total 20.
Given the last one ball to finish the 10^th box and he/she makes a hit he/she is awarded 8 points summing up to 18 points.
In some circumstances where a bowler falls all the pins in a single box using the first ball, the bowler is awarded a bonus of a strike.
Given a player falls all the ten pins using the first two balls, the bowler is then awarded a spare, if all the ten pins are fallen using all the three balls then the result is considered a derby, marked by an X.
The score is awarded as either a spare or a strike depending on the bowlers’ accuracy.

The maximum score in candlepin bowling is 300 that is earned by a bowler from 12 strikes, each from the boxes, and a strike with both bonus balls in the 10^th box. This way each box will earn 30 points.
The high average for a male bowler is approximately 130 whereas for a female bowler its approximately 120, lesser as compared to that of a male bowler.

The scoring system in candlepin bowling is similar to that of duckpin bowling, except for a few features on the scoring sheet and graphic symbols used to record strikes, spares, and 10-boxes that are different from those in duckpin bowling.

Scoring Sheet

The scoring sheet of the candlepin bowling game differs from the one in duckpin and tenpin bowling game.
The scoring sheet of a candlepin bowling is vertically oriented, having two columns of squares in a two-square wide, approximately ten square tall arrangement to make a one-string score for one player.

The scoring sheet has a left column, a right- hand column and down column.

The left column is used to record the score earned per box,
The down column, this is always at the bottom of the sheet where the cumulative totals per each box are recorded,
The right column is used to record the number of boxes, always written in a top-down order that is from the first box to the tenth.

Calculating scores in the past was a little bit tricky, especially when a couple of strikes and spares come in successive boxes of a single bowler. This problem was overcome in the present day through the invention of the automatic scoring system.

The automatic scoring system once automated, it keeps score and will automatically reset the pinsetter after three balls are thrown or all the pins have fallen. The automatic scoring system can also be semi-automated, here it allows the bowler to enter the score but he/she is being monitored by a computer for transparency.

Difference between candlepin bowling and standard bowling?

Candlepin bowling was invented after standardizing of the bowling game. In other words, we can say candlepin bowling is a standardized tenpin bowling game.

Candlepin bowling is different from standard bowling due to the game standardizing, below are major differences highlighted (or read in table format in the next paragraph):

Candlepin bowling game is divided into ten rounds, and each round is called a box as opposed to tenpin bowling where the rounds are called frames.
Bowlers in candlepin bowling use a maximum of up to 3 balls per each box in play as compared to standard bowling where the bowler has a maximum of two balls per each frame.
In candlepin bowling the bowling balls are way smaller, its diameter approximately being 11.43 cm, as compared to the balls in standard bowling which are way bigger.
The pins in candlepin bowling are cylindrical shaped with tapers in both ends therefore having no distinct between the top and bottom, unlike the pins in those of standard bowling.
The pins in candlepin bowling are thinner as compared to those in standard bowling, this makes scoring in candlepin bowling way much harder than scoring in the standard bowling. Smaller thickness of the pins make throwing a strike extremely hard as compared to striking in standard bowling.
Unlike in standard bowling where the surface lane is level all the way from the foul line end to the back end of the lane, a candlepin lane has a hard surface where pins are set up with a pin plate that is mostly made of a hard-surfaced metal depressed below the surface lane forward of it.
The scoring sheet of candlepin bowling game differs from the one in standard bowling. The scoring sheet of a candlepin bowling is vertically oriented, having two column of squares, in a two-square wide, approximately ten square tall arrangement to make a one string score for one player, unlike those in other standard bowling games.
The scoring system in candlepin bowling is different compared to standard bowling. A strike in candlepin bowling is awarded 10 points plus the scores from the other two balls as compared to standard bowling where a strike is awarded 10 points, scores for the fallen pins plus the awarded scores of the other two balls.

If you like to read the same in a table format, here you go:

Candlepin Bowling	Standard Bowling
Round is called a box	Rounds are called frames.
Bowlers use a maximum of up to 3 balls per each box in play	Bowlers use a maximum of two balls per each frame.
Bowling balls are way smaller, its diameter approximately being 11.43 cm	Bowling balls are way bigger
Pins in candlepin bowling are cylindrically shaped with tapers in both ends, therefore, having no distinction between the top and bottom	Pins in standard bowling are like Curved tower.
The pins in candlepin bowling are thinner as compared to those in standard bowling, this makes scoring in candlepin bowling way much harder than scoring in the standard bowling.	Smaller thickness of the pins makes throwing a strike extremely hard as compared to striking in standard bowling.
Candlepin lane has a hard surface where pins are set up with a pin plate that is mostly made of a hard-surfaced metal depressed below the surface lane forward of it.	In standard bowling, the surface lane is level all the way from the foul line end to the back end of the lane.
The scoring sheet of a candlepin bowling is vertically oriented, having two columns of squares, in a two-square wide, approximately ten square tall arrangement to make a one-string score for one player.	The scoring sheet is horizontal
A strike in candlepin bowling is awarded 10 points plus the scores from the other two balls	A strike in standard bowling is awarded 10 points

Difference between duckpin bowling and candlepin bowling?

John J. Monsey, a player at billiards and bowling hall is recognized for standardizing the bowling game. He regulated the ball size, pin shape, and size, and lane surface characteristics to come up with two different bowling game i.e. the candlepin bowling and duckpin bowling. John J. Monsey in 1906, created a National Duckpin and Candlepin Congress.

Candlepin and duckpin bowling despite being invented with the same person having a common goal of standardizing the game, both games have differences that distinguish them from each other and these are:

In Candlepin bowling, fallen pins commonly referred to as woods are not cleared from the pin deck area between balls, as compared to duckpin bowling where the fallen pins are cleared.
Candlepin bowling allows the bowler to use all three balls if the bowler uses all three balls to hit all the pins down then the score awarded is definitely 10 points which are different compared to duckpin bowling.
Duckpin bowling has pins that are small and duck-like in shape as compared to the pins in candlepin bowling which are way more different. The pins in candlepin bowling are cylindrically shaped with tapers in both ends, therefore, having no distinction between the top and bottom.
The scoring sheet of the candlepin bowling game differs from the one in duckpin bowling. The scoring sheet of a candlepin bowling is vertically oriented, having two columns of squares in a two-square wide, approximately ten square tall arrangement to make a one-string score for one player, unlike the scoring sheets in duckpin bowling.
The balls in candlepin bowling are smaller and lighter as compared to those in duckpin bowling which are slightly larger and heavier than those used in candlepin bowling.
The bowlers’ in candlepin bowling find it harder to score as compared to those in duckpin bowling since the balls and pins are way smaller in candlepin bowling than in duckpin bowling.