Table of Contents
Bowling Ideas
This page was originally Bowling Frame Names but then I came up with other bowling ideas and opted to group them together, inclusive of that page.
Bowling Frame Names
Without so much as calling it a kind of divination or horoscope, I wanted to turn it into a kind of silly kids-gimmick type game, like an origami fortune-teller game. The basic idea is that each frame is broken up into 10 elements of a fictional character's future and your score out of 10 within that frame, is a rank of what greatness of that element which lies in the future for that character.
| SCORE | 1: Childhood | 2: School | 3: Friends | 4: First Job | 5: Fun | 6: Romance | 7: Career | 8: Success | 9: Retirement | 10: Cemetery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-3 | Scary/Loss | Low Grades | Unfamiliar | Quit First Day | Just can't win | Dreamer | Odd Jobber | Can't Pay Bills | Working Indef | Unmarked Grave |
| 4-5 | Missed Meals | Okay Grades | Few close friends | Struggled | Sporadic joys | A few dates | Yearly swap | Scraping By | Late Retirement | Flat Tombstone |
| 6-9 | Good parents | Great Grades | Big close friend squad | Stuck with it | Memorable Months | Long-terms | Favorite Field | Saving Most | Comfortable | Upright Monument |
| 10 | All the good toys | Valedictorian | Voted Most Popular | Great references | Luxury Vacay | Soulmate Found | Made Partner | Lottery Winner | Family-filled | Palace |
Bowling Terms
When learning common situational terms for various events, such as how a “Brooklyn” is when you get a strike if the ball hits the opposite pocket you were aiming at, I came up with several of my own.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Taking the Scenic Route | When throwing a hook shot, ball rolls over either furthest or next-furthest board to either side and returns |
| Mushroom Farming | Fouling your entire body into the oil |
| Iwo Jima | When several pins bunch up to push a single pin over, crowding against it, evoking the Iwo Jima memorial statue |
| Safe | (with umpire hands-gesture) Picking up a spare of two side-by-side pins remaining (e.g. 7-8) with the ball striking both simultaneously, so they fly apart in opposite directions, akin to an umpire's hands indicating “safe” in baseball |
| Brigstocke | Someone who bowls tournaments/events who has established a handicap of zero; rhyming slang to call someone a big-shot, after British comic Marcus Brigstocke, whose radio show's theme song spoofs 'mister big shot, who do you think you are' with 'mister brigstocke' |
| Magoo | Someone who lacks awareness of, or doesn't heed, lane etiquette |
| Going Fishing | Someone whose bowling equipment is more than just shoes, ball, and bag; often has a tacklebox of items like oil rag, shoe covers, skin tapes, etc |
| Flat Tire | When the ball rolling down the lane repeatedly spins over the holes of the ball, making a flop-flop-flop sound |
| Did the Moonwalk | When a pin slides to the side while mostly upright, whether it falls over or not |
| Ballerina | When a pin wobbles like it wants to fall, but never does |
| Drama Queen | When a pin wobbles before finally falling down, as if it desired maximum attention |
Split Terms
My list of names for splits got long enough to justify its own section.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Left Toy Soldiers | Leaving a 7-4-9-6 split, which looks like 2 pairs of toy soldiers standing at attention facing left. |
| Right Toy Soldiers | Leaving a 4-8-6-10 split, which looks like 2 pairs of toy soldiers standing at attention facing right. |
| Spilled the Washtub | Getting a 7-4-6-10 split, which looks like a wide washtub tipped on its side |
| Missing Tooth | Fine-line chop with most pins standing on either side of ball path, for example 1-3-4-6-7-10 split |
Throwing Terms
“Throwing” terms are a shorthand that gives a succinct bio of your general style, and can be combined. For example, I throw Light Silly Cyclops.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Throwing Cyclops | Bowling with a ball which has only 1 hole drilled ever |
| Throwing Mad-Eye | Bowling with a ball which has only 1 hole & the other holes filled back in |
| Throwing Daggers | Bowling with a ball which has only 2 holes drilled ever |
| Throwing Mute | Bowling with a ball which has only 2 holes & the others filled back in |
| Throwing Basic | Bowling with a ball which has 3 holes drilled |
| Throwing House | Bowling using a ball provided by the alley |
| Throwing Silly | Using a ball designed for looks, like hearts, dragon eyeball, soccer ball design, etc |
| Throwing Light | The person at the tournament/meet with the lightest ball weight |
| Throwing Heavy | The person at the tournament/meet with the heaviest ball weight |
Single-Pin Spare Terms
Everyone gets a single-pin spare now and again: Knocking down 9 pins on the first throw, and having to aim for that final pin with no chance of pin action to get it. Here is a list of names for each one left remaining. Coined June 16 & 17, 2026.
| Pin Righty | Pin Lefty | Name | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 10 | Geneva's Nemesis Spare | Named for an 80+yo lady named Geneva, with whom I played many league subs for. Despite losing a lot of strength and range in her throwing arm over the years, she persisted in her favorite hobby, and was always jolly and laughing and encouraging. She got this particular pin remaining on a peculiarly high number of attempts, and only sometimes got them, making for a long-time enemy situation with this pin which she was known for. Geneva was a righty-only bowler, so the 10 remains Geneva's nemesis, no matter whether the bowler throws righty or lefty. |
| 9 | 8 | Tightrope Spare | You may have to walk the tightrope of the last board or two of the lane and avoid falling into the gutter on a straight shot, in order to pick this one up. Don't fall! |
| 8 | 9 | Ghillie Spare | Like a sneaky sniper in a ghillie suit (the kind of outfit which resembles brush cover), the sniper was behind lots of other pins waiting to take the shot, but lost its breath waiting and startled as its cover got blown, and is now wide out in the open, defenseless. Take out the sniper before it can recover! |
| 7 | 7 | Stagehand Spare | The stagehand is waiting for the actors to leave the stage, in order to drop the curtain. The ball is the last remaining actor of the play, so as the ball leaves the stage on the spare throw, the stagehand can drop the curtain (the sweep) and the show's over. |
| 6 | 4 | Shoulder-check Spare | The path of this pin is rarely on a dead-on, direct course of the ball, so often the ball will hit it in a way that resembles if you were passing by someone going the other way and you clipped them shoulder to shoulder, or like hockey's shoulder form of a “body check” technique. |
| 5 | 5 | Introvert Spare | The introvert was hiding among the crowd, blending in. Suddenly the crowd dispersed, leaving the introvert unsure how how to hide now. Let's help the introvert find its way back into hiding. |
| 4 | 6 | Caution Flag Spare | There is a caution flag for this pin; if you throw your normal hook which hits the pocket, to might miss it. Don't forget in the moment! |
| 3 | 2 | Pickpocket Spare | This pin is a pickpocket, standing alone counting his loot as no one has noticed them secret their spoils from the passing crowd who has now moved on unawares. Since the pin is normally in 'the pocket' for strike throws, it should be fairly easy to nab. Send an officer or fast-sprinting bystander who spotted the heist to tackle the pickpocket. |
| 2 | 3 | Lost-Kid Spare | This pin is a lost kid, separated from its parent, and standing around in open space not sure where to go. The parent is the ball, so send the parent off in the right direction where you saw the kid, and the ball swoops the kid up in arms and whisks them away to safety. |
| 1 | 1 | Hill-Dying Spare | This defiant, king-of-the-hill pin “will die on this hill” being the most open pin and easiest to hit pin, as most bowlers' normal first-try throws already account for its position. |
Non-Split Spare Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| West Picket Fence | Leaving 1-2-3-4-7 standing; looks like the corner of a picket fence |
| East Picket Fence | Leaving 1-2-3-6-10 standing; looks like the corner of a picket fence |
| Right Oof | Leaving 2-5-7-10 standing; from above looks like a face saying “oof” while looking right |
| Left Oof | Leaving 3-5-7-10 standing; from above looks like a face saying “oof” while looking left |
| Sandcastle | Leaving 4 pins in a square, such as 1-2-3-5, or 2-4-5-8 |
| Hole Punch | Getting the middle pin only, out of a set of 3, such as hitting the 5 from a 2-5-8, making the frame score be 7 and 1 at the top |
