Ten-pin bowling over the Model A), all three versions are still in widespread use. The television age of the 1950s also helped to increase the popularity of ten-pin bowling, as images of the sport began to enter the homes of millions across the United States. Nationally televised programs like "Jackpot Bowling" and "Make That Spare" became popular on Friday nights from the late 1950s into the early 1960s. Following many years of debate over what constituted a professional bowler versus an amateur, Eddie Elias founded the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) in 1958. The PBA's "Pro Bowlers Tour" became a permanent part of
Ten-pin bowling it is damaging the integrity of the sport. Before 1970, nearly all bowling balls had a hard rubber surface. As the coatings applied to wood lanes changed from softer lacquer to a harder urethane in the early 1970s, the first polyester balls became widely available. Subsequent changes since the early 1980s — particularly with urethane surfaced and later "reactive" resin or composite ("particle") surfaced bowling balls—have been altering the physics of how the ball rolls and strikes the pins. Coupled with synthetic lane surfaces and advanced oiling machines presenting the opportunity to lay out lane oil patterns that make targeting