Ten-pin bowling regulations, identification letters and numbers, and general wear from normal use. For much of the history of bowling, bowling balls were made using a three-piece construction method. Starting in the mid-1990s, however, most manufacturers switched to a two-piece method. In response to these innovative ball designs, the American Bowling Congress placed further restrictions on the technical characteristics of the ball such as the radius of gyration and hooking potential. A game of bowling consists of ten frames. In each frame, the bowler will have two chances to knock down as many pins as possible with their bowling ball. In games
Ten-pin bowling influence lane conditions and scoring. Establishing a Bowling Ball Specifications Task Force—comprising research engineers and volunteers from ball manufacturing companies—the USBC sought to better understand the motion of bowling balls using scientific research and data analysis. Test equipment included, but was not limited to, a robotic ball-thrower, a Computer Aided Tracking System ("Super C.A.T.S."), 59 reactive resin and particle bowling balls from various manufacturers, and eight lanes in a climate-controlled facility. The driving force behind the study was summed up by USBC Technical Director Neil Stremmel: "USBC is concerned that technology has overtaken player skill [as the primary factor] in