Bowling ball Bowling ball A bowling ball is a piece of sporting equipment used to hit bowling pins in the sport of bowling. Balls used in ten-pin bowling are typically hard spheres with three holes drilled in them, one each for the ring and middle fingers, and one for the thumb. Regulating bodies such as the USBC maintain requirements for the properties of bowling balls, including size, hardness, and number of holes, as well as maintaining a list of bowling balls approved for competitive play. Other bowling balls, such as those used in five-pin bowling, candlepin bowling, and duckpin bowling are smaller,
Ten-pin bowling many fictional works. One of the most notable recent examples is "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" by J. K. Rowling. Although it and its sequels establish that the magical characters featured know nothing about the non-magical (i.e., "real") world, "Philosopher's Stone" reveals that one major character, Professor Albus Dumbledore is a fan of ten-pin bowling. Since the electronic gaming industry began, ten-pin bowling has been seen in many formats on many big name gaming machines. Mattel's Intellivision game line introduced "PBA Bowling", the first fully electronic bowling game, in 1980. JAMDAT Mobile (now known as EA Mobile), made the