Ten-pin bowling duckpin bowling (conceived in 1895), popular in the Northeast United States, as well as Canada's own sport of five-pin bowling, all three of which use smaller diameter, lighter weight bowling balls when compared to tenpin bowling, without the necessity for finger holes in them. The , lane is bordered along its length by semicylindrical channels called "gutters", which are designed to collect errant balls. The overall width of the lane including the channels is . The narrow lane prevents bowling a straight line at the angle required to consistently carry (knock down) all ten pins for a strike. Most skillful
Ten-pin bowling set by human pinsetters or "pin boys", but with the invention of the semi-automatic pinspotter in 1936 (usually just the "spotting table" component), the process became much easier. In 1946 AMF Bowling launched the first commercial fully automatic pinspotter, the AMF Model 82-10, followed closely by the more developed 82–30 model (still in common use in the 21st century) to replace the earlier Brunswick semi-automatic and fully manual bowling establishments. Brunswick itself introduced its own "Model A" automatic pinspotter design to bowling centers in 1955, and along with its successors (A2 and "JetBack", both with quicker delivery of returned balls