If your childhood resembles mine in any way, shape, or form, then you will remember joining your elementary school classmates at fun centers.  You jumped in bouncy houses, played arcade games, then impatiently waited in line for shoes.  You did indeed read that last sentence correctly.  What do I mean waited in line for shoes?  You were going bowling!

In the northeastern Pennsylvania suburbs, bowling parties were all the rage during my grade school years; I attended upwards of five each year.  The process of waiting in line at the counter for the required bowling shoes, followed by picking out a specific bowling ball, became somewhat of a ritual.  A personal belief of mine is that the Nintendo Wii contributed to the popularity of bowling with its Wii Sports bowling game.  If you owned a Wii, the odds that you never played Will bowling are astronomical in proportion.  Therefore, the infatuation of the Wii combined with young, impressionable children focused on making friends yielded bowling parties.

An outstandingly social activity, bowling can be considered a confusing game when played competitively.  Many situations and circumstances may arise over the course of a game, or round, of bowling.  Strikes, spares, gutter balls, and frames all constitute basic, common terminology; however, turkeys, five-baggers, and clean games are less common among amateurs.  I will simplify bowling down to the essentials, as we are more concerned with recreational, as opposed to professional, play.

Ten pins are lined up in a triangle at the end of a lubricated lane.  Bowlers roll a weighted ball down the lane with the intention of knocking pins over.  The more pins one knocks over, the more points one is awarded.  The player with the most points at the end of the game, which lasts ten frames, wins.

The basic playing format of bowling should be common knowledge to you; but until you play you cannot get a full sense of what bowling truly means.  From the outside, it seems like a decently fun game which would be nice to have your hand at a couple of times.  I challenge you to truly consider how fun bowling can be.  Bowling itself may not directly appeal to you, but a special part about bowling that people often forget is leisure!  Only one person can bowl at a time, so if a group of people goes then they can spend a great amount of time socializing.  Going out, having fun, and talking to your friends all sound like a great time to me!

If I have managed to interest you in bowling, then there is good news!  A bowling alley exists relatively close to home.  The business is dubbed Northland Bowl, and you can board a bus which journeys just off campus to the lanes.  Here is the link below!

Northland Bowl

Regarding the title of my post, I believe it is about time I reveal the secret if you do not already know.  A turkey is a term used to describe the occasion when someone bowls three strikes in a row!

Would you consider giving bowling a try?  Do you think bowling can be as good of a time as I make it out to be?  Let me know in your comments below.