the lifers

About skittles

Skittles is a deceptively difficult game not unlike ten-pin bowling.

Teams comprise six players who compete as three pairs. Each player within a pair has six attempts (each called an ‘Up’ and all six collectively called an ‘End’) to knock down nine wooden skittles (also called pins) using three balls – sounds easy doesn’t it? The alley is roughly 10m long and the skittles are arranged in a diamond pattern (with gaps between them that the ball can easily pass through).

If a player knocks down all nine skittles using just one or two of the balls in his/her Up then the nine skittles are put back up and the player can then use the remaining ball(s) to knock these pins down (known as a ‘Spare’) – theoretically it is possible to knock down 27 pins in each Up.

Pairs of players from each of two opposing teams compete against each other in one of three Ends. So player 1 from team 1 starts and tries to knock down as many pins as possible with three balls. After their attempt, player 2 from team 1 has a similar go. Then player 1 from team 2 tries to knock down as many pins as possible, followed by player 2 from team 2.

When each player has had six Ups the total number of pins knocked down by each pair is totalled – the pair with the highest number wins two points for their team (the points are shared, one each, in the case of a tie). The process then repeats for the next two players in each team.

At the end of the three pairs’ competitions, the team with the highest total number of pins wins the game and is awarded six points to go with whatever points they won from the pairs’ competition.

On the alley we use a good individual score is 30 or above, on getting over 30 the player will usually receive polite applause. On scoring over 40 the player will receive rapturous applause and some livestock of their choosing (ok, maybe they don’t receive livestock). There doesn’t appear to be a standard length or width of alley and the skittles and balls also vary in size (many regions have their own sizes apparently) so it’s hard to compare scores between alleys.