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If you have ever been to a bowling alley, you will have no doubt enjoyed watching the mechanism that sweeps away the pins and sets them back up again. It’s also cool to watch your ball come back on the track, and to mark down the score on the overhead projector. Renting the shoes is not always so cool, because they rarely fit very well and often smell like other people’s socks. But, believe it or not, people were bowling long before the advent of electricity and bowling shoes. And although it seems like a tame enough sport, bowling was more than once deemed an illegal activity!

In the 1930’s, a British anthropologist named Sir Flinders Petrie discovered an interesting set of artifacts during an excavation in Egypt. As he explored a grave belonging to an ancient Egyptian child, he found some objects that seemed strangely familiar. He concluded from these items that there existed an elementary game of bowling back in Egyptian times. If that were true, it would place the origins of bowling at 3200 B.C.E. That’s way before the bowling alleys that we know were built!

European historians have found evidence of bowling in the first millennium of the Common Era. In fact, German historian William Pehle has concluded that bowling commenced in Germany by the year 300 A.D. However, we do know for certain that bowling first began to distract people enough that it was outlawed in 1366. This occurred because King Edward III of Great Britain noticed that his soldiers were spending too much time bowling, and not enough time practicing their archery — so the king announced that it was a crime to bowl. This law probably didn’t last too very long, because by the time Henry VIII came into power, a couple of hundred of years down the line, bowling was all the rage once more.

Further evidence of the widespread popularity of bowling is found in the fact that many variations of the game have popped up. For instance, in Scotland players will roll a ball that has no finger holes, and then will flop themselves onto the lane and land on their stomachs! Other, more subdued relatives of bowling are also to be found all around Europe. The French play a game called petanque, the Italians play bocce and the Brits engage in lawn bowling.

When settlers came to the United States, they must have brought their own unique versions of bowling. In New York City, the Dutch settlers made their recreational pastime a part of the New World, which you can find in the financial district. There is the home of a small park called “Bowling Green.” It was very likely the first permanent location for lawn bowling in the United States.

Not too far from New York is the state of Connecticut which held a different view of the game — in 1841, ninepin bowling was deemed illegal. This is probably because people engaged in gambling when bowling. But it was so popular that very wealthy people were installing lanes in their mansions. So the law didn’t stand for very long, and bowling was enjoyed freely once more.

People began to organize the sport at the end of the 19th century, and in 1895 the game’s first bowling congress was formed. The American Bowling Congress allowed for standard rules to be set, and soon national competitions were played. This congress was intended for men only, even though women had been bowling right along side the men. So, women came together and formed their own league called the Women’s International Congress in St. Louis in 1917.

Around the same time, as the game was being organized on a national scale, bowling balls, which were traditionally made of wood, began to be formulated of rubber and rubber compounds. Imagine — no more splinters! But, it wasn’t until 1951 that the machines were invented that we recognize in bowling alleys today. The first televised bowling games were broadcast also in the 1950’s, and people went crazy for it. Professional bowlers began to enjoy national televised coverage in the 1960’s, and they still can be seen rolling that ball down the lane on TV today.

Today, more than 100 million people enjoy bowling. If you’ve never been, get some friends together and go down to your local lane. Enjoy all of the cool technology, and impress your friends with what you now know about the history of bowling!