How to score bowling, frame by frame with examples

The basics: frames, balls and running totals

A game has ten frames. In frames one to nine you get up to two balls to knock down ten pins. Each frame's box on the screen shows two small squares for your balls and a running total underneath.

The running total is the key idea. Each frame adds to the one before it, so the number under frame 10 is your final score. However, a strike or spare frame can't show its total straight away. It has to wait for the bonus balls that come next. That's why you sometimes see empty boxes for a frame or two.

If the general game is new to you, read our overview of bowling rules first. It covers fouls, turns and the lane before you worry about numbers.

How to score bowling strikes

A strike means all ten pins fall with your first ball. You don't bowl a second ball in that frame. Instead, the frame scores 10 plus the pins from your next two balls, wherever they land.

For example, say you strike in frame 3, then roll 7 and 2 in frame 4. Frame 3 scores 10 + 7 + 2 = 19. Frame 4 then adds its own 9 on top.

Doubles and turkeys

Two strikes in a row make a double. Three in a row make a turkey, and the first of those strikes scores the maximum 30. Strikes stack because each one borrows from the next. So a run of strikes grows your score much faster than the same number of spares. Our bowling glossary lists the names for longer runs, like the hambone for four.

How spares are scored

A spare means you knock down the rest of the pins with your second ball. The frame scores 10 plus the pins from your very next ball only.

Take a frame where you get 6, then pick up the last 4 for a spare. If your next first ball knocks down 8, the spare frame scores 18. If that next ball is a strike, the spare scores 20. As a result, a strike right after a spare is worth more than it looks.

Spares matter more in bowling than most new players think, and they keep your score steady. A game of ten spares, each followed by a first ball of 9, scores 190. That's well above most casual scores, and you didn't need a single strike. Our spare shooting tips show where to stand for the common leaves.

Open frames, misses and fouls

An open frame happens when pins still stand after both balls. The frame simply scores the pins you knocked down, with no bonus. For instance, 8 then 1 adds 9.

A ball that hits nothing shows as a dash (-). Gutter balls also score zero, and some screens show a G. A foul shows as an F and also scores zero. Still, after a first-ball foul the machine resets all ten pins, so you can make a spare with your second ball.

Scoring the 10th frame

The 10th frame gives you the bonus balls needed to finish off a strike or spare. There are three cases:

• Strike first: you roll two more balls. A strike then two more strikes scores 30 for the frame.
• Spare in two balls: you roll one more ball, and the frame scores 10 plus that ball.
• Open after two balls: your game ends, and the frame scores just those pins.

Those extra balls only count as bonus. They don't start an 11th frame. That's also why a perfect game takes 12 strikes, as our page on the 300 perfect game explains.

Worked example: how to score bowling a full game

Here is one full bowling game to score yourself, with a bit of everything: strikes, spares, an open frame and a 10th-frame bonus. Follow it frame by frame, and check each running total yourself.

Notice frame 4. The strike there borrows a full 10 from frame 5's strike, then 8 more from frame 6's first ball. Meanwhile, frame 3's miss on the second ball cost a spare bonus, and that one dash is the difference between 172 and a game near 190.

Quick checks when scoring by hand

• No single frame can score more than 30.
• Open frames never score more than 9.
• Any spare frame scores between 10 and 20.
• Alternate strikes and spares all game and you always get exactly 200, known to bowlers as a Dutch 200.

What the automatic scorer shows

Bowling centres in Malaysia score games automatically, so you rarely need a pencil. Systems from makers such as Brunswick and QubicaAMF look slightly different from centre to centre. Even so, the symbols follow the same rules.

• X for a strike, usually with an animation.
• / for a spare.
• - for a ball that knocked nothing down, while some systems show G for a gutter ball.
• F for a foul from the foul-line sensor.
• Split leaves often appear with a circle or in a different colour.

The screen also shows a pin diagram after your first ball. Use it to plan your spare: the standing pins light up, so you can see the leave before you pick up your ball. If the machine misreads a pin, tell the counter staff before you bowl again, because fixing it later is harder.

Current frame scoring: the alternative system

World Bowling, now the International Bowling Federation, promoted a simpler method called current frame scoring in the 2010s. It aimed to make the game easier for TV viewers to follow. Under it, each frame's score is final as soon as the frame ends:

• A strike scores a flat 30.
• Any spare scores 10 plus the first ball of that same frame.
• Open frames score the pins knocked down.

So ten strikes, not 12, make a 300, and the 10th frame earns no bonus balls. According to Wikipedia's record of the World Bowling Tour, its stepladder finals used this system from around 2016. Our example game would score 210 under current frame scoring instead of 172, because every strike counts as 30.

Traditional scoring remains the standard in leagues, MTBC events and almost every centre screen you'll see in Malaysia. Learn that first. Then, if you ever watch an international final with odd-looking totals, you'll know why.

Next steps

Now that you know how to score bowling, the fastest way to raise your number is better spare shooting and a more repeatable delivery. Start with our bowling tips for beginners, then try to bowl more strikes by hitting the pocket.