Bowling has a vocabulary all its own, and once you start noticing it, you hear it on every lane. Learning a few key bowling terms makes the game easier to follow, more fun to play, and a lot less confusing when a teammate starts celebrating something you cannot yet see on the scoresheet.
You do not have to memorize an entire bowling glossary to enjoy a night at Lucky Strike. But knowing the essentials, from the scoring basics to the slang, changes how you experience the game. Here is a skimmable guide to the bowling terminology, lingo, and scoring every bowler should have down.
How scoring works, frame by frame
Start here, because these are the bowling words you will hear in just about every game:
Frame: one of the ten segments that make up a single game. If you have ever wondered how many rounds are in bowling, the answer is ten frames.
Strike: all ten pins knocked down on your first ball, marked with an X. Wondering how much a strike is worth in bowling? It counts as ten pins plus your next two shots, so a single frame can reach thirty points. That bonus is the heart of how strikes work in bowling.
Spare: all ten pins cleared using both balls in a frame, marked with a slash. A bowling spare is worth ten plus your next single shot, so it still earns a bonus, just a smaller one.
Open frame: any frame where you leave at least one pin standing after both balls. Even the pros get them.
Mark: a catch-all for a strike or a spare, the shots that keep your score climbing.
The lingo for stringing strikes together
This is where the bowling slang gets fun, and where a hot streak earns its own name:
Double: two strikes in a row. And yes, in case you were wondering, double in bowling is a real term.
Turkey: three strikes in a row, and one of the most satisfying phrases in the game. If you have ever asked what a turkey in bowling is, the name goes back to the 1800s, when centers handed out a real turkey to anyone who bowled three straight.
Four-bagger (or hambone): four strikes in a row. "Hambone" is the newer nickname, popularized by a television commentator, but four-bagger still gets plenty of use.
Five-bagger: five strikes in a row. Once you pass the turkey, bowlers simply attach "bagger" to the number, so five strikes in a row is a five-bagger.
Six-pack: six strikes in a row, the next big milestone after a hambone.
Seven-bagger: seven strikes in a row. If someone asks what seven strikes in a row is called, now you have the answer.
Perfect game: twelve strikes in a row for a score of 300, the highest game in bowling and the goal every serious bowler chases.
Splits, leaves, and the dreaded 7-10
These are the terms that come up when your first ball leaves a mess behind:
Split: when your first ball leaves two or more pins standing with a gap between them, making the spare much harder to convert. A bowling split is the kind of shot that separates a good game from a great one.
7-10 split: the most notorious leave in the game. The meaning behind its fearsome reputation is simple: it strands the two back corner pins on opposite sides of the lane, one of the toughest conversions there is.
Brooklyn: a strike where your ball crosses over to the opposite side of the headpin from your throwing hand. In bowling, a Brooklyn counts the same as any strike, though purists will remind you that you got lucky.
Pocket: the ideal target for a strike, the gap between the 1 and 3 pins for a right-hander, or the 1 and 2 pins for a lefty.
Pin numbers: the pins are numbered one through ten, with the headpin as the 1 up front and the 7 and 10 anchoring the back corners. Knowing your bowling pin numbers is what lets you call out a specific leave.
Fouls and marks on the scoresheet
A few symbols and rules trip people up more than they should:
Foul (F): if you have wondered what an F means in bowling, it marks a foul. A bowling foul happens when your foot crosses the foul line during your delivery, and foul bowling scores zero for that shot, no matter how many pins fall.
X and slash: the X marks a strike and the slash marks a spare, the two symbols you will see most on any scoresheet.
Clean game: a full game with no open frames, every frame carrying a mark.
Put the knowledge to work at Lucky Strike
Knowing the words is one thing, but the only way to sharpen your game is to bowl. When you are ready to practice, reserve a lane ahead of time so you can put in the frames. Bring a group for a friendly competition through a social event, and refuel between games with the food and drink menu.
To find the lanes nearest you, the Location Finder has every Lucky Strike and its hours. Now that you have the glossary down, all that is left is to chase a turkey of your own.