Bowling pins (historically also known as skittles or kegels) are the target of the

bowling ball A bowling ball is a hard spherical ball used to knock down bowling pins in the sport of bowling. Balls used in ten-pin bowling and American nine-pin bowling traditionally have holes for two fingers and the thumb. Balls used in five-pin bowl ...

in various

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

games including tenpins,

five-pins Five-pin billiards or simply five-pins or 5-pins ( Italian: ';duckpins and candlepins.

Tenpins

Pin specifications are set by the

United States Bowling Congress The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) is a sports membership organization dedicated to ten-pin bowling in the United States. It was formed in 2005 by a merger of the American Bowling Congress—the original codifier of all tenpin bowling sta ...

(USBC). World Bowling, formerly World Tenpin Bowling Association, has adopted the USBC specifications. Pins are tall, wide at their widest point, and weigh ±. The first British made tenpin was by H Massil and sons who received the permit no.1 from the

British Tenpin Bowling Association The British Tenpin Bowling Association (BTBA) is the official governing body of Tenpin Bowling in the United Kingdom, affiliated to Sport England. It is the official sanctioning body, recognised by International Bowling Federation, the sport's ...

(BTBA)

Duckpins and fivepins

Duckpins are shorter and squatter than standard tenpins. Canadian fivepins are between duckpins and tenpins in size, but have a thick, inch-wide

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

band around the widest part of the pin to increase pin action when struck.

Candlepins

Candlepins are dissimilar to the others, being the tallest of all at 15-3/4 inches (40 cm), but only 2-15/16 inches wide and in weight, each pin nearly matching the maximum weight of a candlepin ball. They are nearly cylindrical in shape with a slight taper toward either end, making them vaguely resemble candles (hence the name). Unlike other bowling pins, because they are vertically symmetrical, candlepins may be set on either end. Due to their width and construction, candlepins tends to produce a

billiard ball A billiard ball is a small, hard ball used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker. The number, type, diameter, color, and pattern of the balls differ depending upon the specific game being played. Various particular ball ...

-like sound when struck.

Kegels

Pins used in the German bowling game ''kegel'' appears to combine the design of tenpins and duckpins. The overall shape of the pin resembles a standard ten-pin bowling pins, and its small size is comparable to duckpins. Similar to

five-pin bowling Five-pin bowling is a bowling variant which is played in Canada, where many bowling alleys offer it, either alone or in combination with ten-pin bowling. It was devised around 1909 by Thomas F. Ryan in Toronto, Ontario, at his Toronto Bowling Cl ...

, these pins have strings attached on top of each, which connects them to the pinsetter.

Pin construction

Bowling pins are constructed by gluing blocks of rock

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since h ...

wood into the approximate shape, and then turning on a

lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece ...

. After the lathe shapes the pin, it is coated with a

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adapta ...

material, painted, and covered with a glossy finish. Because of the scarcity of suitable wood, bowling pins can be made from approved synthetics. Currently there are synthetic pins sanctioned for play in five-pin, duckpin, and candlepin. There is one synthetic ten pin model approved by the USBC. When hit by the ball, synthetic pins usually sound different from wooden pins.

Juggling club Juggling clubs are a prop used by jugglers. Juggling clubs are often simply called clubs by jugglers and sometimes are referred to as pins or batons by non-jugglers. Clubs are one of the three most popular props used by jugglers; the others ...

s could be mistaken for bowling pins due to their similar shape. The two differ greatly in construction and weight.

References

External links

How bowling pins are madeHow much does a bowling pin weightBowlinglinks all over the World, sorted by categories
{{Ten pin bowling Bowling Ten-pin bowling