''Bowling'' is a
sports video game
A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (s ...
published in 1979 by
Atari, Inc.
Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry.
Based primarily around the Sunny ...
for the Atari VCS (later renamed the
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocess ...
). It was programmed by
Larry Kaplan
Larry Kaplan is an American game designer who was the co-founder of Activision.
Kaplan studied at the University of California, Berkeley from 1968 through 1974 and graduated with a degree in Computer Science.
He started at Atari, Inc. in Augu ...
who left Atari to co-found
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...
the same year. The game is an interpretation of the sport
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), thoug ...
, playable by one or two players.
Gameplay
In all six variations, games last for 10 frames, or turns. At the start of each frame, the current player is given two chances to roll a
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 bowli ...
down an alley in an attempt to knock down as many of the ten
bowling pin
Bowling pins (historically also known as skittles or kegels) are the target of the bowling ball in various bowling games including tenpins, five-pins, duckpins and candlepins.
Tenpins
Pin specifications are set by the United States Bowlin ...
s as possible. The bowler (on the left side of the screen) may move up and down his end of the alley to aim before releasing the ball. In four of the game's six variations, the ball can be steered before it hits the pins. Knocking down every pin on the first shot is a ''strike'', while knocking every pin down in both shots is a ''spare''. The player's score is determined by the number of pins knocked down in all 10 frames, as well as the number of strikes and spares acquired.
Variations
Odd-numbered variants are one player games, while two players alternate on frames in even-numbered games.
* Games 1/2: The bowling ball can be moved in one direction after being thrown.
* Games 3/4: The bowling ball can be moved up and down after being thrown.
* Games 5/6: The ball moves straight and cannot be moved.
Reception
''Bowling'' was reviewed by ''
Video
Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
'' magazine in its "Arcade Alley" column where it was praised as "an enjoyable version of a sport that is perfectly suited to the video arcade format". The reviewers singled out the graphics (including the automatic frame-by-frame scoring and "deft" character animation) as "one of the game's best points".
See also
*
List of Atari 2600 games
This is a list of games for the Atari Video Computer System, a console renamed to the Atari 2600 in November 1982. Sears licensed the console and many games from Atari, Inc., selling them under different names. A few cartridges were Sears exclu ...
References
{{reflist
External links
''Bowling''at Atari Mania
1979 video games
Atari games
Atari 2600 games
Bowling video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Video games developed in the United States