Bowling Solitaire by Sid Sackson

The Components
All the game needs to play is two suits from a regular deck of cards and only the
cards 1 through 10. The Ace counts as a 1 naturally. That's it except for some
paper to score on.
Set-up
The set-up allows the game to play differently with each frame and indeed the
set-up will be required to create each new frame too.
The 20 cards are shuffled and 10 of them are placed face-up to form the 10-Pin
formation. It doesn't matter where you build them from but it is probably easier
to place them from back to front to create the rows of 4, 3, 2 and 1. The cards
should be spaced as seen below to create the classic formation used in 10-Pin
Bowling.
X X X X
X X X
X X
X
The final 10 cards are then used to create three piles of cards, known as the
'Ball Piles'.
The leftmost pile should contain 5 cards, the central pile 3 cards and the
rightmost pile 2 cards.

The top card of each pile is then turned face-up.

The frame is now ready to begin.

Image Courtesy of boardgamegeek.com user klausbh

The Play
Like regular 10-Pin Bowling, the game is played over a series of frames, with
scores being earned with each frame. The game plays out in the following manner:
Select a Card - At the start of a frame the player will always have 3 cards to
choose from (the face-up Ball Pile cards), of which they must select one.
Knock Down Pins - Using the card selected, the player must try to knock down one
or more pins by doing simple arithmetic. A single card can be used to knock down
1-3 adjacent pins, which is simulated by removing said cards. To be able to
remove cards the total of the cards in the formation must add up to a total that
has a final digit that is the same as the value of the card selected for the
turn. For example: A player selects an 8 card from one of the Ball Piles and
therefore needs to try and make an 8, 18 or 28. The pins look like the following:
4 8 1 10
5 3 1
2 9
7
In this example the player could choose to remove the 5 and 3 from the [5 3 1]
row or the 2, 9 and 7 from the front of the formation as this adds up to 18, with
an 8 being in the ones or units place value position.
Once a player makes one of the above moves, all cards in question (the card from
the Ball Pile and the cards/pins) are removed from play.
The next card in the Ball Pile that was used is then turned over, unless of
course the last card used was the last card in that pile, in which case the
player now has fewer options at their disposal.
The Exception - The exception to the above rule is that the back row of pins
cannot be knocked down on the first turn of a frame and nor can the central most
pin be taken out on its own on the first turn of a frame. So in the above example
the 8 in the back row could not be removed, nor could the 3 by itself in the [5 3
1] row.
Further Turns and Adjacency - On future turns all remaining pins can be
targeted...well almost. Any new pins or pin combos knocked down must always have
at least one pin that is adjacent to a pin or pins that have already been taken
out. This helps to simulate that in real life a ball cannot be in two places at
once. It's really very clever.
In the above example let's say a player takes out the 5, 2 and 7 down the front
left side. On their next turn they would not be allowed to knock down the 10 and
1 in the back right as none of those pins are adjacent to the pins already out of
play. However, taking out the 10, 1 and 9 down the right would be legal as the 9
is adjacent to the 2 and 7 that have already been removed.
Ending a Ball - If a player is ever faced with the reality that no card from any
of the Ball Piles can be used to take out one or more pins, then they have
effectively bowled their first ball. The player scores points based on how many
pins have been knocked down so far.
The top cards of each remaining Ball Pile are then discarded and the top card of
each pile turned up to offer the player new options, and this represents taking
the second ball of the frame.
When a player is faced with no valid options for a second time, it simulates the
bowling of their second ball and the frame is over.
Strikes and Spares - In order to earn a Strike, a player must manage to knock
over (remove) all 10 pin-cards before they are faced with a miss.
In order to score a Spare a player must manage to knock over (remove) any
remaining pin-cards whilst on their second ball.
Scoring - To score in Bowling Solitaire, the exact same method is employed as in
regular 10-Pin Bowling. A point is earned for the number of pins that are knocked
down with each ball.
If a player manages to score a Strike, they earn 10 points plus the number of
pins they knock down on the next two balls.
If a player earns a Spare, they score 10 points plus the number of pins they
knock down on the next ball.
Scores can be kept on any piece of paper but if you would like a score sheet that
looks like the real thing then this file will do the trick -
New Frames and Ending the Game - Once a frame is complete a new one is created as
outlined in the set-up.
If a player manages to score a Strike or Spare in the final frame then they will
need to bowl that extra ball or two as in the real thing.
A player can then aim to beat their highest score with subsequent plays and there
are no reason why multiple players couldn't play the game together (side by side)
to simulate the real thing. One deck allows for two players at a time!

Image Courtesy of boardgamegeek.com user klausbh

How to score:
Use your enclosed score pad to score your games of Bowling Solitaire. It is
scored like a regular game of bowling. To use the score pad, simply follow these
instructions…
A bowling score pad provides room for recording the ten “frames” of a game. In
each frame, a player can bowl two balls in an attempt to knock down the ten pins.
If all ten pins are knocked down with the first ball (a strike), the second ball
is not used and the current frame is over.
In each frame, the player simply scores points for as many pins they had knocked
down (for example, 7 points if seven pins are knocked over during the frame.)
However, if all ten pins have been knocked over, there are scoring bonuses:
• If a player knocks down all ten pins in two balls, it is a SPARE which is noted
with a / in the upper right-hand corner for that frame. The number of pins downed
by the next ball rolled is added to the ten pins already scored in the frame.
• If a player knocks down all ten pins with the first ball in a frame, it is a
STRIKE, which is noted with an X in the upper right-hand corner for that frame.
The number of pins downed by the next TWO balls rolled will be added to the ten
already scored in the frame.
Here is a score pad showing a game of Bowling Solitaire in progress. The fourth
frame has just been completed.

In the first frame, the player downed eight pins with the first ball and the
remaining two with the second ball. The spare is noted in the corner of the first
frame. NO SCORE IS ENTERED YET.
In the second frame, the player downed all ten pins with the first ball (a
strike). These 10 are added to the 10 already earned in the first frame, and 20
points are now entered for the first frame. The strike is recorded in the corner
of the second frame.
In the third frame, the player again bowls a strike. The strike is entered in the
corner of the third frame but still no score is entered for the second or third
frames.
In the fourth frame, the player downs six pins with the first ball. Now that we
are two balls after the second frame’s strike, the second frame score can be
recorded. Ten pins were downed in that frame, ten were downed by the first
succeeding ball, and six were downed by the second succeeding ball, making a
total of 26 pins scored in the second frame. These are added to the 20 from the
first frame to obtain a running total of 46 pins.
With the second ball in the fourth frame, the player downs three pins. The score
for the third frame is 10+6+3, for a total of 19 pins. These are added to the 46
pins to obtain a running total of 65 pins.
The score for the fourth frame is 9 (6+3). These pins are added to the 65 to
obtain a running total of 74 pins.
If a player makes a spare or a strike in the tenth frame, the player must throw
one or two more balls to determine their scoring bonus!

Bowling Solitaire was created by Sid Sackson and published as part of A Gamut of Games (1969), a book of games rules
that can be played with commonly found game pieces like a deck of cards, checkers set, and more. A Gamut of Games
has rules for 38 games, created by Sackson and various designers, edited by Sackson. Bowling Solitaire was published as
real game (not just rules) with comical cartoon bowling pin cards as a two-games-in-one game set, Elevenses for One and
Bowling Solitaire (2016) by Eagle-Gryphon.
Neil Thomson reviewed and explained the Bowling Solitaire rules on Board Game Geek. I used his reviewed as the
games nearly unchanged. The review:
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1163813/sid-sacksons-bowling-solitaire-detailed-reiew

Scoring rules and scoring illustration courtesy of the official rulebook from the
Elevenses for One and Bowling Solitaire (2016) by Eagle-Gryphon--Rulebook-11ses41-SolitaireBowling_revised-low.pdf.

User klausbh’s pictures:

https://cf.geekdo-images.com/original/img/THiYS4_C4Nw_B8JW3GMg-PHZagc=/0x0/pic144653.jpg
https://cf.geekdo-images.com/original/img/f64ovir6YF7na3wjC6GmBs_hFDc=/0x0/pic144652.jpg

Board Game Geek database entries:

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/25314/bowling-solitaire
https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4385/gamut-games

This document was created by Sebastian Sohn, boardgamegeek.com user chaosbreaker.

v1.0 release
v1.01 minor reorganization
Bowling Solitaire score sheet by boardgamegeek.com user msaya

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