First,
we set up the cardstock bowling alley game boards(displayed at right), and get out the dice,
a pencil and a score sheet. (If you don't know how to score a bowling
game, that's not a problem--the game comes with a complete scoring instruction
section as an appendix to the rules!) That's
it! We're ready to begin!
Using the
twenty-sided dice as a bowling ball, we roll the dice across the "approach"(bottom) board, with the idea of having it continue on into the triangle-shaped "sweet
spot" at the end of the "target" (top) board. The result is...ON TARGET! We're
"in the zone!" BUT, as any bowler knows, placement of the ball is just
PART of the challenge of bowling! You still have to get good pinfall--that
is, the pins still have to knock each other over! The result on the twenty-sided
dice determines pinfall, and we see that we've rolled a "19." Checking
Wayne Rasso's card, we look up "19" on the "exceptional" [!] first ball
column and see that we've gotten a "9," nine pins have been knocked down.
DARN! We were expecting a strike! By looking at Rasso's card, you can
see that an exceptional first ball nearly always results in a strike,
so "we were robbed!" But that's bowling--sometimes you roll a great ball,
and the pins stay up! Mark a small "9" outside the box in the first frame.
We
roll a second ball for the first frame. It's exactly the same procedure as with the first ball, except that we check the appropriate spare pickup
column on Rasso's card. In this case, it would be the "9" section. We
roll the dice, and it lands on the "target board," but out of the triangle--a
"routine" ball, not bad not great. The twenty-sided dice reads "7,"
so we look up "7" on the routine [•] column of the "9"spare section,
and we see that we have easily picked up the spare. Mark a slash mark
in the box, indicating that we've scored a spare. If you're a bowling
fan, you know that a spare scores 10 plus however many pins you knock
down on the next ball. Thus, your score for the first frame is dependent
on the first ball you roll in the second frame. Let's roll for the second
frame. Same procedure, we roll another routine ball with a reading of
"4." Checking Rasso's card, we see that we've gotten a strike! We exchange
high-fives and mark an "X" in the box for the second frame. We can also
now score the first frame, a 20 (10+10). Since we got a strike, there's
no second ball to roll in the second frame, so we move on to the third
frame.
We
again roll the twenty-sided dice. Uh-oh, we've missed the target board--a
"questionable" ball. The dice result is "9," so we look up "9" on the
"questionable" [?] column, and we read "8-" for the result. The "8"
means we've knocked down eight pins, and the "minus" symbol indicates
that we've left a "split," two pins which are far apart and a very difficult
spare to pick up. (Note that if we had rolled a "routine" ball, the
result would have been another strike! It's the same in BOWL-O-RAMA
as it is in real bowling--sometimes a slight hitch in your delivery
can yield disastrous results!) We mark an "8" outside the small box
in the third frame and get ready for the second ball of the third frame.
Checking the "8-" column on Rasso's card, we see that we're probably
going to need to roll an exceptional ball to make this tough spare. We pause, we
concentrate...we roll...a routine ball, dice result "5." SPARE! We got
lucky that time--we can visualize a vagrant pin skittering across the
lane, grazing the other pin just enough to knock it over and give us
the spare! (And it's a good thing for us we were using a pro bowler's
card like Rasso's, too! Most amateur-level cards, and even some pros,
would have REQUIRED an exceptional ball just to even have a CHANCE to
make that spare!) We mark a spare in the box for the third frame. We
can now score the second frame, another 20 (10+8+2), giving us a total
of 40 for the second frame, which we mark down. We have to wait for
another ball to score the third frame, but we can feel the rush of relief
from making that difficult spare and we just KNOW we're off to a good
start!
The rest of the game follows the same procedure, and captures all the twists
and turns, highs and lows, breaks and mis-steps of real-life bowling!
All game procedures, including unusual results, "heavy" spares and alternate
"quick play" and "spectator" mode rules are fully explained in a comprehensive
rules section, bound into the BOWLING CENTER game book! And if you ever
have any questions beyond THAT, we're ALWAYS just an e-mail away!
The game can also be played in OTHER modes--fast-play, or spectator--which don't require aiming and rolling the dice. We chose to demonstrate the game in the "participant" mode because it's a feature that makes BOWL-O-RAMA Championship Bowling board game unlike any other bowling board game. However, if you just want to "watch," you can dispense with the cardstock bowling alley and just enjoy the drama unfold, quickly and easily. Simply put, BOWL-O-RAMA gives you more choices for bowling fun than any other bowling board game out there! |
