If your center does not have automatic scoring, you will be given a scoresheet and a pencil to keep your own score. You'll find that keeping your own score can be enjoyable.

Frames and Games
A game is made up of ten frames. At the beginning of each frame, the bowler tries to knock down all ten pins. If successful the result is a strike and the frame is over. If any pins are still standing after the first shot a second ball is rolled. If the remaining pins are knocked down it is a spare. If a pin or more is standing after the second shot the result is an "open" frame. The bowler is credited with just the amount of pins that fell.

When a spare is made the bowler gets credit for 10 plus the number of pins knocked down on the next throw. No score is marked in that frame until the next shot is made.

For instance, a player who follows a spare by rolling a 6 count on the next ball will get credit for those 6 pins added to the 10 for the spare. It is now known that spare was worth 16.

A strike is worth 10 plus the number of pins knocked over on the next two tosses. Say a strike is followed by a frame in which the bowler knocks down 5 on the first ball and 3 more on the second throw. The strike would then be worth 10 + 5 + 3 for a total of 18. The score of each frame is added to the score of the previous frame until reaching a final total after 10 frames. In the final frame, if a spare is recorded, another ball must be rolled to determine how much that spare will be worth. For the same reason, when a strike is made in the 10th frame, two more shots are needed to find out how much the strike will be worth.

Scoring Premiums
The scoring system is not just a simple count of pins knocked down. Spares and strikes provide a bonus opportunity to get extra credit.

The scoring system greatly rewards consecutive strikes. In fact, real high-scoring games-over 200-are possible only by bunching together strikes.