Ann Rice, age 12, of Concord, N.H., for her question:
WHEN DID BOWLING START?
Bowling is one of the world's oldest and most popular indoor sports. Today more Americans compete in bowling than in any other sport.
Bowling's roots go back to 5200 B.C. Archaeologists discovered equipment for a game resembling bowling that had been buried with an Egyptian child more than 7,000 years ago.
Ancient Polynesians also played a game that resembled bowling. The game involved rolling small balls at round, flat disks about four inches in diameter. People rolled the balls 60 feet, the same distance used in bowling today.
The modern form of bowling can be traced back to the Middle Ages. In Germany, village celebrations always included bowling. The Germans rolled or threw stones at nine wooden clubs called kegles. Bowlers today are sometimes known as keglers.
Bowling came to England as early as the 1100s. The game became so popular that Englishmen started to consider it more important than archery. Since archery played a vital role in the defense of England, Parliament outlawed bowling for a time.
A game called Dutch pins was played in The Netherlands. Nine tall,slender pins were arranged in a diamond. The pins were spaced widely apart. The bowler who first knocked down 31 pins, and no more than that number, won the game.
The Dutch brought their version of bowling with them when they came to the New World. During the 1600s in what is now New York City, bowling was enjoyed in a section of Manhattan that is still called Howling Green.
Today about 40 million people in the United States bowl regularly. The sport is also very popular in Canada, Japan and the Latin American nations.
One reason for bowling's popularity is the ease with which the game can be learned. Even children can easily take part in the popular sport.
A bowling game consists of 10 frames. Each bowler rolls his ball twice in each frame, unless he scores a strike. A strike counts 10 pins, plus the total number of pins the bowler knocks down with the next two balls he throws.
On a strike, a scorer marks an X in the small square in the corner of the larger square on the score sheet.
A spare counts 10 pins, plus the number of pins the bowler knocks down with his first ball in the next frame. The scorer marks diagonal line through the small square for a spare.
When a bowler fails to make a strike or a spare, only the pins knocked down count, and no scoring is carried over to the next frame.
A bowler must roll 12 consecutive strikes to score 300, a perfect game.
The experts say that only about 650 perfect games occur in the millions of games that are bowled evey year.