Gene Huggins, age 12, of Gastonia, N.C., for his question:
WHEN DID BOWLING ORIGINATE?
More Americans take an active part in bowling than they do in any other sport. More than 39 million people bowl each year in the United States. The popular game where you try to knock down 10 pins standing at one end of a polished wooden lane is also gaining favor with sportsmen in Canada, Japan and Latin America.
Bowling is extremely popular today, and one of the reasons for this is the ease with which the game can be learned and played. Bowling alleys can be found in most towns and almost every neighborhood in large cities.
People have been bowling for thousands of years. Back in the Middle Ages in Germany, village dances and celebrations always included bowling. Stones were either rolled or thrown at nine wooden clubs called kegles. Today bowlers are often called keglers.
During the 1100s, bowling became popular in England. As a matter of fact, it was so popular that it threatened to overtake the sport of 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 shape. A person won the game by either knocking down 31 pins in a series of rolls, or knocking over the middle pin without toppling any others. The middle pin was called the kingpin.
During the 1600s, the Dutch brought their version of bowling with them to North America. A section of what is now New York City is still called Bowling Green. This is where the Dutch practiced the sport.
By the 1800s, bowling became increasingly popular in New England, and gambling on the game became widespread. In 1841, the Connecticut legislature outlawed bowling of nine pins. But bowlers couldn't be put down that easily. They evaded the ban by adding another pin, and that's how the 10¬pin game started. The new game became more popular than the old one.
In 1895, the American Bowling Congress was organized. Playing standards, rules and specifications for balls, pins and lanes were established.
In 1901, the American Bowling Congress conducted its first annual bowling,tournament.
Today, the American Bowling Congress has a membership of more than 4.4 million who bowl in regular competition. The women's International Bowling Congress was started in 1916 to oversee competition. Today this group has more than 3 million members.
Automatic pinspotting machines were introduced in 1951. Up until that time, the bowling pins had to be loaded into a machine by hand.
In 1973 the National Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum was opened in Greendale, Wis.