Richard Williams, age 11, of Helena, Mont., for his question:
WHEN WAS BOWLING INVENTED?
One of the oldest and most popular sports in the world is bowling. Earliest forms of the game go back more than 7,000 years to ancient Egypt. Equipment for a game resembling bowling wa, found by archaeologists who say it was used about 5200 B.C.
Ancient Polynesians also played a game that involved round small balls at round, flat disks about 4 inches in diameter. They rolled the balls 60 feet, the same distance that is used in bowling today.
Modern bowling can be traced back to the Middle Ages. The Germans rolled or threw stones at nine wooden clubs called kegles, and bowlers today are sometimes known as keglers.
As early as the 1100s, bowling was played in England and the game became very popular.
In the Netherlands, a game called Dutch pins was played. 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 immigrated to the North America during the 1600s. The Dutch residents of what is now New York City bowled in a section of Manhattan that is still called Bowling Green.
Gambling on bowling became so widespread during the 1800s that the Connecticut Legislature outlawed "bowling at nine pins." Bowlers evaded the ban by adding another pin and that is how the 10 pin game started.
About a third of the bowlers of Canada play a game called five pins. They roll a ball that is about 5 inches in diameter and weighs about 56 ounces. Five pins, spaced 12 inches apart, stand at the far end of a regulation 10 pin lane.
The pins in the five pin game are a bit over 12 inches high and have a diameter of about 2 inches at the neck and a bit over 4 inches at the widest point. A game has 10 frames and each bowler can roll three times in a frame if he does not score a strike or a spare with the first or second balls.
Other bowling games today include duckpins, candlepins, lawn bowling, boccie and nine pins.
Duckpins uses a ball 5 inches in diameter weighing no more than 3 pounds, 12 ounces. The stubby pins stand a bit over 9 inches high. Duckpins is popular with women and children because it emphasizes accuracy and delicacy rather than power.
Duckpin bowling thrives in many parts of the eastern United States. The National Duckpin Bowling Congress reports there are more than 250,0000 members who represent about 40,000 teams.
Candlepins is played chiefly in New England. The sport uses pins just under 16 inches tall. The ball is the same size as a duckpins ball.
Lawn bowling, an outdoor game, is popular in Canada and in many parts of the United States. Boccie is an Italian form of lawn bowling.
Nine pins is a game in which the bowler rolls his balls at nine pins placed in a diamond formation. The game is very popular in northern Europe.