Since there are so many Mass people...

[Velcro]

change of pace question...

what is tougher...

Candle Pin Bowling

or

Ten Pin Bowling?

For those non-new englanders... Candle pin uses a ball about the size of a shotput (3 lbs) and pins about 2 1/2  inches wide instead of 16 lb balls the size of basketballs(exagerration) and pins that are fat.

Candle pin gets 3 rolls, opposed to 2 rolls in ten pin per frame... and candle pin bowling doesnt' clear the lane of dead wood, so you could have a single pin left with fallen pins blocking it and making it unhittable.

Avg Score for a pro:

Ten Pin:  250

Candle Pin:  140

Then there is Duck pin, never played it, but it is a mesh of the two, shorter pins shaped like 10 pins, using the light shot put ball.

[BULLO12]

I regret I never tried candle pin bowling while I was in Ashland.   Although I did watch it on tv a few times and thought it would be cool to try it.  It looks extremely hard.  I have been a 10 pin bowler all my life with a 185 average.

[KnightsRule]

VG

I am by no means a bowler but where I grew up in the berkshires we had one real bowling alley and two candle pin alleys.  I would say that candle pin is definately harder. They give you three balls to two for a reason. 10 pin is cooler and you didnt feel bad being seen there but playing candle pin was fun but you didnt want anyone to see you there as it is a bit feminine.

[LastKnight]

I was never very good at either but Candlestick was more fun........plus three bb's to fire down the lane!

[Velcro]

Ten Pin seems alot like a robotic motion, roll the ball with x amount of spin... get a strike.  I know it isn't that simple, but there isn't any luxury of being able to bowl crappy ball in candle pin.  Alot of times, even a perfectly thrown ball will result in a 7-10 split or the dreaded spread eagle.  I watched it on tv every saturday at noon for years....  my dad was a pro candle pin bowler when he was 16, bowled on ABC once, bowled pretty well, but lost.  

Its got a cult following up there, but no one down here knows what i'm talking about without me proving it via web links etc.

My avg in candle pin is about 100, which isn't too shabby for a scrub... my avg in 10 pin is about 170, and i'm a scrub at that too.

As for the feminine comment... i don't think i agree with that... i think 10 pin is more feminine, since they make balls lighter for weaker people... 1 size fits all in candlepin... and the balls go down the ally at 60+ miles per hour, and have been known to make pins explode... literally blow up into a shower of fiberglass.  Very cool... i've only done that once, but my dad seems to be good at breaking pins.  

Also, to combat the feminine comment... baseballs are small, softballs are big, candlepin balls small, ten pin balls big...  I find it tought to call the more skill-requiring sport feminine  ;D

I like candle pin better, but ten pin is better for your ego since it is so easy to score above 150.

Highest recorded score in candle pin is something like 220 and rarely do pros get over 175... 10 pin seems to have a 300 game bowled daily.

anyway, done with my rant... thanks for playing along.

[smazza]

are candle pns AKA DUCK PINS

I WAS A GOOD BOWLER as a 13 year old kid I had a 160 average.

[Velcro]

No, Candle pins are taller than duck pins and skinny top to bottom... i'll post some pictures so you can see what i mean.

[KnightsRule]

My avg in candle pin is about 100, which isn't too shabby for a scrub... my avg in 10 pin is about 170, and i'm a scrub at that too.

As for the feminine comment... i don't think i agree with that... i think 10 pin is more feminine, since they make balls lighter for weaker people... 1 size fits all in candlepin... and the balls go down the ally at 60+ miles per hour, and have been known to make pins explode... literally blow up into a shower of fiberglass.  Very cool... i've only done that once, but my dad seems to be good at breaking pins.  

Also, to combat the feminine comment... baseballs are small, softballs are big, candlepin balls small, ten pin balls big...  I find it tought to call the more skill-requiring sport feminine  ;D

I like candle pin better, but ten pin is better for your ego since it is so easy to score above 150.

Highest recorded score in candle pin is something like 220 and rarely do pros get over 175... 10 pin seems to have a 300 game bowled daily.

anyway, done with my rant... thanks for playing along.

No offense on feminine comment but that was the case where I grew up or at least in my circle of friends.  The following is a story out of my old local paper. I played at this place probably 20 times when I was a young man.

A New England spin on an ancient sport

By Megan Whilden

Special to The Eagle

CORRECTION APRIL 23, 2004

Elsie Bertolino, 94, is a Senior League member at Candle Lanes Bowling in Pittsfield. Her surname was given incorrectly in a Berkshires Week article yesterday.

PITTSFIELD

If you don't notice the sign on the Wright Building at 255 North St. in downtown Pittsfield, and you didn't go there as a kid or a teenager, you might not realize that North Street boasts a bowling alley on the second and third floors. With 16 lanes, eight on each floor, Candle Lanes has been ensconced in its location since the 1930s or earlier. It's one of only a few bowling alleys left in Berkshire County that still offer a New England twist to traditional bowling.

Candlepins, I learned recently, is a New England bowling variant devised in 1880 by one Justin P. White of Worcester, who felt that traditional bowling was too easy. Adherents to the more popular tenpin bowling claim that candlepins is the easier sport, but while candlepins is easier to play, it is more difficult to master, say candlepin aficionados.

In candlepins, the ball is much smaller: 41/2 inches wide, usually weighing only 21/2 pounds and fitting easily into the palm of your hand. At least four times lighter than traditional bowling balls, they remind me of bocce balls, and in fact are only slightly larger than them. Their smaller size and lighter weight make candlepins more accessible for both children and seniors, as well as those who may have limited strength.

But the pins themselves are also much smaller, and thus more difficult to knock down. With a foot between each slim candle-like pin (hence the name), it becomes much more difficult to rake up a high score. In fact, perfect scores of 300, while relatively common among the upper echelons of traditional bowling, are completely unknown in candlepins. Nobody has ever bowled a perfect candlepins game.

George Aslan (who bears quite a resemblance to actor James Woods) has been the owner of Candle Lanes bowling for the past 29 years. Between candlepins and tenpins, he says, "there's a huge difference. It's easy to bowl but it's hard to get a good score." Aslan noted that the strike zone in candlepins is only 1/4" wide and 60 feet away, making careful accuracy a must for successful playing, much more so than most other sports.

To compare candlepins and traditional ten-pin bowling scores, Aslan noted, you should add 90 points to a candlepins score to reach its equivalent. The world record in candlepins is currently 240 (which by his calculations would equal an unreachable 350 in tenpins.) Aslan said there was an attempt to see if a perfect score could be achieved by hooking up a pitching machine to a candlepins bowling alley, but even the machine couldn't do it after hours of play.

Other differences between the two versions are that candlepin allows three throws per turn, and that "deadwood," or fallen pins, are left in the alley until your turn is finished, where they can sometimes help by careening around and knocking a few extra pins over.

A group of us played candlepins one afternoon and soon found out for ourselves that candlepins, while easy and quite fun to play, is challenging to master. We were inspired by Don White, a former pro bowler practicing a few lanes down. His smooth, elegant bowling style and soundless pitching of the ball were impressive. He offered us clumsy amateurs some helpful advice: "Don't try to throw the ball real hard. It's all a matter of timing. Your last step and your arm swing have to be perfectly coordinated.

"When you have the right timing your ball spins and when it hits the pins it gets more action."

We listened, knowing it would take years to become as accomplished.

In the 2000 book, "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community," author Robert Putnam uses the decline of bowling leagues as a telling example of the decline in community life among Americans. While bowling continues to grow in popularity -- it is currently the most popular sport in America -- there are fewer bowlers playing in organized leagues.

White said that candlepin bowling in Pittsfield has been in decline for the past 10 years, but Aslan sees a comeback rising up.

"We hit bottom about three years ago, but I've added five leagues since then," he said.

During bowling season, which lasts from the end of Labor Day weekend to the end of April, he hosts about 15 leagues, including one for juniors ages 5 to 18. He offers low prices and free instruction as incentives to kids.

"They're the next generation of bowling," says Aslan. "I have kids that get dropped off and the parents never worry. I want everyone to feel welcomed and safe here."

On the other end of the spectrum, one recent Monday morning Candle Lanes was packed with more than 50 seniors playing the final tournament of the season. Seventy-five year old Bob Ahlen, who has the highest score in the Senior League, said he's been coming to Candle Lanes since 1939.

Ninety-four year old Elsie Borsolino, another Senior League member, has been bowling since 1955 and hasn't let a broken hip interfere too much with her pastime. She used to bowl three times a week but recently cut back to two. Like everyone else there that morning, she seemed to be having a grand time.

Bowling, in one form or another, is an ancient pastime: archaeologists have found pins and balls in an ancient Egyptian tomb dating back to 3200 BC.

For most of us, bowling is a social activity: a relatively laid-back sport that allows time for conversing and enjoying each other's company without working up too much of a sweat, or getting too out of breath to talk. And candlepins, our own regional variation of the sport, with its reasonably sized balls and slim pins, is perfect for the combination of exercise and good fellowship that are the hallmarks of bowling.

As the traditional bowling season winds down, Candle Lanes is offering two summer leagues on Tuesday mornings and evenings that will run from May 4 through June 29. After that, for the first time in 29 years, Aslan is going to close up shop for two months, take a cruise for the first time, and visit Atlantic City. But, come September, he'll be back behind the counter at Candle Lanes, welcoming the Junior League, the Senior League, birthday parties, the Rosary League, the Boy Scouts, the City League, the AdLib players, ski tourists, and anyone else who wanders in looking for a convivial game of idiosyncratic candlepins.

Candle Lanes is located at 255 North St. in Pittsfield. May-June hours are Tuesdays 9 - noon and 6 to 9 p.m.; Fridays 9 to noon; and by appointment for parties or group bowling. For more information, call 447-9640.

Valley Park Lanes in North Adams also features candlepins bowling, and Lee Bowling Lanes in Lee and Imperial Bowl in Pittsfield have both candlepins and tenpins.

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[Velcro]

Left is a ten pin, right is candle, duck is shorter than ten pin but same shape.

[Velcro]

Candle pin