# Bowling score calculator: how bowling is scored > Bowling score calculator: enter each ball and see how strikes, spares and the 10th frame add up. Scoring rules with examples and the 300 game. URL: https://overfuture.dev/en/products/bowling-stryke/bowling-score-calculator/ Calculator · Free · No sign-up # Bowling score calculator: how bowling is scored In bowling, every pin you knock down is worth one point and a game has 10 frames. A strike is worth 10 plus your next two balls; a spare, 10 plus the next one, and the highest possible score is 300. Tap the pins for each ball and the scoreboard does the maths. Score calculator Start at frame 1. You can only tap as many pins as are still standing. Frame 1, ball 1. 10 pins standing. The basics ## How bowling is scored Every pin you knock down is worth one point. A game has 10 frames (turns), and in each one you get up to two balls to knock down the 10 pins, set up in a triangle at the end of the lane. If you don't knock them all down, the frame is worth the pins you did knock down: that's an open frame. If you knock them all down, the frame waits for a bonus: a strike adds whatever you knock down with your next two balls, and a spare adds your next ball. That's why the scoreboard doesn't always show the total straight away: a strike or a spare isn't complete until the balls it adds have been rolled. Below is a full game, frame by frame. ### What you'll see on the scoreboard - **X:** Strike. All 10 pins with the first ball. Worth 10 plus your next two balls. - **/:** Spare. The remaining pins, with the second ball. Worth 10 plus your next ball. - **–:** Miss. A ball that knocks down no pins, including a gutter ball. - **7:** A number. The pins knocked down with that ball. - **F:** Foul. Touching or crossing the foul line as you bowl: that ball scores 0 even if it knocks pins down. An example game: 183 points Frame 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Balls X 7 / 9 – X X 8 1 6 / X 9 / X 8 1 Points 20 19 9 28 19 9 20 20 20 19 Total 20 39 48 76 95 104 124 144 164 183 How to play ## Bowling rules and how to play a game These are the rules of ten-pin bowling, as played at any bowling alley; they don't apply to candlepin or duckpin bowling. - The goal: knock down as many pins as possible in 10 frames. The highest score wins. - The pins: ten, in a triangle. All ten are reset at the start of each frame. - The balls: up to two per frame. If the first one knocks down all ten, the frame ends there (except in the 10th, which has bonus balls). - Turns: each player bowls a full frame, then it's the next player's turn. - The foul line: if you touch or cross it as you bowl, that ball scores 0 (marked F). - The gutter: a ball that drops into the gutter scores 0 (marked –). - Split: the pins left standing are spread apart, with the head pin down. It doesn't change the scoring, but it makes the spare much harder to pick up. Two players taking turns in Bowling Stryke. Strike ## The strike: 10 plus your next two balls You bowl a strike when you knock down all 10 pins with the first ball. The frame ends there and is worth 10 plus whatever you knock down with your next two balls, whether they're in the same frame or in two different ones. - Frame 1: strike (X). - Frame 2: 7 and 2. - Score: frame 1 is worth 10 + 7 + 2 = 19 ; frame 2, 7 + 2 = 9. Total: 28 . If you string strikes together, each one adds the next two: three strikes in a row (a turkey) make the first one worth 30, the most a single frame can be worth. A strike in Bowling Stryke. Spare ## The spare: 10 plus your next ball You make a spare when your second ball knocks down all the pins left standing. The frame is worth 10 plus whatever you knock down with your next ball. - Frame 1: 6 and 4 (spare, /). - Frame 2: 5 and 3. - Score: frame 1 is worth 10 + 5 = 15 ; frame 2, 5 + 3 = 8. Total: 23 . A spare is never worth more than 20: the best case is a strike on the next ball. The example, on the scoreboard Frame 1 2 Balls 6 / 5 3 Points 15 8 Total 15 23 10th frame ## The 10th frame: bonus balls The last frame is different because there's no frame after it to take the bonus balls from. If you bowl a strike in the 10th, you get two more balls; with a spare, one more. If it's an open frame, the game ends there. Those bonus balls only count towards the 10th frame: they aren't an 11th frame. That's why you can roll up to three balls in the 10th and score, for example, X X X (30), X 7 / (20) or 9 / X (20). - Frames 1 to 9: 9 and 0 in each, 81 points. - Frame 10: 9, then a spare (/), and a bonus ball of 8. - Score: frame 10 is worth 9 + 1 + 8 = 18 . Total: 99 . The example, on the scoreboard Frame 1 to 9 10 Balls 9 – in each 9 / 8 Points 9 each 18 Total 81 99 The maximum ## The perfect game: 300, the highest possible score The highest score in bowling is 300. You get it with 12 strikes in a row: one in each of the first nine frames and three in the 10th (the strike and its two bonus balls). Each frame is then worth 10 + 10 + 10 = 30, and 10 frames × 30 = 300. Leave a single pin standing on any of those twelve balls and you fall short. - 10 frames per game - 10 pins on each lane - 21 balls at most - 300 points at most Watch out ## Common scoring mistakes - Writing a strike down as 10 and moving on. A strike isn't complete until the next two balls have been rolled. - Adding two balls to a spare. A spare only adds the next ball; adding two is for strikes. - Counting the bonus balls as another frame. In the 10th frame, they add to that same frame. - Forgetting that back-to-back strikes add to each other. X, X and 7: the first frame is worth 27. - Entering the running pin total for the second ball. If you knock down 7 and then 2, the second ball is 2, not 9. Our game ## Play by these rules in Bowling Stryke Bowling Stryke is our Android bowling game: quick games, solo or with two players on the same phone, suitable for the whole family. It has over 1 million downloads on Google Play, and we're rebuilding it in Unity 6 with this same scoreboard. [Get it on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androtiyas.bowlingstrykefree)[How we're rebuilding it](https://overfuture.dev/en/products/bowling-stryke/) We also cover it in [how to develop a bowling game for Android with Unity (in Spanish)](https://overfuture.dev/blog/como-desarrollar-juego-bolos-android-unity/). Want a game, an app or a calculator like this for your brand? We reply within 24 business hours. FAQ ## Bowling scoring questions ### How many points is a strike worth in bowling? Ten plus whatever you knock down with your next two balls, so a strike is worth between 10 and 30 points. ### What is a strike in bowling? Knocking down all ten pins with the first ball of a frame. It's worth 10 plus your next two balls, and it's marked X. ### How many points is a spare worth? Ten plus whatever you knock down with your next ball: between 10 and 20 points. ### What's the highest possible score in bowling? 300, the perfect game: 12 strikes in a row, counting the two bonus balls in the 10th frame. ### How many pins are there on a bowling lane? Ten, set up in a triangle. All ten are reset at the start of each frame. ### How many balls are rolled in a game? 21 at most: two in each of the first nine frames and three in the 10th if you get a strike or a spare. With 12 strikes in a row, just 12. ### Why doesn't the scoreboard show the total after a strike? Because the strike isn't complete yet: it still needs the two balls it adds. The total appears once they've been rolled. ### Does it work for candlepin or duckpin bowling? No. It's for ten-pin bowling, the kind played at bowling alleys. Candlepin and duckpin are scored differently. ### Do I need to sign up to use the calculator? No. It runs in your browser, it's free, and it doesn't store or send your scores.