Odd Bowling Terms Explained - Tournament Planet

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Bowling Has Its Own Vocabulary

Bowling has a rich history dating all the way back to the Ancient Egyptians. As a result, it has gone through a number of transformations and picked up a few terms along the way. Some of them are obvious, while others are not so much. We’ll take a look at some of the more interesting terms and explain what they mean. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a chicken sandwich – you earned it.

Food Bowling Terms

There are a lot of terms in bowling that reference food. Seems like a tasty place to start.

Chicken Sandwich

Since we referenced it up top let’s start with this juicy term – hopefully it’s not dry. A chicken sandwich refers to a strike, three spares, and a strike in that order. So you have the strikes as the bread and the three spares in the middle as the chicken. Not the most delicious chicken sandwich on the planet, but still pretty satisfying.

Beer Frame

The beer frame is called during team bowling. When every member of the team bowls a strike in the same frame except for one player. This unfortunate player has to buy the round of beer for the rest of the team. Bowling a strike is always exciting, but when you get a beer too it’s even better. If there is going to be a beer frame, it’s best to be on the receiving end.

BFO – Beer Frame Opportunity

The Beer Frame Opportunity presents itself after all of the first players in a team have made strikes. If the last player doesn’t bowl a strike as well then that makes it a Beer Frame and he’s buying. However, until the last player bowls it isn’t a guarantee. This is what differentiates Beer Frame Opportunity from Beer Frame. Either way the team wins – free beer or everyone bowled strikes. Truly, this is a win-win.

Cheesy Cakes AKA Cake Shot

This is one of those regional bowling terms. I prefer cake shot due to me growing up in the western region of the US. However, back East they call it “Cheesy Cakes”. This is when a lane is really easy to score strikes on. If it’s easy you say, “This is a cake shot!” and then you better strike and not fail.

Fry Frame/Fry Frame Opportunity

This is essentially the same as beer frame, but with fries. If you’re hungry go for the fry frame, if thirsty go for the beer frame.

Hambone

Nowadays, this refers to bowling four strikes in a row. Prior to the year 2000, it referred to bowling two in a row.

Six Pack

Now I know what you’re thinking. A six pack is what you get at the store for a lonely night in. Wrong! A six pack in bowling is when you make six consecutive strikes in a single game. This means it can’t be the last three in one game and the first three in the next. You’re scores is gonna be pretty good after hitting this. The lowest score a six pack can be worth is 150 this would be when you bowl it at the end of the game. The most would be 165 which would be 6 strikes followed by a spare. That’s pretty good stuff.

Roll	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Score	10	10	10	10	10	10	5	5
Total	30	30	30	30	25	20
Grand Total	165

Roll	1	2	3	4	5	6
Score	10	10	10	10	10	10
Total	30	30	30	30	20	10
Grand Total	150

Turkey

Turkey is more than just a delicious Thanksgiving tradition. It’s also the great achievement of rolling three strikes in a row. Not as cool as a six pack, but still respectable. The fewest points a turkey is worth is 50 if the final three frames. The most is 65 if you get three strikes followed by a spare.

Roll	1	2	3	4	5
Score	10	10	10	5	5
Total	30	25	20
Grand Total	75

Roll	1	2	3
Score	10	10	10
Total	30	20	10
Grand Total	60

Turkey Sandwich

When a chicken sandwich isn’t enough you have to have the turkey sandwich. If you recall, a chicken sandwich was three spares for the meat surrounded by two strikes as bread. A turkey sandwich flips this and has a spare, three strikes, and then a spare. This is worth between 110 and 137 points.

Roll	1	2	3	4	5	6
Key	/	X	X	X	/	9
Score	10	10	10	10	10	9
Total	20	30	30	29	19	9
Grand Total	137

Roll	1	2	3	4	5
Key	/	X	X	X	/
Score	10	10	10	10	10
Total	20	30	30	20	10
Grand Total	110