What are the Lowest Bowling Score You have Ever Seen?

Are you embarrassed about your current bowling score? Is it a bit low? Don’t worry, mates. You will get there. You will hear many bowlers talk about high scores in bowling. But they don’t talk about low scores much, do they?  Hence, today’s topic. Don’t think I’m promoting bowlers with low scores, but this article is to tell you that you are not alone. So how low can the score get? If someone with zero skill decides to bowl, what will the score be? Let’s have a chat about that.

What is the lowest score you can get in bowling?

When I was a kid, my mum used to say one thing— “It’s harder to fail than pass an exam you have studied for”. If you know the basics of bowling, and randomly roll down your bowling ball on the lane, you will be able to knock down at least a few pins. It’s actually quite impossible to not hit any of the pins in any of your shots.

However, if a player manages to roll the bowling ball on the gutters every time they throw the ball, which means they didn’t hit any pins, the lowest possible score is going to be 0. Yes, no kidding. You will get a zero out of 300 if you fail to hit any of the pins.

What is the lowest score with all strikes?

In a single match of bowling, there are 10 frames. On each frame, a bowler gets two attempts to knock down all of the pins. If you manage to deliver strikes in every ball throw, there won’t be any low scores. You will actually have the highest score in bowling which is a whopping 300 points. In bowling lingo, we like to call it a perfect game.

What is the lowest score with all spares?

You know what spares are. Let’s say, you have decided to bowl an entire game with only spare shots, no strikes. You have to knock down all the pins in a single frame with the two attempts you get. Without strikes, it’s hard to have a decent score in a game, but the highest possible score can be 190 points. However, if you manage to get spares in every frame of your game, what’s the lowest possible score will be? Well, the lowest score with all spares will be 110. How?

To score 110 points exactly, you gotta pick up a lot of spares throughout your game. But these spares are not like your typical spare shots. To get that 110, you will have to shoot your spares in a very particular order.

First, you have to knock down 1 pin (that can be any pin you shoot) on the first attempt of the first frame. So your remaining pins are 9 in number. So nine more pins to knock down to complete your spare. Once you knock down the rest of the pins on the second attempt, you will have your spare. One each frame you will be scoring 11 points. Now, repeat this same pattern throughout your game and keep getting spares where you first get only 1 pin and then the remaining 9 pins. So in 10 frames, your total and final score will be 11 x 10 = 110 points. This is how you can get the lowest possible score with all spares.

Bowlers all over the world— professionals, advanced, and intermediate players claim that maintaining consecutive spares is way harder than consecutive strikes. And it’s almost impossible if you have to do it in a specific pattern. My best friend who is also a league bowler says, “Scoring a 300 is rather easier than scoring spares following an order”. So, if you want to have a little fun, go get that 110 score. Don’t worry, that’s a nice way to practice spares, but I wouldn’t say it’s too effective in the long run.

What is the lowest PBA score ever?

Not every single one of your days is good. Sometimes you have good days, and sometimes you have bad days. The PBA bowlers are no exception. No matter how skilled you are, accidents can always happen and you end up having the worst luck.

The recorded lowest score in the history of PBA bowling is 100, scored by Tom Daugherty. As a right-handed pro bowler, Daugherty has won 4 PBA titles. 21 PBA Regional titles, and scored 21 perfect games in his career. Yet, luck wasn’t in his favor during the 2011 PBA Tournament of Champions. He is infamously known for rolling a 100 game on national television which is the lowest score ever bowled by a professional bowler in a televised PBA event.

So every now and then, if you score close to 100 don’t be disheartened or discouraged. It’s just a bad day. Tomorrow will be better.

You can read What is the Average Bowling Score for Professional USBC Bowlers?

Conclusion

So there you go, my fellow bowlers! As a bowler, you should be aware of all kinds of bowling scores. No matter how skilled you are, sometimes your scores can be low. But that’s okay. No need to be frustrated about that. You can always try and be better in your future games. Many bowlers will say that poor scores are only due to poor performance and lack of practice. But I beg to differ. Know that, there’s so much more in life than your bowling score. So keep shooting your strikes and learn to grow. Good luck and see you later, my friends!