11-18-09 Skittles the Sport

While I was looking at the information about Skittles I found a game called Skittles. I thought it was a joke at first, but then I looked into it more. The game is played in pubs in England and Wales. The game Skittles is only found in certain regions and is not a nation-wide game. The game is popular in south west countries of Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Gloucestershire. The game is played in a narrow building known as skittle alley. There are 9 pins that are called skittle pins. The rules and the pins are different for each region. They normally throw a hardwood ball at the pins, but sometimes use a rubber ball. The size of the ball is from 4 inches and 6 inches in diameter but do not have a place for fingers. After throwing the ball a wooden ramp gives the ball back to the players. The pins are made out of a cider apple tree from the West Country. The size of the pins varies in height from 6inches and 16 inches and the weight of the pin is different depending on what region it is. Sometimes the very front pin is bigger and shaped different than the other pins. When playing the game the pins are in a diamond shape. The game is played by a person throwing three balls at the pins and after each throw whatever pins are hit, those pins are then removed. A person has to reposition the pins after each throw and that person is called the “stickerup.” The goal is to get a score of 27 but this sometimes varies depending on what region. Usually the ball is thrown on the floor but in different regions it is more like a “bowling roll.” A person has a chance to go 12 times during the game. In the Midlands a oval shaped log is thrown in place of the ball. Also a game called Table Skittles. After reading about this game I believe it is exactly like the game in the U.S. that we call bowling. I think it is really cool and didn’t realize that there are many different ways of “bowling” all around the world.

Here is a youtube video of the game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgNH9RM3awQ