Bowling is a fun and exciting sport. And the history of bowling is interesting in that leaders down through history have outlawed and banned bowling and yet it still thrives today.

The idea of knocking down targets with a stone, a ball, or any appropriate object is as old as the human civilization itself. There has been proof that certain implementations of the game are found in a 7000-year old Egyptian tomb. Similarly, there had been references of an identical sport that had surfaced in barbarian 3rd century Germany.

It was not until 1930 that efforts were made to study the history of bowling. British Anthropologist Sir Flinders Petrie found a 7000-year old evidence of an Egyptian child’s tomb artifacts that are supposedly used on a game similar to bowling. Conversely the German historian William Pehle points out substantial evidences that show Germany as the cradle of the sport. German peasants, on a test of faith, would stab their Kegel (sort of club) on the ground as targets and knock those by using rocks or wooden balls rolled on the ground. If they succeed in knocking down the Kegel, they are considered free of sin. This practice eventually shed its secular background to become a favorite sport of the common people.

There is also evidence that during medieval England, King Edward IV forbade his people to engage in bowling-like sports. He passed a law banning the “hustling of stones” to keep his troops from spending their time on this activity instead on training. At that time, different versions of the sport had already emerged in Europe. They were the Italian Bocce, the French Petanque and the Lawn Bowling of the British.

English settlers brought bowling to United States. Evidence points out that in year 1611, Capt. James Smith outlawed bowling when he arrived in Jamestown to find the Virginia colonist starving but still bowling happily. But instead of fading away into obscurity, the sport gained popularity in America. The game was played with the standard nine-pins, mentioned in a quote from Rip Van Winkle as he wakes up to the sounds of “ninepins”. It was believed that the Dutch immigrants in a New York colony were responsible for the nine pins form of bowling.

By 1841, a Connecticut law was passed that banned bowling, especially nine-pin bowling. Other states followed suit. The incident happened since bowling was then heavily associated with gambling and crime. But instead of fading away, the sport managed to get around the law by the evolution of ten pin of bowling, and bowling fame continued to rise. Then in 1895, the American Bowling Congress was formed and the official rules for bowling was established.

Whatever paths the history of bowling took to arrive in its present state, bowling is still one of the more interesting sports today. Bowling is still a genuine sport, a one of a kind and a definite enjoyment. The history of bowling alone is a testament to how great the sport is, from where it began and thrived, even though there were those who tried to stomp it out.

It is estimated that worldwide, bowling is the largest participation sport. It has continued to grow and flourish over the centuries to the immense popularity it enjoys today from weekly bowling leagues to midnight cosmic bowling.

Summary: The history of bowling reflects the passion held for the sport, having flourished for centuries in defiance of those who tried to suppress it.