What is five-pin bowling?
Five-pin (or 5 pin) bowling is a Canadian form of bowling. Bowl Canada, the association of Canadian bowling centres, calls it “the Canadian game, created by Tommy Ryan in 1909,” and says it “is played in every province and territory across Canada (excluding Nunavut).” The rules are written by the Canadian 5 Pin Bowlers’ Association (C5PBA), which “represents 5 Pin bowlers across Canada.”
The pins and their points
Five pins stand in a V with the point toward you. Each pin is named for its value: the centre pin is worth 5, the pins either side of it 3 each, and the two corner pins 2 each. From left to right that is 2, 3, 5, 3, 2. In the rule book’s words, “The total (point) value of the five bowling pins shall be fifteen (15) points.”
Equipment
| Ball | 4¾ to 5 inches across, 3 lb 4 oz to 3 lb 12 oz, no finger holes (one approved thumb-hole ball is the only exception) |
|---|---|
| Pins | 12⅜ to 12½ inches tall, 2 lb 2 oz (± 2 oz), with a thick rubber band around the belly |
| Lane | 60 feet from the foul line to the head pin and 41½ inches wide, the same length as a tenpin lane |
The rubber band was added to the pins in 1912. Because the lane is the same length as tenpin, lanes can be converted between the two, and the C5PBA has specifications for “tenpin centres converted to 5 pin.” (Figures from the C5PBA’s 5 Pin Bowling Standards & Specifications, revised January 2020.)
How five-pin is scored
From the C5PBA rule book: “A game of 5 Pin Bowling shall consist of ten (10) frames,” and each frame is up to three balls.
- Strike (all five on the first ball): 15, plus the points from your next two balls.
- Spare (the rest cleared with your second ball): 15, plus the points from your next ball.
- Otherwise: you score the points of the pins you knocked down in the frame.
- Three strikes in a row earn 45 in the first of those frames.
- Perfect game: 450. You “must bowl twelve (12) strikes in succession and must not have committed any foul.”
Five-pin score sheets also use shorthand for common first-ball results, each with a fixed value: Head-Pin (5), Headpin Split (8), Chop-Off (10), Aces (11, both corners left standing) and Corner Pin (13).
Fouls are different
This catches tenpin bowlers out. In five-pin, “The penalty for committing a foul shall be a deduction of 15 points from the bowler’s total game score,” yet “all pins bowled down shall be counted.” Your score can’t go below zero. In tenpin, a foul simply means the pins knocked down on that ball don’t count.
5 pin vs 10 pin bowling
| Five-pin | Tenpin | |
| Pins | 5, worth 2-3-5-3-2 (15 points) | 10, one point each |
| Balls per frame | Up to 3 | Up to 2 |
| Perfect game | 450 | 300 |
| Ball | Palm-sized, no finger holes | Much larger, with finger holes |
| Lane | 60 ft to the head pin | 60 ft to the head pin |
| Foul | 15 points off the game, pins count | Pins on that ball don’t count |
| Where | Canada | Worldwide |
Bowl Canada sums it up: five-pin is “the Canadian game,” while tenpin “is the world game.” See how tenpin scoring works.
A short history
In 1905 Thomas F. “Tommy” Ryan, a billiard academy owner, opened tenpin lanes above a jeweller in downtown Toronto. According to the C5PBA, “Customer complaints about the size and weight of the tenpin bowling balls and the game being far too strenuous, led Ryan to experiment.” He had his father whittle five tenpins down on a lathe to about three-quarters of their size, paired them with a hand-sized ball, and five-pin was born around 1909 (the C5PBA says 1909; Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame says 1908).
The first league formed at Ryan’s Toronto Bowling Club in 1910, the rubber band arrived in 1912, and the first ladies’ league started in Toronto in 1921. Ryan never patented the game and, as The Canadian Encyclopedia notes, “saw no financial gain from it, except in his own alley.” He was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1971. The C5PBA itself formed in 1978 from the merger of two earlier national bodies.
How to try it
Most Canadian bowling centres offer five-pin, and Youth Bowl Canada runs leagues for kids from age 3, with a season that usually runs from early September to late April. As its FAQ puts it, “Everything you need is available at the bowling centre at no charge, or for a small rental fee.” Adults can join a league through their local centre or provincial association.
Sources: C5PBA Official Rules and Regulations (amended to January 2024), 5 Pin Bowling Standards & Specifications (January 2020), history and key dates; Bowl Canada; The Canadian Encyclopedia; Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame; Youth Bowl Canada; tenpin foul rule from the USBC Playing Rules, Rule 5a.