Just wondering if I'm the only candlepin bowler out here.
In case you ten pin folks are wondering, candlepins are tall and skinny, pretty much totally unlike your pins. We use very small bowling balls, mine are 2lbs 8oz, which are actually illegal in tournament play, because they're too heavy. We roll 3 balls, not two per frame, and the deadwood is kept on the alley. This of course can be a blessing or a curse. Say you've got a single pin, and a piece of wood resting against it. Easy spare that anyone could make. Put that deadwood about 1 or 2 feet from the single pin, though, and the ball flies away when it hits it, and the deadwood goes the other way. You've just missed your shot. I can't tell you how many times that's happened! One more quirk about candlepin bowling that I find very frustrating. You can actually hit the head pin, and have that be the ONLY one to go. The other 9 are still standing there, laughing at your misfortune. There has never been a perfect game in Candlepin, nor will there ever be. If I'm correct, the high game is between 242 and 245 somewhere.

Hello candlepin man. once in while i go candlepin bowling at a bowling alley nearby. You can't compare candlepn to 10 pin because they are completely different games. I like them both and hope to get a set of candlepin balls someday. I hate when people call candlepin a kid version of 10 pin because the ball is smaller and you get three balls instead of two. THe only people who say that are people who have never tried it. NIce talking to another candlepin bowler.

I've never played candlepin, but I found an alley when I was out of town on business near Rowley, MA. I think it was in Ipswitch. I walked in and it was pretty busy. I wanted to try it, but it was packed, so I left. I'd like to try it sometime though.

I, too, am from the land of the skinny pins. Actually, aside from watching my mom bowl in a 10-pin league when I was a kid, Candlepin bowling is how I got into the sport. I bowled Candlepin for a couple of years (95 average) before getting into ten pin. I still play once in a while, and here on Cape Cod there are actually more Candlepin houses & lanes than there are ten pin.

Anybody seen that new show "Candlepins for Dollars" on WSBK?

-Rick

i too try to hit the skinny things. i do try the ten pin side once in awhile just for fun. i have a 114 avg in candlepin and have bowled a 274 in ten pin. strikes do come easier in ten but the spares are harder to get if the pins are far apart (4 and 10). so i would say that candlepin is harder to do. my knowledge of the game helps me when i bowl tenpin. watching some of my friends try tenpin and not knowing how to let the ball go is really funny.

[Edit: Please don't type in all capital letters, it is considered rude]

One of the alleys here, has candlepin on the 1st floor, and ten pin on the second. No elevator! you would think they would of put the sport with the heavier balls on the 1st floor

There are still a few candlepin places around here but the ten pin numbers have caught up. Ive done both, but like ten pin better. I still try to hook the ball on candlepins, just cant get out of the habbit!

JD

When I was younger and lived in the city (Chicago), there were many houses that had candlepins on the second floor, and a couple on the third. Two I can think of had storefronts on the first floor, bowling alley on the second, and candlepins on the third. I don't know of any of them surviving today. The newer, larger lanes have taken over. It was also very common to have a second floor walk-up to a bowling alley. A few of those still exist. How would I do it today? I carry a 4-ball bag.

Candlepins was always considered a Northeast game. You never found them South or West of Chicago. Although I must admit, I rarely looked.

You must be talking about Lanes & Games in Cambridge, MA, right?

I also am from skinnypins land! I preferably bowl the big ones, but I occasionally bowl candlepin

I always bowled duckpin and candlepin in Westport, MA until I got a driver's license and could drive to a 10-pin alley. While I don't really have a preference, I liked bowling duckpin -- at least in that particular house -- because there was no automatic scoring. We used wax pencils on an overhead projector that was built into the table to keep score. Those were good times.