Editing Five-pin bowling (section)

== Gameplay ==
[[File:5-pin bowling balls (4176896065).jpg|thumb|upright|Five-pin bowling balls]]
The balls in five pin bowling are small enough to fit in the hand and therefore typically have no fingerholes, although the Canadian 5 Pin Bowlers Association (C5PBA) has approved balls with thumb holes.<ref name ="C5PBA Standards">{{cite web|title=5 Pin Bowling Standards & Specifications Manual|url=http://c5pba.ca/SideDoc/ST&SPEnglish.doc|publisher=Canadian 5 Pin Bowlers' Association|access-date=11 May 2015|date=May 2014}}</ref>{{rp|20}}

At the end of the lane there are five pins arranged in a V. They are midway in size between [[Duckpin bowling|duckpins]] and ten pins, and they have a heavy rubber band around their middles to make them move farther when struck. 

Unlike any other form of bowling popular in North America, the pins in five-pin bowling are worth different scoring point values, depending on their location in the V-formation. The centre pin is worth five points if knocked down, those on either side, three each, and the outermost pins, two each, giving a total of 15 in each frame.

In each frame, each player gets three attempts to knock all five pins over. Knocking all five pins down with the first ball is a strike, worth 15 points, plus the score achieved by the player's first two balls of the next frame are added to the score for the strike; the count in the frame where the first strike was bowled is left blank until the bowler makes their first delivery of the next frame. As those points are also counted in their own frame, in effect they count double. A player who takes two balls to knock all the pins down gets a spare, which means the first ball of the next frame counts double. When a bowler bowls two strikes in succession, within a game, the bowler has scored a "double". When a double has been bowled, the count for the first strike is 30 points plus the value of the pins bowled down with the first ball of the frame following the second strike. When a bowler bowls three strikes in succession, within a game, the bowler has scored a "triple" (also called a "turkey"). In scoring three successive strikes, the bowler is credited with 45 points in the frame where the first strike was bowled.<ref>Garside, Bert: ''Official Rules and Regulations Governing the Sport of 5 Pin Bowling'', 5th edition, page 24, Canadian 5 Pin Bowlers' Association, 1999</ref> As in ten-pin, if either of these happen in the last frame, the player gets to take one or two shots at a re-racked set of pins immediately.

[[File:20190103 Bowling ball sizes.png | thumb|right | upright=1.5 | Comparative sizes of bowling balls, portrayed on boards of a bowling lane. Balls for five-pin bowling are the same size as those for duckpin bowling.]]
A perfect score is 450, requiring 12 consecutive strikes bowled in the same game without fouling. It does not happen as frequently as in tenpin bowling. The C5PBA sanctions from 15 to 30 perfect games annually.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Example of a perfect 450 game score sheet
!Frame
!1
!2
!3
!4
!5
!6
!7
!8
!9
!10
|-
|
|X
|X
|X
|X
|X
|X
|X
|X
|X
|XXX
|-
|Name
|45
|90
|135
|180
|225
|270
|315
|360
|405
|450
|}
Originally the pins counted as (from left to right) 4 - 2 - 1 - 3 - 5 points. In 1952 the president of the Canadian Bowling Association proposed changing the scoring system to 2 - 3 - 5 - 3 - 2. That was accepted in the west in 1952, in Ontario in 1953, and in the rest of Canada in 1954.<ref name="bowlcanada.ca">{{Cite web|url=http://bowlcanada.ca/anniversary/chronologicalhistory.php |title=Chronological History of Fivepin Bowling |website=bowlcanada.ca |access-date=16 May 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016201631/http://www.bowlcanada.ca/anniversary/chronologicalhistory.php |archive-date=16 October 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Milton|first1=Doug|title=New Bowling Scoring System Will be Helpful for Some|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QwExAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MN4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=2243%2C1486539|access-date=31 March 2017|publisher=Ottawa Citizen|date=9 January 1954|page=35}}</ref>

In 1967 the Canadian Bowling Congress decided to abolish the counter pin (the left counter pin had to be knocked down to score any points). The counter pin was the right 2-pin for left-handed bowlers. The rule change went in effect in 1968 in eastern Canada, but the Western Canada 5-pin Bowling Association rejected the change, and as a result there were no national championships until 1972 after the west accepted abolishing the counter pin.<ref name="bowlcanada.ca" /> (Although some leagues continued with the counter pin system for several more years.)

Five-pin bowling allows for more strategy in its play than the ten-pin variant,{{cn|date=October 2023}} because of the differing point values for each pin. For example: If a player fails to score a strike in 10-pin bowling, it is less important how the player chooses to resolve the remaining pins, as all pins are valued the same, and knocking down more results in higher points. In five-pin bowling on the other hand, if a player misses a strike, he or she has to make a strategic decision as to which set of remaining pins they should attempt to knock down (beyond simply trying for them all), which allows players a means to minimize their losses after a mistake, by aiming for the higher-scoring group of pins, or for the lower but perhaps more easily struck group.

=== Terminology ===
[[File:Bowling Alley 1955 (12766767553).jpg|thumb|A five-pin bowling alley in Coquitlam, British Columbia in 1955]]

Five-pin bowlers use a number of terms to denote the results of a throw:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bowlingdepot.ca/glossary.html|title=Glossary|website=Bowling Depot}}</ref>

* "[number]-pack": Term for a number of consecutive strikes; e.g. six consecutive strikes is a "six-pack". Also referred to as "[number]-bagger" (e.g. six-bagger).
* "10 the hard way": After the third ball, having a frame score of 10 where the remaining pins are a 3-pin and a 2-pin that are not "neighbours".
* "Aces" (A): taking out the headpin and both three pins but leaving the two corner pins. Also referred to as "bed posts", "goal posts" or "channel 11".
* "Chop" or "chop-off" (denoted "c/o"): Hitting the headpin and the 3 and 2 pins on one side on the first ball, leaving the other 3 and 2 pins on the other side.
* "Clean game": Finishing a game with a strike or spare in every frame.
* "Corner-pin": Leaving only the left corner pin or right corner pin standing on the first ball is denoted by an "L" or an "R" respectively on a score sheet.
* "Fifteen": When all pins are knocked down after the third ball. Also referred to as a "clean up".
* "Headpin" (denoted H on a score sheet): punching out the headpin on the first ball. This is the most dreaded result on the first ball, as converting the spare resulting from punching out the headpin (a "headpin-spare") is extremely difficult to achieve.
* "Punch": Hitting only one pin when two or more pins are remaining (commonly known as a "cherry" on the 2nd or 3rd ball)
* "[[Split (bowling)|Split]]" (S): Taking out the headpin and one of the three-pins, scoring 8 on the first ball. Difficult to obtain a spare on the second ball but if accomplished, this is known as a "split-spare". Many bowling associations will offer a special pin for this achievement.
* "Strike out": Finishing the game with Three or more strikes.
* "Turkey": Three consecutive strikes
* "Wood" or "deadwood": The pins left on the lane, usually after throwing the first two balls of a frame. This originates from when bowling pins were typically made of wood and not acrylic.