Inventions & Discoveries: How old is the game of bowling?

In, about 7,000 years old grave of an Egyptian child, there have been found implements which were used in playing a game very similar to modern tenpins! There is also an evidence indicating the existence of some sort of bowling game during the Stone Age in which large pebbles and rocks were rolled at pointed stones which served as pins.

Written records, however, indicate that bowling may have originated in the monasteries of Europe about 700 years ago as part of a religious ritual. The peasants of those days generally carried a club, even when visiting a church. The priests told the people that the clubs could stand for the devil, or evil. The club was placed in a corner, and the peasant rolled a large stone or ball at it. If he hit the ball, he was praised. If he failed, he was told to lead a better life.

The hitting of the club was called a ‘kegle’. That is why bowlers are called ‘keglers’. The priests tried it themselves, and a game was born. Later on the nobility and landed gentry took it up. By the middle ages, bowling was a universal and very popular game in Germany.

The people of England became equally excited about learning the new game. By the time of Henry VIII, the game was so established that in 1530 the king ordered bowling alleys added to his residence!

The early Dutch settlers introduced the game of nine pins to America and played on Bowling Green in New York.