Five-pin bowling

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Five-pin bowling is a bowling variant which is only played in Canada, where many bowling alleys offer it, either alone or in combination with ten-pin bowling. It was devised in the early twentieth century to offer bowlers the chance to play a game during a half-hour lunch break.^{[citation needed]} This goal was achieved by using smaller balls which travel faster than ten-pin balls and which can be thrown in rapid succession. Five-pin bowling was invented in 1909 by Thomas F. Ryan in Toronto, Ontario.

The balls in five-pin are small enough to fit in the hand and therefore have no fingerholes. There are, naturally, five pins, arranged in a V. In size they are midway between duckpins and ten-pins, and they have a heavy rubber band around their middles to make them move farther when struck. The centre pin is worth five points if knocked down, those either side, three each, and the outermost pins, two each, giving a total of fifteen for the lot.

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, which means the score achieved by the player's first two balls of the next frame or frames are added to his or her score for the strike. They are also, of course, counted in their own frames, so 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. 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. A perfect score is 450, which is probably attained less frequently than perfect tenpin scores are, because of the greater opportunity in five-pin for splits (arrangements of the remaining pins in which there are spaces large enough for a ball to pass through without touching a pin).

Until 1967, an eastern Canadian bowler was required to knock down the left corner ("counter") pin to score any points, while a western Canadian bowler was required to knock down the right corner pin. The values of the pins were changed in the same year to the current values.

Five-pin bowlers use a number of terms to denote the results of a throw:

"punch" - hitting only one pin when two or more pins are remaining
"headpin" - punching the headpin on the first ball. The most dreaded result on the first ball as a "headpin-spare" is extremely difficult to achieve.
"chop" or "chop-off" - hitting the headpin and the 3 and 2 pins on one side, leaving the other 3 and 2 pins on the other side.
"split" - 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.
"aces" - taking out the headpin and both three pins but leaving the two corner pins.
"10 the hard way" - after the third ball, having a frame score of 10 resulting from hitting the 5 pin and one 3 pin and one 2 pin on opposite sides of the headpin.

All modern bowling centres use automated pin-setting machines (first used in 1957) to reset the pins after each ball is thrown. In five-pin, two types of pinsetters are used - "string" and "free fall".

The "string" pinsetter is known for each pin having a string attached to the head. These pinsetters were first invented in 1963 and are characterized by a shield that descends and covers the pindeck while the pinsetter is working. This type of pinsetter has a low operating cost, so it is the most commonly used type of pinsetter. There are three families of string pinsetters.

The PBS family of pinsetters are the most frequently used pinsetters and many consider the PBS as the workhorse of the industry. The PBS family includes models made by Schmid & Company (sometimes branded as BowlOMatic) as well as the CA-1. These machines are straight electrical and do not require air compressors unlike pneumatic machines. The Schmid machines ran using relays while the CA-1 used circuit boards. The PBS brand was bought out by Brunswick. Brunswick introduced a second generation Schmid pinsetter dubbed the 81-5 as well as a 10-pin string pinsetter and a convertible five-ten pin machine marketed as the Chamelion.
The Mendes family of string pinsetters is not as common as the PBS family. Mendes machines are easily spotted for its shield that descends on a hinge like a closing door. The machine may immediately start up if all the pins are knocked down. The early Mendes string pinsetters were pneumatic. They released an electrical version of the machine known as the ME90. Mendes was bought out by Qubica - now Qubica/AMF. The machine is now marketed by Qubica/AMF under the TMS name. These machines are available for five and ten pin, but there is no convertible version.
A third family of pinsetter was recently released into the market by Paule Systems. The machine - marketed as the Merlin - is a convertible five/ten pin string pinsetter that uses 15 strings. The changeover time of this machine is quick. The PBS version uses 12 strings - a changeover requires the headpin and the two corners to be restrung.

The most common stop on string pinsetters is a string tangle.

The "free fall" pinsetter works like ten-pin. A reset is completed by sweeping the old pins off the pindeck and setting a fresh set of pins in its place. The swept pins are elevated back to the top to create the next setup. Free fall pinsetters for 5-pin are no longer made. There were three common types of free fall pinsetters.

The Double Diamond was the first pinsetter invented for five-pin. This pneumatic machine was characterized by a sweep that did not stay descended while the pin table was moving. The pin table carries a protective front plate that was often used for advertising and had five tubes sticking out where the pins enter the table. Sometimes, a pin hit hard enough would fly straight up into pin table - resulting in a loud "clang". The Double Diamond is a very durable pinsetter. Most free fall pinsetters remaining in service today are Double Diamonds.
Brunswick offered free-fall machines for five-pin before buying out PBS. To the average bowler, the machine has a look and behavior similar to tenpin's A-2 pinsetter. These machines are now difficult to find. Most lanes equipped with these machines have been upgraded to string pinsetters.
A less commonly found machine was the Strickland pinsetter - a pneumatic machine characterized by separate pinsetting and pin pickup tables. Its behavior is similar to the A-2. On a reset, it can be difficult to see the actual pinsetting table. The pins rest on forks on the pin table. When the pins reach the deck, the pinsetting table shifts back several inches before rising back to its position. When the pins are cycled back to the top, they actually hang from supporting forks positioned such that the next rack of pins is in position. The pinsetting table then rises to pick up the hanging pins.

Bowlers must initiate all free-fall pinsetter cycles. The five-pin free-fall pinsetter does not automatically react to a ball thrown or pin knocked down. When bowling on free fall pinsetters, the bowler would have to press a button to initiate a pick-up cycle to clear fallen pins lying on the pin deck. If automatic scoring is in use, all automatic resets are actually initiated by the scoring computers.

The success of the string pinsetter eventually led to the demise of free-fall. When a bowling centre retires free fall pinsetters, the old machines are usually bought by other free-fall equipped bowling centers and are disassembled for parts.

Free fall pinsetters are still in service in some bowling centres in BC, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec.

Other facts about five-pin bowling:

At first, bowling pins used in five-pin were made of plastic-coated maple. Today's pins are made of a hard plastic and feature UV-glow capability for black light glow bowling operations. The neck stripes on plastic pins are actually a red plastic tape that wears off with use. Suppliers sell replacement neck band tape.
In 1990, the Canadian 5 Pin Bowlers Association sanctioned the use of personalized bowling balls. Before then, only bowling balls supplied by the bowling center were allowed to be used.
On string type pinsetters, automatic scoring equipment is connected directly to the pinsetter circuitry. However, cameras can be used with string type pinsetters if the automatic scorer cannot be connected directly to the pinsetter. On free-fall, cameras are used. Most systems mount the camera mounted between lanes as in tenpin. However the ProScore system - when installed on free-fall - reads scores using a set of five electonic eyes mounted above the pindeck.
Bowling centres with convertible pinsetters usually will set specific hours as to when their convertible lanes will support five-pin or ten-pin. Convertible machines may support duckpin instead of ten-pin when in ten-pin mode. String pinsetters are not sanctioned by the USBC for ten-pin play.
Some five-pin centers have installed lane protection devices. The device is a sheet of plexiglas mounted vertically about six inches above the lane and is located just past the target arrows on the lane. This device discourages bowlers from lofting the ball - which is more prevalent in small ball bowling. A ball that knocks the plexiglas loose or flies over the plexiglas guard is worth zero points under C5PBA rules.
A foul line violation in five-pin results in a 15-pin penalty. Pins knocked over during a violating delivery count. The penalty is assessed at the end of the game. This compares to a zero score for the ball in other bowling disciplines.

Some believe that the hockey term "five-hole" (the space between the goaltender's legs) is taken from five-pin bowling. Knocking out the headpin (worth 5 points) by itself leaves a large hole through which it is easy to put the next one or two balls without hitting anything.