Someone recently told me that 300 games were as rare as perfect games pitched in baseball. I'm curious if that is really true.

I'd bowled for 10 yrs I guess before I got my first this season. I ave. 203 this year.

How many bowlers with a similar ave and career length have not had one yet? I guess what I want to know is it really that rare, even today with all our high powered equipment? I know guys who are not very good at all fundamentally that have perfect games and carry inflated aves on the easy house shot.
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kendog
avoids spare shooting at all costs
just throw strikes

Edited on 3/10/2004 1:18 PM

It's actually correct that a 300 games happens with less frequency than a perfect game in baseball.  I remember when one of the more recent ABC bowling magazines came in there was a thread on here that broke down the number of people who bowl in ABC leagues.  Given that information and the fact that ~45K 300's were thrown last year another person broke down the number of games per 300 or people who threw 300 or something and the ratio was smaller than perfect games.

Our house went up in the 1950's. Since then there have been five 300s rolled in it by three different people. First one in either 96 or 97.

I have been bowling for 20 years.  I shot my first sanctioned 300 in 1994. I now have 42 sanctioned.  They always say that the first is the hardest and they get easier after that.  Alot of times, completing the task is all mental.  You get through the front 6 and the first thought is "half way home".  Once you get to the front 8, then the next thought is, "one more please to set up the tenth frame".  I still get caught up thinking too much at times, like last week.  I had the front 8 and all I could think about was get the one in the ninth to set me up for the tenth.  There was a little more riding on it this time because a teammate also had the front 9.  I wanted to see both of us shoot 300 the same game.  The topic here is, "How rare are 300 games?"  Well, I was thinking, "How rare is it to have teammates shoot 300 the same game?"  Truth is, neither one of us shot it.  He had the front 10 before a nasty wiggling 7 pin cost him for 289.  I got to the last ball before a stubborn light 4 pin cost me for 299.  I do not consider 300s to be rare.  But, they still are not easy, because even with todays stronger equipment, you still need a little luck on your side.
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If anyone out there is worried about the scores being too high, try duckpin!!

I've been bowling since I was old enough to throw a ball. All though I am not as good as a lot of people, I do average around 200 wherever I am at. I am now 31 and have never shot a 300. I have shot 3 279's in the last 3 years (2 in the same set). But I have not been able to complete the string. I almost shot an 800 before my 300 (279, 236, 279, 794) and people say that is harder to get. I am still trying to get there but I have a bad habit of turning the ball to early and leaving a 10 pin some where in the middle of the game. Oh well, There's always next week.

Kalannar
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That which does not kill us strengthens us.

So do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

Unless of course you are armed with a bomb. A Black Cherry Bomb that is.

I own my own center.  I started bowling JR league at age 5.  My Dad owns the center I started at and my Grandfather owned it before him, so any time in my life, if I wanted to bowl, I did.  I did not get a 300 until 1995 in another center.  I did have several 279's and a couple of 280's.  I did finally get one at Dad's place in 1998, first one there in over 13 years and only one of 4 in 44 years of buisness.  The oil pattern has not changed hardly at all over the years making it very challenging.  At my center though, past operators have spoiled my coustomers with easier conditions and if they have a bad night, it's not THEM, it MUST be the lanes (or the guy running the lane machine).  This is the same debate all across the entire bowling industry has been facing since lane blocking and oil pattern manipulation was discovered.  As a proprietor, I want my customers to bowl well, but it has cost the game it's integrety.  In most instances, if you tell someone that you know someone or saw someone bowl a perfect game, they assume the lane did the work.  But, as a bowler, I know you still have to have good nerves to do it.  I have 3 sanctioned 300's and I was nearly as nervous the third time as the first time, but it was easier.  Like anything else you do, the more you do it, and do it well, the easier it gets.  I do think easier oil patterns and resin/particle balls have made the game too easy.  I would LOVE to see either an all plastic or all urethane (with not more than 1/4oz side/finger weights allowed and not more than 1000 grit sandings) league!!!!!!!  Let that seperate the men from the wanna B's!!!  If we proprietors take away the easy oil patterns, we will have a LOT less bowling centers.  Damned if we do, and damned if we don't.
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TOON
The one, the original, TOON!

15 full seasons in the last 30 years. 203 average. Still haven't rolled a sanctioned 300.

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Regards,

jensm

I rolled my fourth sanctioned 300 last night . Given that there are so many ways for a perfect game to be screwed up on good shots (different taps -- 8 pin, 9 pin, 7 pin; ringing 10's, etc.), it's still an accomplishment. In my Wednesday scratch league with a median average of 210, about 4800 total games have been thrown, and only five of those have been perfect.

It's really not unusual for higher average THB's to not have a sanctioned 300. One of my teammates is a solid 220 average player, and he doesn't have one yet. He has more 279's and 280's than he can count, but no brass ring yet.

There is no shame in not having tossed the perfect score. It's not as easy as many would make it sound.
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"You want the truth? -- You can't handle the truth! "