New Scoring System for competitive bowling to be unveiled during World Bowling Tour Finals

Athletes and bowling fans around the world will be introduced to a proposed new scoring system for competitive bowling during the World Bowling Tour (WBT) Men's and Women's Finals in Las Vegas on November 2.

The new scoring system is the result of the work done by an all-star panel of international bowling experts, including World Bowling leaders, athletes, coaches, news media and commercial bowling industry executives.

The international task force, with the additional input of Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) leadership, developed the new system in order to make the sport more attractive and easier to understand for casual bowling fans, the news media and the competitors.

The new system, which impacts how the sport is scored as well as the format for competition, will be unveiled during the WBT Finals. The singles match play competition will be conducted as follows:

1. A match will involve 12 frames.
2. In each frame, each player will throw one shot.
3. If Player A gets a higher pin count than Player B, he/she will win the frame.
4. If both players strike, the frame will be tied.
5. If neither player strikes, but each has the same pin count, each player will try to convert the spare. If both successfully convert their spares, the frame will be a tie. If one player has a higher pin count than the other after two shots, that player will win the frame.
6. Scoring for the match will reflect who has won the most frames (example, 1 up, 2 up, etc. All-square means the match is tied).
7. At the point one player has won more frames than frames remain (example: 3 up after 10 frames), he/she will be declared the winner.
8. If a match is "all-square" after 12 frames, the tie will be broken using the single-frame format described above until the tie is broken.

The new system emphasizes winning the frame, much like golf's Ryder Cup places emphasis on winning a hole. This new system is expected to dramatically reduce the length of time and complexity of scoring required to complete a two-player match.

World Bowling President and CEO Kevin Dornberger (pictured) noted "We believe we have found the right balance between modernizing our sport while retaining credibility and tradition our athletes and fans value. All of us involved with this project are looking forward to its introduction in Las Vegas".

The World Bowling Tour Men's and Women's Finals will be contested in the new South Point Bowling Plaza in Las Vegas on Sunday, Nov. 2, and will air on ESPN on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2015.