[aridiculous]

Seems to me like bowling rules could use an update. When every pro is so good that they are just competing on mental focus, the nature of the ball, and slight environmental factors like the changing slickness of the wood, it has ceased to become compelling competition. I’d love to see some kind of dynamic interaction between the players: e.g. if you hit your 3 pin, it gets added to the opposing player. Something like that.

I suppose this goes for all sports of this kind where the players actions don’t affect each other.

[suprjami]

I'm not sure the general public are ready for Bowling meets Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo but I like the idea.

[throwup238]

I was thinking something more like Thunderdome with audience participation.

Two men enter, two bloody flying pins leave.

[heads]

> just competing on mental focus

Ahem: snooker, darts, golf, test match cricket, tennis. To varying degrees with these sports, at the top tier, mastery of the skill is merely the table stakes. The winners are the ones who can do so under immense pressure.

[Aloha]

The difference in how good two pro bowlers are is often fractions of a percent.

Maybe a step back in technology would make the sport more interesting.

I think that can be said for a bunch of stuff like pool, snooker, darts, golf, and bowling.

[ImPostingOnHN]

This reminds me of USA MLB players' optimization for home-run hits over time. I guess a strike is essentially the "home run" of bowling.

[tnecniv]

Yeah and the league hates it, so they deadened the ball two years back. Just enough that close homers would go for fly outs but not enough to change the math so players would change their approach.

Also, if you’re Mookie Betts, you’re big on both

[m463]

I wonder what would happen, probably they will add string pin setters to the rules.