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© Copyright 2001, Jim Loy
I bowled a 300 game (also called a perfect game, consisting of 12 strikes in a row, about as rare as a hole-in-one in golf) last night, at The Bowl, in the Thursday Night Classic league, in Bozeman, MT. My series was 300+162+192=654, a respectable series, I suppose. I threw several practice balls, missing the head pin once and picking up a couple of ten pins. Then the first game began, and every ball went into the pocket. It was one of those in-the-groove times. I missed my arrow four times, three times on the left, and once on the right. The misses on the left were over an inch off; but there was oil there, and my ball blasted the pocket each time. The miss on the right curved extra hard, hit fairly light, and pins flew all over. I got nervous on my last three balls. I backed off when I realized that I had stepped onto the approach when a bowler two lanes over was up. My last ball was right on my arrow, dead center. It came up a little high, and the nine-pin remained standing; then two rolling pins pushed it off the back of the lane, and it toppled into the pit. 300!
My next game started with two spares, and I joked that I was going to get an all spare game. Then I missed a single pin, followed by a pocket 7-10 split, and I was struggling to stay respectable. In the past, bowlers have bowled a 300 and a 299 against me, and a 298 against my team. This was my first 300.
A collection of Bozeman merchants used to pay $10,000 for a 300. Now the total is $0. I will insist on a check.