Question for any British DUer

[Zuni]

I was watching an old episode of the Ali G show from the UK and in it Borat goes to a Bowling club. But the sport of Bowling seemed radically different than the game we have here. What is British Bowling and how do you play it?

Also---I did not know Britain had Lacrosse teams. I live in Annapolis, MD and a UK Girls lacrosse team is in town. Saw them all over town yesterday.

[Wat_Tyler]

1. Bowling in the UK is like outdoor bowling, sort of curling without brooms

I suppose it's similar to the French Boules, or Bocce.

[Zuni]

2. could you elaborate

I am not familiar with those games

[Kellanved]

4. curling is really the closest thing

The games are usually played outdoors and players tend to be not exactly the youngest,

A jack is thrown, then the players have to throw their bowls as close to the jack as possible. The player with the bowl closest to the jack is awarded points (there are several score counting systems).

[Pert_UK]

3. We have both sorts of bowling in the UK.....

"Lawn" or "Crown Green" bowls is what you saw on Ali G. Players take it in turns to roll bowls and try to get as close to the "jack" (a smaller, white bowl) as they can. You score a point for every bowl you get closer to the jack than your nearest opponent's bowl (i.e. if you have 2 bowls right next to the jack and 2 others miles away, but your opponent has one in between, then you get 2 points).

We also do "ten pin bowling", which is the US style.

We also sometimes do 9pin bowling, where the pins are arranged in a diamond...I'm not sure if this is the same thing as "Skittles".

On an unrelated note, I've been 10 pin bowling several times in Shanghai when I lived their - the Chinese are MAD for it and take it very seriously, although they were very amused by us throwing our hats on the floor when we did badly....

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Different kinds of bowling

ten-pin bowling, which most people, like the US, call just 'bowling', is exactly the same as in the USA. Similiar is 'skittles', played with nine pins and a smaller wooden ball on a shorter lane (you can fit it into a large pub).
I'm guessing you saw 'bowls', played on grass or an indoor surface, with a small 'jack' ball to aim getting your bowls as close to as possible. Same idea as curling - you hit others out of the way, block them etc. This is one of the oldest sports in Britain (dating back to the 13th century). The balls are weighted so they curl; and there is also 'crown green bowls', where there's a gentle rise in the middle of a square green to add a different way of curling the line of the bowls.

Lacrosse isn't that common, but is played a bit by both sexes.

[Zuni]

6. Thanks folks

I appreciate that. I could not figure out what the devil they were doing on the show.