The game of lawn bowls is simple to learn but takes years to master (if it's mastered at all). Games are played in a gentlemanly fashion, with positive support and comments for all players.

The goal of the game is to get more of your team's bowls closer to the jack (the small white ball) than your opponents on each "end" played. A typical game is 14 or more ends, with an overall running tally being kept at all times to establish the winner.

Lawn bowls come in sets of four - the maximum number of bowls you will roll in one end of a game. (Only three bowls are used in triples and just two are used in games with 4 bowlers per team, known as "rinks.")

Your first surprise when learning the game will probably occur when you pick up a bowl and realize how heavy it is. Bowls come in sets of different sizes and colors and are also distinguished by symbols or pictures imprinted on each set. Knowing whose bowl is whose is particularly important when providing directions to teammates, as well as when scoring each end. (For more information about bowls and other equipment, as well as for clarification on terms used throughout this page and the rest of the site, refer to the equipment page as well as the glossary).

Your next surprise will probably be when you roll your first bowl and realize that it doesn't go straight! Lawn bowls are, by design, not perfectly round. They are weighted to one side and have a built in natural bias. To help bowlers determine in which direction a bowl will curve or bend, one side of each bowl is marked with a large symbol, and the other side with a smaller version of the same symbol. The bowl will always curve towards the smaller marking - this is one of the most important and fundamental things to remember when bowling.

How much and when a bowl will bend depends on many factors:

1) How fast you roll it. (A bowl's distance is commonly referred to as "weight," i.e., a bowl that goes well past the jack is said to have "too much weight.")

2) Where you aim it - the green is not uniform and has "fast" and "slow" spots that you can, with careful attention, identify during play. (A bowl's direction is commonly referred to as "grass," i.e., a bowl that is perfectly aligned with the jack, but perhaps too "heavy" or "light" is said to have "perfect grass." Bowls are also described as being bowled "narrow": curving "across" the jack - or "wide": bowled out far enough that it never curves back to the jack at all.)

3) The condition of the green. In addition to having "fast" and "slow" spots, greens will play "faster" or "slower" depending on the length of the grass in general, recent weather (i.e., as greens dry out, bowls tend to roll faster and farther), and other factors.

4) The type of the bowl. While no bowl is perfectly round, the amount of variance built into a bowl varies. Companies offer bowls with narrow bias (that roll relatively straight), normal bias, and wide bias (that finish with a large, sweeping curve). The diagram to the right roughly illustrates the effect of different biases on a bowl.

While the whole bowling green is square, games are played in assigned lanes (known as rinks) which are designated with white markers on each edge, as well as a yellow marker to indicate the center of the rink. These also act as great reference points for aiming when you bowl.

In team play, the following positions exist:

Lead: The first bowler on each team.
Vice: The next bowler, generally more experienced than the lead.
Skip: The last bowler, and usually the most experienced player; the skip also generally guides most of the strategy throughout each end.

Each end begins with one of the leads rolling the jack, which is then centered by the skip of their team. (The lead who rolls the jack is determined by the result of the previous end; the winning skip has the option to have his lead roll the jack, or to allow the other team to do so and in turn roll the last bowl of the end, known as "the hammer.")

Once the jack is centered, teams alternate bowls, with the leads alternating rolling one bowl at a time until they have bowled all their bowls, then the vices, and finally the skips. (After the leads and vices bowl, they switch ends with the skips so the vices can provide instructions and offer strategy while looking at the head.)

When all the bowls have been rolled, the vices determine the score for the end. The team whose bowl is closest to the jack scores one point. Each subsequent bowls on the same team that is closer than all of the opposing team's bowls scores an additional point. (Thus, only one team can score per end.) The non-scoring team's vice or skip posts the score, and the skip decides whether to take "the mat," i.e., have their lead roll the jack and the first bowl of the next end, or "the hammer."

Note: This is a brief summary, but all you need to get started. Most players learn something new each time they join a game and step onto the green. Also, official rulebooks are available at no cost to members!