How to Play
Getting Started
It couldn’t be easier to try Bowls Bash. Check out our calendar for Bowls Bash dates and times and then just turn up. There’s no dress code and equipment will be provided. All you need to remember is to wear flat shoes or trainers (no high heels!!) to look after the green. There is no membership fee but we charge adults $5 a game and juniors just $2.
When you arrive at the bowls club, a friendly Bowls Bash coordinator will be there to help you get started and provide any guidance you need. The equipment will be ready and you’ll be given a reminder of the rules and a scorecard.
If you’re a beginner, you’ll be given a very quick demo, but it might be helpful to take a few seconds to look at our simple guide on how to deliver a bowl.
How to Play
You, your team-mate and your two opponents are on the green. You have three bowls each at your feet, the Jack is placed on the Spot at the far End of the green and you have a scorecard in hand. You’re now ready to roll! Here’s how you play the game.
Pick your team colour and decide which team goes first – scissors/paper/stone, toss a coin, the youngest player – whatever is easiest. Whoever goes first places the delivery Mat down on the green anywhere in line with the Jack.
Game on! Alternating teams and keeping one foot on the Mat, take it turns to deliver your bowl towards the Jack. So, one team bowls the first bowl, the other team goes second and so on. The order of play within a team can be interchangeable as long as each player bowls three times during the End. Each End should last about 5 or six minutes.
Once all bowls are delivered, put the delivery Mat on the side of the green, leave the other Jack on the Spot ready for the next End, walk up to the bowls and tot up your scores.
The nearest bowl to the Jack scores 3 points, the second nearest 2 points and the third nearest bowl scores 1 point.
A bowl that touches the Jack (a ‘Kiss’) earns two bonus points – and plenty of bragging rights!
If your team has declared that End as your ‘power-play’, all points earned that End are doubled. Could be a game-changer!
The person who got closest to the Jack earning 3 points, starts off the following End and can choose where to place the Mat for the next End. Keep a running total of your scores and, after 5 Ends, the team that has scored the most points wins the Set. If scores are level, the Set is a tie.
After the second Set of 5 Ends, if one team has won two Sets, or won one Set and the other is tied, they are the outright winner. If the score is 1-1 or both Sets were tied, a sudden-death tie-break End is played. Time to be a hero!
In the tie-break End, each player bowls just one bowl and the team with the bowl nearest the Jack wins. There are no points for a Kiss.
Your team can choose one ‘power-play’ End per Set where points earned that Set are worth double. Your team must nominate its power-play before the start of the End.
Should the Jack be knocked off the Rink or in the Ditch, it will be re-placed back on the Spot. If your bowl lands in the Ditch, it cannot score.
If you are playing with people of very different abilities, such as small children, you can allow them to deliver their bowls from closer to the Jack…until they start getting too good!
Smiling, celebrating and friendly rivalry are all compulsory.
The bite size summary of the rules is HERE