Scoring
- Frame
- One of the ten turns in a game. You get two balls per frame to knock down all ten pins.
- Strike (X)
- All ten pins with the first ball. Scores 10 plus the pins of your next two balls.
- Spare (/)
- All ten pins in two balls. Scores 10 plus the pins of your next ball.
- Open frame
- A frame without a strike or a spare. It scores only the pins you knocked down.
- Double and turkey
- Two strikes in a row is a double, three in a row a turkey. The first strike of a turkey is worth 30.
- Fill ball
- The extra ball or balls in the tenth frame after a strike or spare. They count only for the tenth frame.
- Perfect game
- Twelve strikes in a row: 300, the highest score there is.
- Clean game
- A game without a single open frame: every frame is a strike or a spare.
- Foul (F)
- Crossing the foul line. The ball counts as zero and the pins it knocked down are set back.
- Gutter ball
- A ball that drops into the gutter beside the lane and hits no pins.
Pins and leaves
- Leave
- The pins still standing after your first ball. The 10-pin alone is a leave, and so is the 7-10.
- Split
- A leave with the headpin down and a gap between the pins that are left: a pin is missing between or in front of them.
- Washout
- A leave with a gap like a split, but with the headpin still standing, such as the 1-2-10. It does not count as a split.
- Headpin
- The 1-pin, at the front of the triangle.
- Single-pin spare
- A leave of exactly one pin, and the spare you make by knocking it down.
The shot
- The spot that gives the best chance of a strike: between the 1 and 3 pins for a right-hander, between the 1 and 2 for a left-hander.
- Carry
- Whether a pocket hit takes all ten pins. Hitting the pocket and leaving a pin is a shot that did not carry.
- Brooklyn
- A ball that crosses over and hits the other side of the headpin: the 1-2 side for a right-hander.
- Oil pattern
- How the oil is laid on the lane: how long and where. It decides where the ball starts to hook.
League night
- Series
- The total of the games you bowl in one session, usually three.
- Average
- Total pins divided by games bowled. Leagues drop the decimals.
- Book average
- The average you finished last season with, used until this season's average is established.
- Handicap
- Pins added to your score so bowlers of different levels can compete: a percentage of the difference between a basis and your average.
- Scratch
- Your score as bowled, without handicap.
- No-tap
- A format in which nine pins (or eight) with the first ball already count as a strike.