How to play
Strike Alley
Roll the ball down the lane and knock over all ten pins. Five frames, most pins wins.
At a glance
- Players
- 1–4 at once
- Ages
- 5 and up
- Round
- Minutes — a sit-down game
- In the packs
- Party, Big Kids
Controls
This one uses the stick and the big button, nothing else.
| What you press | What it does |
|---|---|
| Stick | line up before the throw; while the power meter runs, lean it for spin |
| Button 1 — the big button | press once to start the power meter, press again to throw |
How a round goes
A real lane, eighteen metres from the foul line to the head pin, and everyone takes turns. On your turn, slide left and right to line up your stance, then press. A power meter climbs and then bounces up and down; while it runs, hold the stick left or right to put spin on the ball. Press again to release at whatever the meter reads. Take too long and it throws for you.
Power is ball speed and nothing else. Spin is a sideways pull that only wakes up down the back half of the lane, so a slow ball spends longer under the hook and bends further. A child who works out only one of the two still bowls — a straight ball down the middle takes eight pins all day.
Five frames. Knock down all ten with the first ball and it is a strike; with two balls, a spare. Otherwise you get two balls at the rack, and the second is bowled at whatever is still standing. In the last frame a strike or a spare buys a fresh rack and another ball. The camera rides down the lane with every throw.
Scoring and winning
Real ten-pin scoring: a strike is ten plus your next two balls, a spare ten plus your next one, so a frame's number cannot be written down until the frames after it are bowled. A perfect card is 150. Highest total wins; ties share. Alone, your total goes to the leaderboard.
Tips
- Gutter ball? Start a board further in. The alley tells you the same thing.
- Aim for the pocket, just off centre, rather than the head pin square on — that is what leaves the corner pin standing.
- Three strikes in a row is a turkey, and the alley says so.