Bowls as a sport
Bowls is still fairly unknown in Finland. One can encounter the game on Eurosport or while on vacation. Bowls is played at many holiday resorts, especially in Spain, where it is not uncommon to find Finns too.
The idea of the game is fairly simple. Quite similarly to petanque one tries to get a bigger ball (wood) closer to the smaller goal-ball (jack) than the opponent. "Wood" is specially shaped so that when it is rolled it will turn to other side to form a curved almost a banana shaped track. This makes the game very challenging and strategic.
Bowls is a game for gentlemen and women. Its nature makes possible to maintain a relaxed conversation, and enjoy the tension of a tight competition at the same time. Bowls fits for all shapes and sizes, and it is really easy game to enjoy.
if you got interested and want to try the game, feel free to contact us trough e-mail or trough our feedback section. When asked we can organize demonstration events around Finland.
Counting the Points
Player wins a game of bowls if he is the first to reach a predestined number of points or if he has the most points after the agreed amount of ends has been played.
- Example: Winner is the player who first reaches 21 points.
- Example: Winner is the player who has most points after five ends.
Players get points according to how many woods they have managed to get closer to jack than their opponent. In the image bolw there are two situations (="tilanne" in Finnish) that show how one wood can determine who wins the end.
In the situation A the green player has managed to get one of his woods closer to the jack than the blue players best wood. This means that the green player earns one point from this end. In the situation B the green player didnt manage to get woods closer to the jack than the blue player. Two blue woods are closer to the jack than the closest green wood --> two points to the blue player.
ATTN: Usually both players/teams have a full set of four woods to be played. In the image below only three bowls are showed from each team. This is to make the image easier to understand.
