Don’t be angry when the fetid light goes out. Bowling alleys have a reason for not wanting you to pass the free throw line on approach. There is oil on the rail. it is slippery. If you try to walk on that lane, you will fall. It won’t feel good.

There is a scientific method behind the existence of oil in a bowling alley. Three very important components of bowling are the speed with which you throw the ball, the accuracy of your throw, and the angle at which the ball enters the pocket. The combination of these is what makes someone very good or very bad at bowling.

If you watch the pros on TV or any avid bowler, you’ll probably notice that they make the ball snag on the headpin. They do this because it creates an angle in the pocket that increases your ability to throw a strike. When I say the pocket, I mean the area slightly to the left or right of the head pin. You never want to hit the head pin squarely; you want to hit to the side.

The amount by which avid bowlers can curve the ball largely depends on how much oil is in the bowling lane. The more oil there is, the less the ball tends to snag, because less friction is created. The less oil there is, the more friction is created and the ball will hook more.

When bowling centers pour oil into lanes, they typically don’t put the same amount evenly throughout the lane. For regular leagues and open play, bowling alleys will put up what they call their “house shot.” The house shot is considered the easiest and produces the highest scores among players in the league. There is a higher concentration of oil in the middle of the lane and as you go towards each gutter that amount of oil decreases.

This produces the highest scores because the margin of error is large; in other words, it may be less accurate, but still throw a strike. Remember what I said earlier about friction? When the lanes are oiled like this and you don’t hit your target on the inside of the lane, the ball will curve less because it’s sliding through all that oil in the middle of the lane, so it’ll just skid into the pocket. If you miss your target to the outside of the lane, there is less oil there and more friction is created, so the ball will be able to curve more to get back into the pocket.

In more competitive situations, such as bowling tournaments, they are more likely to put a more even layer of oil on the lane, requiring players to be more precise.

Learning to conquer the different variations of these lane conditions will allow you to be more successful and have more fun and hopefully win some money in your league or tournament!