How do oil patterns work in bowling?

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How do oil patterns work in bowling?

In: Engineering

Anonymous 0 Comments

Have you ever watched a bowling video where the bowlers REALLY spins the ball, and then ball goes most the way down the lane spinning but still goi kg on a relative straight line, but then at the end takes a sudden curve.

That’s because of the oil on the lane. The lane is only oiled so far, and then the last several feet arent oiled, when then allows the ball to get more traction to curve.

The most typically oil pattern is a house oil, where the lane is just evenly oiled, with sometime some more oil towards the middle and less towards the edges, all the way up to a few feet from the pins. But there are other patterns, like a block, were the center is more oiled then the edges, a reverse where the edges are more oiled than the center, and a Christmas tree, which, well from above looks kind of like a pine tree / cone shape. And many others.

Use of these different patterns is mainly in pro bowling or bowling leagues, because it can create a more interesting game where bowlers have to adjust their game to the different pattern.