BOWLO - The Card Bowling Game
By bohus
I don’t
mean to seem indignant, but isn’t bowling already a rather sedentary
sport? You have to
concentrate while at the top of the alley surveying your ten pin quarry,
putting just the right spin on the ball takes focus - but
you get a chance to catch your breath in between throws, right? That’s what makes Bowling a great casual sport. Even in full game mode there’s
still time to have a few beers and chill.
So why remove the one sports-like aspect of bowling and reduce it to a card game? Bowlo is a 1957 card game from the height of the bowling fad that “has all the score-thrills of bowling”. And here I was naive enough to think that score keeping is the least thrilling aspect of bowling.
Here’s how the game works. In each hand you recieve five cards, each with a few pins pictured on them. You want the cards to total ten pins so you can mark off a "strike" on the score sheet (you can use conventional scoring sheets to play Bowlo). Different hands represent your virtual “throws” in a regular 10 frame game.
On first blush, this game struck me as a bit silly since it does away with the physical aspect of the game - but it does retain the social aspect of the game which for me at least is a big part of the fun. The box graphics point out another benefit since Bowlo is “the strikes and spares game - play it anywhere”. if you’re nuts about bowling, then you’ll be glad of capturing at least part of the fun when you’re not near the lanes.
