Bowling pins go through many hits from bowling balls, and it almost seems these pins are made to topple only by little force in the middle. However, these pins are very delicate and carefully crafted to keep the excitement of the game and give bowlers a good time. And the weight is absolutely an essential aspect of that.
Even if you bowled for once, you must have heard the sound of falling pins and watched how the falling of those pins gave people joy in the bowling lanes. The weight of these pins plays a significant role in bowling. You’ve come to the right place if you have ever wondered about playing or seeing this.
We’ll discuss here how much does bowling pin weigh and a lot more. You must wonder to know about these bowling pins.
The Weight of a Regulation Bowling Pin
The United States Bowling Congress decides the regulation bowling pin weight. Word Bowling, formerly known as the World Ten Pin Bowling Association, also accepts the specifications determined by the United States Bowling Congress.
The weight of a regulation bowling pin is 3 pounds and 6 ounces which is also the minimum weight of a bowling pin. This standard has been followed for a long time, and there is little chance it will change soon. Although you will find different styles and types of bowling pins in the market, all of those pins have almost the same weight.
What Is the Minimum Weight of a Pin?
There is very little room for changing the weight of a bowling pin. A bowling pin weigh will be from 3 pounds and 6 ounces (about 1.5 kilograms) to 3 pounds and 10 ounces (about 1.6 kilograms).
World Bowling, which was formerly known as the World Tenpin Bowling Association also admits that the standard regulation pin weight must be equal to this weight.
What Is the Maximum Weight of a Pin?
Let’s look at the other end of the weight spectrum. 3 pounds and 10 ounces can be the heaviest weight of a bowling pin which is only an increase of 4 ounces from the minimum regulation size.
It may not seem like a considerable weight difference, but 4 ounces weight increase can be essential in bowling. If the weight of the pin goes any further than that, the game will be unfair.
Importance of the Weight of a Bowling Pin
The regulation weight of a bowling pin originated from the generally perceived idea of the relation of pin and ball weight. The general idea is the pin weight should be equal to the 24% weight of the heaviest bowling ball.
As the weight of the most severe bowling ball is 16 pounds, the pin weight should be 3 pounds, and 6 ounces equal to 24% of 16 pounds. If the bowling pin is too heavy, the ball won’t knock down the pin.
On the other hand, too-light pins will make the game a joke because every pin can be knocked over without any challenge. Having the 24% of maximum ball weight makes toppling the pin a bit challenging.
The most important part is that each pin has to be hit properly on its center by the ball so that the pins may fall down. It keeps the excitement of the game by being challenging while having room for mastering the game.
Materials to Make Bowling Pins
The weight is strictly regulated, but the materials of a bowling pin are very specific and have to be approved early in the making process. But it is also important because the material is a key factor that plays a role to make it heavier. The wood of the bowling pin core is new or unused and hard maple.
And these maple woods are not any ordinary maple woods. These are only harvested from the 45th parallel. And this parallel is only found in the northern United States. The specialty of this parallel has fewer mineral concentrations, increasing the wood’s density. Many materials have been experimented with to replace maple wood for the pin’s center throughout the year.
Shredding wood, polypropylene fiberglass, and foam are just some of them which failed to pass the test. So, maple wood still remains the ideal choice of bowling pin cores. However, the required maple is scarce. This scarcity led to the approval of certain synthetics.
Which is cheaper and benefits the environment by not cutting maple trees. You can quickly find the difference between these two material bases. The sound of hitting the ball and falling over is quite different for two of these pin materials. Maple core pins have a richer sound because of the hardness of the wood.
Conclusion
We hope you’ve realized the importance of bowling pin weight and why that is regulated to such a constant value. Also, should understand how the weight can vary between 3 pounds and 6 ounces to 3 pounds and 10 ounces. And, you know how much does bowling pin weigh. That is probably the most important takeaway from this article. This strict regulation of weight makes the game fun and challenging for all. Have a good time learning about bowling stuff.