VARIANTS ON THE USUAL BOWLS GAME

Anyone interested in finding out more about SKINS can e-mail Ashley, or take a look at his Web Page

There are 64 games plus draws prizemoney, Club Competitions and Special Tournaments in his 96 page manual called 'An Introduction to SKINS'. The game is ideal for morning games and twilight bowls and is a great spectator game. Concentration and the ability to play top bowls under pressure are a feature of Kellyskins.

• All clubs should seek to develop their up & coming bowlers by playing Kellyskins against the best bowlers in the club.
• Club Championship Skins can be played in one morning with semi-finals and grand finals.
• Kellyskins is ideally suited to Sunday Morning & Twilight games for mixed - Men - Ladies

Rob Parrella has this to say about Kellyskins - "Its great,simple and innovative - just the game bowls need to come alive - but its not new! I've always made every bowl count$"

All rules of the lawn bowls game would apply, the only difference is in the order of play.

After the first 2 bowls are played, (one by each team,) the team holding shot retires from the mat until the opposing side wins back the "shot" position. The skip of the team who is "down" may call upon any member of his team to the mat in an attempt to regain "shot"

The game proceeds in this manner until each player has delivered his 2 bowls, when the number of shots are counted by the usual method.

A different tactical approach would need to be devised and there may be more consultation between team members & the Skip as to who should deliver the next Bowl.

All team members would remain fixed on the development of the "head" as they would not know who the skip is going to call to the mat, he may even bowl the next delivery himself if he believes it would be advantageous to the team, and the player who put down the first bowl may well put down the last bowl, depending on the state of the end.

Think about it !!!! The possibilities are endless.

One or more 'Targets', which are good sized flat mats marked with concentric circles, is laid on the green. Useful for gala or fun days or fund raisers. The score is marked on the rings of the mat, the outer ring being worth one and the inner 'bullseye' being worth ten. These targets are about £30 to buy in the UK. Several Clubs could buy a single mat each and loan them out as required between themselves.

This game is perhaps more testing of skill than the standard game of bowls. Instead of the closest bowl being the only one to score, the nearest four bowls score, according to their position, the highest score to the nearest wood (4) the second wood gets (3) the third (2) and the fourth (1). The scoreboard will always total in multiples of ten.

This means, that although the first wood belongs to one team, the other team can score up to six if they have the next three woods.

The team owning the nearest wood plays the jack on the next end, although his team may not have scored the most points.

Just in case any of you firing skips thought this was going to be easy, if a team 'kills' the end, the score is automatically 3:7 (to the benefit of the other side!)

The game is played to a predetermined number of ends and can be made into a one day event, with a number of teams playing each other.

It is most amusing to see the efforts of the teams to indicate the scores to players at the other end of the rink, both during and at the finish of each end. Those who use the 'two hands and one knee up' approach to signalling three, having particularly difficulty with six, and eight can begin to look like a Maori War Dance !

A version of Bowls played at Topsham Bowls Club and similar to the 4321 game (above).

• Played as a singles game (although adaptable to sides) each player uses three bowls only
• The nearest bowl at the finish of the end scores 6, next 4 and the third 2.
• Twelve points are awarded on every end (unless four or more bowls have ended up dead when less will score)
• Game is reached when a total of 96 is acheived, this is after a minimum of 8 ends ( 96 - Nil) and usually a maximum of 16 ends (96 - 96)
• If after 16 ends the scores are level extra ends are played until there is a winner

If clubs are looking for a good FUN league they could try the SOCCER (FOOTBALL) LEAGUE we run in our club.

The rules are as follows:-

1. It is a triples league played over 18 ends.
2. All teams to be named after official Football League names.
3. On the completion of an end if a team has scored 3 shots or more then they score a GOAL!
4. 1 or 2 shots then the end is just recorded as a 'played end'. It is advisable to record all your scores on your scorecard to enable your league secretary to verify all the results.
5. Should team 'A' create a dead end then the replayed end becomes a PENALTY end. On the completion of the penalty end team 'B' is allowed to remove 2 of team 'A's woods from the head and if doing so has left themselves with 3 or more shots then team 'B' scores a goal.
6. If team 'A' creates a 'dead end' and then creates a further 'dead end' on the replayed end then an automatic GOAL is awarded to team 'B'.
7. Should team 'A' create a 'dead end' and then team 'B' creates a 'dead end' on the replayed end then no team scores and it counts as a played end.
8. Points are awarded as in the Football league - 3 for a win and 1 for a draw.

The scoreboards will show goals only together with the ends played.

Yellow and red cards could be introduced for foul play!

I hope one or two clubs give this a try - really good fun - but can become a bit noisy if a goal is scored. At least it is in our club!

The rules of the Day

MIXED TRIPLES (Any Order)

Conditions of Play:-

N.B. Only 3 shots may be scored on any end. If more than 3 shots are held, the extra shots are scored by the opponents. This applies to all ends played, including normal ends.

First Game.

• End 1. Played as a normal end.
• Ends 2 & 3 . Only bowls behind the jack are to be left in play. All short bowls are to be removed immediately.
• End 4. Played as a normal end.
• End 5 & 6. Right handed bowlers must bowl left-handed. Left handed bowlers must bowl right handed.
• End 7. Played as a normal end.
• End 8 & 9. All bowls behind the jack must be removed immediately. Only bowls short of the jack are left in play.
• End 10. Played as a normal end.
• End 11 & 12. All bowls must be played BEFORE the Jack is delivered. Your lead (who won the previous end) must return to the mat and roll the jack to finish the end. Dead ends count, and opponents receive 3 shots if the end is killed. No measuring permitted.

Second Game. (After afternoon tea).

• Ends 1 & 2 Played as a normal end.
• Ends 3 & 4 Played as a normal ends, except that players positions are changed. Skip will lead; Lead will go second; Second will Skip.
• Ends 5 & 6 Played as a normal end, except players positions are changed. Second in ends 3 & 4 will Skip; Skip in ends 3 & 4 will Lead. Lead in ends 3 & 4 will go second
• Ends 7 & 8 Played as a normal end. in original playing positions. One dead end per team allowed this game, Penalty for additional dead ends: 3 shots.

We have a series at my Club, Clayfield. It is Jackpot Pairs sponsored by Perpetual Trustees.

It is a standard game of 21 ends with a random draw for opponents. What makes it fun is the draw by lot of a winning margin with the team having that margin winning.

The first game produced no winner so the prize has jackpotted. This adds to the excitement next time.

As sometimes we can get a varying number of members at a meeting or want something different especially on a social evening we have devised a variation on target bowls which enables all to have a go but leaves plenty of time for eating, drinking and socialising.

The target is set with the base line on the ditch line and the jack is put in the centre of the target. Each player has four bowls which are played at the one session. If a toucher is got, there is a bonus of 10 points and the jack is left where it is, and each bowl in the delivery will get the ten points if it is a toucher. Bowls can be knocked on or off the target and the final score is where the bowls lie at the end of the players delivery - if a bowl is cutting a line then the higher score counts.

The mat is then placed at the opposite end for as many times as is required. Theoretically the maximum score for each end would be 80 with all four bowls having been touchers and all scoring "bulls eyes" though in practice the highest that has been achieved has been 48 (the final position of the jack is irrevelant) with 2 touchers, 2 bulls eyes, 1 five and one 3.