Bowls Glossary

Delivering an overweight bowl with the intent of disturbing the head. Often used as a derogatory term for players who are considered to have limited skills with imprecise bowling techniques, therefore often employing an overweight bowl with the hope of claiming the shot.

If during play, the jack is out of bounds, some competitions have provision for placing the jack back within the confines of the rink on a predetermined place. The end then continues from that point with all other live bowls delivered remaining in place.

A bowl that remains in direct physical contact with the jack after being delivered.

Following a bowl after delivery down the green, often with visible expressions of hope, intent, or exasperation. It is considered poor etiquette to “ride” an opposition players bowl.

Bowls are manufactured with a set of rings on each side of the bowl.

The smaller rings indicate the biased side of the bowl, and the outer rings the non-biased side of the bowl.

(Stickers) in team-based competitions, players on the same team will apply a unique ring shaped decal to both sides of the bowl so that they are easily distinguishable from the opposition’s bowls.

See also disc.

(Playing area) the portion of the green, which is in play for a particular game, usually marked with boundary pegs at either end of the green. (Team) in team-based competitions, a group of players on the same team playing together as a unit can be described as “a rink”.

A bowling game in which there are 4 players per team a Skip, a Three, a Two and a Lead. Each player uses 2 bowls each.

A warm up end, without scoring, to enable players to test their bowls in the conditions before a game start. Roll up also refers to general practice.

At the start of an end, the player in possession of the mat first rolls the jack along the rink or green to a preferred length, before delivering a bowl.