Rules Summary
The standard bowling green is a 120-foot square, divided into six "rinks," each 20 by 120 feet. The surface is usually grass, but in some areas it is marl, a sand-clay mixture. The bowler must have one foot on a rubber mat, 14 by 24 inches size, when delivering the ball.
The target ball, or "jack," is a white ball, about 10 ounces in weight, with a diameter of about 2 1/2 inches. Each bowler has two "bowls" (balls) between 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 inches in diameter and weighing no more than 3 1/2 pounds. The balls are usually made of lignum vitae, a very hard, heavy wood. They are not perfectly round; they bulge slightly on one side, enough to make the ball curve about 4 feet in that direction over a distance of 100 feet. This bulge is called the "bias."
The first contestant to bowl first rolls the jack ball. If it doesn't go at least 75 feet, or if it goes out of the rink boundaries, the other team rolls it. The jack then becomes the target for all the bowlers.
Having rolled the jack, the first bowler (called the lead) rolls two balls. Then the other team's lead rolls two balls, and so on until all balls have been rolled. It is permissible to knock an opponent's ball out of place. If the jack is knocked out of bounds, a player of the other team rolls it, while balls that have already been rolled remain in place.
In its purest form, the game is played by two teams of four contestants each. The "skip," or team leader, usually bowls fourth. When not actually bowling, the skip stands at the far end of the rink and directs the team's play. Lawn bowls can also be a game between teams of two or between single players. In any event, each player gets only two balls per "end."
Once all the balls have been rolled, thus completing the end, scoring is similar to the scoring in horseshoes or curling: A team gets 1 point for each of its balls that is closer to the jack than any of the opponent's balls. A team that scores in one end rolls first in the next end. Generally 21 ends constitute a game, though any number of ends may be agreed upon beforehand. In singles play, a game usually continues until one player has 21 points.