Online bowling score keeper and calculator

How bowling scoring works

A game of ten-pin bowling is ten frames. In each frame you get two balls to knock down all ten pins, and the frame scores the pins you knocked down plus any bonus. This score keeper does the adding for you; here is what it is adding.

Strike (X)

All ten pins with the first ball. The frame scores 10 plus the pins from your next two balls, so a strike followed by 7 and 2 is worth 19.

Spare (/)

All ten pins using both balls. The frame scores 10 plus the pins from your next ball, so a spare followed by an 8 is worth 18.

Open frame

Pins still standing after two balls. The frame scores only the pins knocked down, with no bonus.

The tenth frame

A strike or spare in the last frame earns the balls its bonus needs: two more after a strike, one more after a spare. That is why the tenth frame can have three balls.

A perfect game

Twelve strikes in a row: one in each of the first nine frames and three in the tenth. Every frame is worth 30, for a score of 300.

Questions about bowling scores

Is this bowling score keeper free?

Yes. It runs in the browser on any phone, tablet or computer, with no account and nothing to install.

Can it keep score for a whole lane?

Yes. Add every bowler and the turn moves to the next one by itself after each frame. Undo takes back the last ball, whoever bowled it.

What if I enter a ball wrong?

Tap the frame and bowl it again. Its old balls stay on the card until the new frame is finished, so nothing is lost by looking.

What do I need to bowl to reach a score?

Set a target on a bowler’s card and the empty frames fill with the easiest steady way to get there from where they are now.

Does it remember my games?

Your past games stay on your device, so you can race them, see your pace and find the pins you pick up best and worst.

What is the highest possible bowling score?

300, from twelve strikes in a row. The most a single frame can score is 30.