Redeem your It should come as no surprise that getting strikes is the biggest key to getting high scores in Pogo Bowl. Because of the way scoring in bowling works, stringing together multiple consecutive strikes is absolutely essential to scoring over 200. Get twelve strikes in a row, and you’ll have a score of 300 – a perfect game! But before you can dream of achieving those lofty heights, you’ll need to develop the ability to consistently throw a ball in a way that maximizes your chances of getting a strike. Here are a few tips that will help the next time you bowl online.
1. Aim for Just Off Center
First, let’s talk about where you should be aiming. You may think that aiming directly for the #1 or “head” pin (at the front of the pins, closest to you) is the best bet for success, but it won’t take you long to discover that this rarely works out well. Many times, the ball will simply drive the #1 pin straight back as it plows through the middle of the other pins, leaving multiple pins on the edges standing. In other words, you’ll wind up with a nasty split, which is exactly what you don’t want. Instead, try to hit the #1 pin and one of the pins to either side of it (#2 on the left, #3 on the right) simultaneously. This is known as a “pocket hit” and it will send those two pins careening in opposite directions through the rest of the pins, while the ball continues through the middle. When you execute a perfect pocket hit, the two pins you hit will take out the pins on the sides of the formation, and the ball will take care of the ones in the middle. Just add some spin, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a strike!
2. Use Spin to Your Advantage
If you’ve ever seen professional bowling on television, you already know that all players spin or “hook” the ball to some degree. They do this because putting spin on the ball will improve the angle at which it impacts the pins, helping drive it through the middle of the other pins. Failure to add spin can cause the ball to veer off to one side, leaving one or more pins in the middle of the two back rows. In Pogo Bowl, you’ll have an additional advantage even the best real-world bowlers don’t have: you’ll be able to spin the ball after it’s left your hand, and you can adjust the amount of spin all the way down the lane. The only downside of adding spin is that it’s possible to add too much of it. Doing so will send the #1 pin flying far to the side, causing it to miss the other pins, resulting in – you guessed it – a nasty split.
3. Mind the Throwing Speed
It takes a decent amount of force to drive the ball through the pins, so it’s usually to your advantage to throw the ball as hard as you can. This can be tricky, because if you wait too long to throw, the ball will be thrown automatically – at the minimum speed. That’s bad news, because less speed means less force, and that will minimize the overall power of your shot. Throwing at high speed, on the other hand, makes for a much more powerful shot and will cause much better “pin action,” resulting in a much better chance for a strike. In fact, speed can help you overcome an error in aiming, because when the pins really go flying, they can bounce in unpredictable – and lucky – ways!
4. Practice Makes Perfect
Finding just the right amount of speed and spin takes time and practice. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different spots on the lane and different amounts of spin until you find the combination that works best for you. The dot markers on the lane can really help you narrow down and find the “sweet spot” that will result in strike after strike.
How Are Strikes and Turkeys Different in the Game?
Like many other sports, bowling has its own special vocabulary. In bowling, a “turkey” simply refers to rolling three strikes in a row. This bit of bowling lingo dates back to the early 1900s, when during the Thanksgiving season, certain bowling tournaments across America awarded a turkey to anyone skilled enough to roll three strikes in a row. As bowling technology improved and it became easier to accomplish this feat, the giveaways gradually died out, but their legacy has survived, so when a turkey appears on your screen in Pogo Bowl, it’s definitely cause for celebration!
What is Pogo Bowl?
Pogo™ Bowl is a free to play online version of tenpin bowling which supports up to 20 players. The game is easy to learn and offers two different control schemes to help you roll your way to the top of the leaderboard. Just like the real thing, you’ll need to find the right combination of speed, spin, and aim to strike your way to success. Club Pogo members enjoy expanded content and options in Pogo™ Bowl, like the ability to earn Bowl Points in order to climb leaderboard ranks and unlock Badges. This is just one of many free HTML5 games that Pogo offers.
Check out other popular multiplayer games you can play for free on Pogo.
