Basic Rules

Here, we have the basic idea of the bowls to let you know a bit more about the sport if you are a newcomer to the game.

The Rink Mat

Short mat bowls is played on a green mat, (easily layed and lifted) which has the following characteristics

Max Length:45ft

Min Length:40ft

Width:6ft

Width tolerance:2 inches

The Fender

At each end there is a fender, made from wood to stop bowls from going of the mat on to the floor when bowled with excessive weight.

The Back: 6ft (inside dimensions)

Sides: 12 inches (inside)

Fenders should be made of planed wood '3 by 3 inches'

The Block

In the middle of the mat there is a block (more commonly known as the stick) to make the game a little harder and to stop the players delivering their bowls straight down the middle.

Length:15 inches

Height: 3 inches

Max Width: 1.5 inches

The Delivery Mat

There is a delivery mat to give players a guide to where their foot should be when delivering the bowl (this mat is similar to a rubber car mat).

Length: 24 inches

Width: 14 inches

Bowls, as you may have read on my homepage can be played as singles, pairs, triples and rinks. All have the same basic idea but in singles each bowler has four bowls, in all other forms of competition they have two each. This means quite an amount of bowls are thrown in a rinks game (each player has 2 bowls times 8 players is 16 bows[4 players on each team]). This can lead to quite tactical play due to so many bowls on the mat.

The basic idea is to get your bowls, or your teams bowls as close to the jack, (a smaller yellow/white ball) as possible. The shots or shots shall be adjudged by the bowl or bowls nearer to the jack than any bowl played by the opposing player or players.

The game shall be played on the rink mat, a singles game by two players, each player playing their bowls singly and alternately. The same works in pairs, triples and rinks, but the leads through their bowls, then he second and so on.

The bowls must land in the live area and if any portion f the bowl breaks the line it should be removed unless a toucher which is live if it is in the ditch. Any bowls which touch the block during delivery shall be removed and stopped (if possible) before it comes in contact with any live bowls.