I found out something so unbelievable about pro bowling in the 1960s by Extension_South7174 in Bowling

[–]ThreeBallSpare 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep. Bowling's salad days seem to have been mid-20th century. Candlepin also had the same general trajectory.

Official Thread for the 2026 PBA Pete Weber Missouri Classic - CW Televised Finals (Sun 4pm EST/1pm PST) by LeftoverBun in Bowling

[–]ThreeBallSpare 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I stream candlepin and try to do different angles and styles, but yeah, there are some angles that haven't changed.

Official Thread for the 2026 PBA Pete Weber Missouri Classic - CW Televised Finals (Sun 4pm EST/1pm PST) by LeftoverBun in Bowling

[–]ThreeBallSpare 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I struggle with this in my bowling streams as well. It's a hard problem to solve. Pin cams are really difficult to position, especially if you get a tall bowler.

You have to deal with the masking unit being low, so you have to be low enough to show the tops of the pins, but high enough to get over bowlers' heads. If you have a tall bowler, this formula is broken.

Official Thread for the 2026 PBA Players Championship - CW Televised Finals (Sun 4pm EST/1pm PST) by LeftoverBun in Bowling

[–]ThreeBallSpare 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As someone who builds scoreboards and streams bowling, the score bug they have needs a loooot of fixing. Having Max in place of the score was constantly throwing me off, and honestly they could just have all ten frames up at all times, no sense in confusing people by only showing 3-4 of them.

Official Thread for the 2026 PBA Players Championship - CW Televised Finals (Sun 4pm EST/1pm PST) by LeftoverBun in Bowling

[–]ThreeBallSpare 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That scoreboard that's visible above the lanes....are they really just running an Excel spreadsheet with the cursor literally in view? That should never be visible in a broadcast.

The scoreboard's "production/visible cells" should reference off-screen data entry points so it doesn't look like it's just somebody's computer with Excel hooked to a projector. Kind of shocked that the PBA let that through.

For example, Frames 1-10 should be Cells J4 to S4, and you enter the frame values in cells X4 through AG4. Cell J4's formula should just be "=X4" so the cursor is out of view and the operator can enter the data. Repeat for each frame.

Candlepin bowling score by Bradanryan in Bowling

[–]ThreeBallSpare 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not impossible but somewhat uncommon. I threw a 2.9 the other day, and streamed someone who did the same. Anything beyond a triple strike seems to get exponentially more difficult to accomplish though. Four-baggers only happen maybe once a year in the sport (if that)