This is a dictionary of typical bowling terms, in case the user is not familiar with bowling and doesn’t have access to the USBC or other national body’s governing rules.

Term Definition
Average The unrounded value found by dividing the total pinfall prior to the current contest, by the number of corresponding games.  The average should be updated after each contest.  For the first contest, two options are available.  One is to use the Member’s prior season average, if available.  This is called using an Entering average.  The second is to use the result of the first contest.  Both are in common use.
Blind A term used to indicate a Member was absent.  Typically, the Member’s average is used, minus a certain number of pins, as a penalty for their absence.  USBC recommends a penalty of ten pins.  They continue to receive their handicap, if used.  Blind games are not counted towards the bowler’s average or other statistics.
Contest An event where a league has competition between the teams.  Most leagues schedule their contests weekly, but that is not required, so contests may occur at whatever schedule the league decides.
Delivery The method by which a person throws the bowling ball.  A person may use the right hand, left hand, or both hands.  Separate statistics must be maintained for each delivery used by a person.  A person must use the same delivery for all balls thrown during a game.
Forfeit An individual game or an entire team may forfeit.  A team will forfeit if it cannot compete due to an illegal lineup, typically because not enough Members show up on time.  This would apply to the entire contest.  The opposing team is awarded all points and may bowl regular games which count.  A game could be forfeited if an ineligible bowler is used, or some other rule infraction occurs as defined by USBC.
Game The number of pins (with or without handicap) for a given team position for a given contest.  It could be a vacancy score, an absent score, a regular score, etc.
Handicap A method which attempts to equalize players of different skills.  A base, or scratch, score is determined.  The difference between the base and a person’s average is computed and a percentage of that difference is the handicap.  This value is added to each game to get the handicap game and handicap series scores.  The USBC recommends 100% as the percentage, with a base determined by rounding up to the nearest 10 pins, the highest average of its Members.  Handicaps are not required, and some leagues do not use them.  They are called scratch leagues.
Lane Assignments For each contest, each Team is given an assigned lane as the one where they will start bowling.  There is an adjacent lane used by the opposing Team for that contest such that for each odd numbered lane (1,3,5,etc.) the opposing lane is the following even numbered lane (2,4,6,etc.).  Predefined lane assignments attempt to have each Team play all other teams on different lanes during a Season.
League A group of Members, assigned into Teams and substitutes, who determine their rules, schedule, handicap, prizes, etc.  A League may exist for many seasons, but have different rules for each season.  For this reason, each league in each season will have a unique ID.
Member A Bowler who joins a league and becomes a regular or substitute player.
Points During a contest each Team is awarded one point for each game won by the Team over their opponent, and another point may be awarded to the winner of the entire series.  Tie scores mean each team is awarded a half point.  If there are an uneven number of teams in the league, and the "bye" procedure is used, then the points won is divided by the possible points to get a percentage to determine the team standings.
Schedule A combination of the contest dates and the Lane Assignments for that contest date.  Schedules can be changed due to circumstances, such as weather, lane availability, or other events.
Scratch This means the actual pin score for a game or series, team or individual.
Season A series of contests determined by the league.  Typically, a league sets a number of contests as the Season, but a particular ending date may also be used.  A Season has a starting date as determined by the league.  Since these dates and durations will vary by league, a Season is normally represented as Summer or Winter, with Winter being from the Fall of one year into the Spring of the following year.  Summer leagues (Season) are from early Summer to late Summer, and usually have fewer contests.
Series The total pins (with or without handicap) for one contest for a member.  A series is usually three or four games.
Standing As Teams are awarded points, they achieve a standing, or place, based on the points (or percentage if uneven teams are using the Bye method).  The team with the highest number of points (or percentage) is in first place, and so on, with the team with the fewest points (or percentage) as the last place team.  Ties are usually determined by either total scratch pins or total handicap plus scratch pins for a league using handicaps.  If a tie exists at the end of the season, a rolloff contest is conducted to determine the winner.
Team A collection of Members who participate in contests as one unit.  The actual Members may change at any time.  Normally a team has positions 1 thru n for each Member, which designates their playing order.  USBC rules allow the playing order to change between games, but typical score sheets (for convenience) use a common playing order for all games during a contest.  The actual position of a bowler should have no effect on their Game score or their statistics.
Uneven Teams If a League has an uneven number of teams a problem arises in how the unopposed Team will participate in a contest.  One method, called Draw, allows the unopposed Team to draw (from a hat) a number for an existing Team, and bowl, including wins or loses, according to that hypothetical matchup for that contest.  Another method is called Bye, which means the unopposed Team does not bowl.  Since this results in an unequal number of contests between teams, a percentage calculation is used, rather than points, to determine each Team’s standing or place.  The final method, called Blind, has the unopposed Team bowl itself as if all bowlers were absent, or Blind.  That is, the Team must beat its own Blind scores.
USBC The governing body within the US for bowling rules and regulations.  Most other countries have their own governing bodies.