Alot of hoopla was generated when the ABC decided that a "new" system would be put into effect to standize ABC sanctioned lanes. Additionally, with the advent of the standardized lane conditioning, it relieved the ABC (and bowler) from verifying all 300 games during league play. Although this "system" has been in use since 1994, there's still alot of confusion as to what it _exactly_ covers and what it means to you, the bowler. Steve Lawson (slawson@uiuc.edu), after confering with his local ABC association office, provides a very insightful and educating look into the System of Bowling.

It seems that there has been quite a bit of activity and confusion lately with regards to exactly what the rules are with regards to oil amounts, distances, legalities, etc. In this I will attempt to outline the System of Bowling for all in terms that should be easy on our eyes. For the most part I will address the conditioner on the lane aspect but will hit on the other three parts briefly. As I write this it is with a high level of confidence that it is accurate because I not only have in front of me the ABC Rule book but also the guidelines for inspecting lanes as well as the most current ABC/WIBC Equipment specifications and other ABC literature that is appropriate. Things enclosed in square brackets [] are my comments which I hope will clarify some of the technical aspects of this.

The SoB came about as a result of industry studies which indicated that standards needed to be made for all components which are important in scoring. These four components are pins, lane surface, balls and lane dressing. The ABC Equipment specs folks devised the standards which I will address in each area, mostly with regards to lane conditioner. The SoB was designed to "forget about the past and start looking to the future", Darold Dobbs said. One VERY important aspect of the SoB is that the bowler will not be penalized for a bowling centers inability to comply with the rules (to a point which I will discuss later). All honor scores are automatically approved (unless a center has three points accessed, more on this later).

ABC/WIBC has a reliable lane surface coefficient of friction device that measures friction on the varied surfaces. Using this equipment, testing resulted in specifications for the highest coefficient of friction allowed for a lane surface. The highest surface coefficient of friction of synthetic lanes on the market in the summer of 1991 was selected as the upper limit. In order to bear the ABC/WIBC seal of approval samples of all lane finishes must be tested to ensure that the frictional characteristics are not higher than the maximum specification.

Four new specifications to control bowling balls at the point of manufacture were established. These are moment of inertia, hookability, scoreability and coefficient of restitution. In short, the specifications are designed to place controls on how much a ball can hook and how many pins it can knock down. Sample balls are sent to headquarters for testing and approval. Approved balls bear the ABC/WIBC approved logo on the box.

Pins have always been fairly tightly regulated and no "new" specifications were made. There have been limits on the pin diameter, weight and weight distribution, center of gravity and scoring criteria for years and these stay in place.

Here's the one that gets the most questions and I will attempt to go into more detail on this one. Basically the rules state that a minimum of three units of lane dressing must be applied for the entire distance which the dressing is applied each time it is applied. [For practical purposes, three units will create a light smear when tested with light pressure with one's finger across the boards] Lane dressing inspections are to be made on lanes with zero linage since lane conditioner was applied. If a lane is in compliance at this time, it is in compliance at least until the next time conditioner is applied, at which time the three unit rule again comes into play. There is no minimum or maximum distance which the lane must be conditioned. It is just that WHERE EVER conditioner is applied to (say 35 feet), every board for the entire 35 feet must have AT LEAST three units of dressing. There is NO rule regarding the distribution of dressing either side to side or front to back within the dressed portion of the lane, only that there must be three units everywhere immediately after dressing is applied. In the area past where dressing is applied the only allowable dressing is what occurs naturally from "carry down". It is the duty of the lane inspector to check and make tapes (more on this later) wherever he/she feels necessary to accurately give a graphic picture of the conditioner pattern and amounts on the lane.

It is the duty of each local association's Joint Certification and Inspection Committee to ensure that each center is properly inspected. It is understood when applying for the annual lane certification certificate that a center must abide by the lane dressing rules. Lanes MUST be inspected for dressing compliance at least once per year unless honor score(s) are bowled, in which case the lanes must have been inspected no more than 30 days prior to the score or no more than 30 days after the score if not checked prior to the score. [For practical purposes, if a center is inspected every 58 days and each inspection passes, that is all that is necessary. It is within the judgement of the lane inspection committee to perform inspections more often if they deem necessary.] It is the duty of the inspection committee to know the conditioning schedule(s) of the centers within their jurisdiction and to make inspections as close to practical after the lanes are conditioned. All inspections (unless requested by the center, in which case they are informative to the center and not usually submitted to headquarters) are to be made unannounced in order to inspect the condition which the bowlers are most likely to bowl on. It should be the obligation of the inspectors to make spot inspections at different times in order to obtain a good variety of the patterns that a center might put out, especially if there is a large variance from day to day in the linage per lane.

The lane inspection itself has several parts. The inspector is obligated to make at least three tapes at three different parts of the lane. More may be made if the inspector feels this is necessary. At a minimum, one tape must be made within a foot or so of the end of the applied oil, in the dressed portion of the lane (i.e. if the lanes are oiled 35 feet, then one tape must be made at approximately 34'-6"); one tape must be made within a foot or so after the applied oil (36' in the previous example); and one made in the other dressed portion of the lane (say 15' in the example). Often times a fourth tape is made at around 50' to monitor the "carry down".

To make a tape, a tape pickup device is used. This device systematically applies a piece of Scotch Tape (exclusively manufactured by 3M with optical control for the tape reader) to the lane with pressure applied by a roller. A second piece of tape is then used to "lift" the first piece (from the underside)and sandwich the oil from the lane between the pieces of tape. [It is amazing that the tape picks up all of the oil, but IT DOES. I had the priviledge of working with a couple of grad students in the late 70's that had a project sponsored by non other than Brunswick to do this. We devised a prototype, all be it not as slick as the current model but none the less, a working model of this tape pick up device. Small world, huh!?]

You now have several pieces of tape, each approx. 4 feet long which you insert into an reader which translates the amount of ultraviolet additive it "sees" into numbers on a display which depict the "units" of oil on the lane. Newer readers offer a printout of the numbers to make the job even easier. These numbers are placed in appropriate grids on the form sent to Headquarters with a copy going back to the center. A center should know from looking at this chart if their lanes are in compliance.

Should a report be sent to headquarters with boards with less than 3 units (usually a stray board will not be cause for alarm, several in a row are another story) in the dressed portion of the lane, the center will be assessed one point. In short, a center can accumulate up to three points with only nasty letters and more frequent inspections required. When a center is assessed point(s), they are reduced back to zero after 6 months of continued compliance with a minimum of monthly inspections. Should a center accumulate more than three points, then the old rules of after the fact inspections anytime an honor score is bowled and this score is subject to approval only upon the finding of complying conditions as determined by ABC. Upon accumulation of four points the ABC puts the center "on notice" and their file is referred to the Certification Review Committee for possible Certificate withdrawl.

In addition to making the tapes, each lane dressing inspection also includes a check of the pinspotting accuracy, the gutter depths and at the beginning of the season, the weighing and inspection of the pins in use at the center. These checks are made on the same lanes checked for lane dressing. At least two lanes should be checked, preferably at each end of the house (5 and 21 would be reasonable choices in a 24 lane center) to account for variances in the lane conditioning machine.

As I stated in a previous post (that seemed to be misinterpreted a little), a center is under NO obligation to condition the lanes or have three units of oil on the lanes immediately prior to a league or tournament bowling. They just needed to have three units when they did condition (even if it was at 6:00 in the morning). As a matter of practicality, this is not usually what is done as the lanes are very often conditioned at 4:00 or so in the afternoon, and thus the first shift of league SHOULD be bowling on a minimum of three units of oil across the entire lane.