Player's Guide to USBC Adult League Bowling 2026-27

A substitute bowls in place of a regular member or another sub, or for a team with an incomplete roster.

Requirements:

• You must be a USBC member.
• Your scores count, and your average is kept. If you later join a team's roster, that average carries over.

Bowling for more than one team (USBC defaults; league rules can change them):

• You can never bowl on two teams in the same scheduled game.
• You can't switch teams within a series (for example, one game for one team and two for another) unless league rules allow it.
• If your team's roster is equal to or smaller than the league's team size, you can't sub for another team in that league.
• If your team has extra roster players, you may sub for another team when you're not needed in your own lineup, unless league rules or past league practice prohibit it.
• Once you've recorded scores for a session (including a pre-bowl), your eligibility for that session is used up.

Lineup order: no change in the order of bowlers once a game starts. In match point leagues, a sub takes the replaced bowler's position. A captain may replace a bowler mid-game with an eligible player, but the replaced bowler can't return in that game.

League average = total pins in that league ÷ games bowled in that league this season. Substitute games count. Fractions are dropped for handicap and classification, but carried to decimals to break ties for individual standings such as high average.

Entering average: each league sets by rule what entering average it uses (for example, last season's average) and how many games are needed to establish a new one. Common options:

• Highest average from any USBC league you bowled in one season
• Composite average: total pins from two or more USBC leagues in a season ÷ total games

If you have no entering average, your average comes from your first league session (total pins ÷ games) until you meet the league's requirement.

Other rules:

• Partial games don't count toward your average unless the league tracks averages by frames bowled.
• A right-handed bowler must always bowl right-handed (and vice versa). Switching hands without board approval: forfeiture of the game. With approval (for injury or disability), you establish a new average.
• An adult league board can, by two-thirds vote, adjust a bowler's average upward during the season. You then use the higher of the adjusted or actual league average.

In a handicap league, handicap pins are added to each score so bowlers of different averages compete on even terms. A scratch league uses actual scores only.

Formula: handicap = (base figure − your average) × percentage, with fractions dropped.

USBC defaults, unless the league adopts its own rule:

• Percentage: 100%. The league sets the base figure. USBC recommends a base higher than any average in the league.
• Not limited, and a handicap game or series is not capped. If a league caps scores, the cap can't be below the highest possible scratch score.
• In adult leagues, handicap is figured from each bowler's average as the league rules provide.
• The league decides at the start whether to use the individual or team method. USBC recommends individual handicaps; it doesn't recommend handicapping only the difference between the two teams' averages.

Example: base 220, 90% handicap, average 172. (220 − 172) × 0.9 = 43.2, so handicap = 43 pins per game.

Replacing a bowler mid-game: each bowler gets 1/10 of their own single-game handicap per frame bowled, with fractions dropped from each bowler's total.

USBC defaults, which a league can change by rule. Either score can be used only when your team has a legal lineup present.

Absentee score: a rostered bowler is absent and no substitute bowls.

• Each game = the absent bowler's current average minus 10 pins. A league can change the number of pins but must deduct the same pins for everyone (not a percentage).
• No established average yet: 120.
• Handicap is based on the bowler's actual current average (or on 120).
• Teams with extra roster players use the absentee with the most games bowled, then the lower absentee score if tied.

Vacancy score: the team's roster has fewer bowlers than the league's team size.

• Each game = 120 in adult leagues.
• Handicap is based on 120 and isn't limited (a league rule can restrict vacancy handicap).
• A team with a full roster can't use a vacancy score just because a regular is missing.

Match points (match point leagues): when you're bowling against an absentee or vacancy, you must bowl at least your average minus 10 to win the individual point (unless the league sets another number). Against an absentee, if you don't reach that score the point goes to the absent bowler, unless league rules say otherwise.

Legal lineup (USBC default; a league can set its own number, as low as one, or require a set number of rostered players):

• Substitutes count toward a legal lineup; absentee and vacancy scores don't.
• You have until the end of the first frame (or another frame set by league rule) to field it. A league can't require it at the start of the game.
• No legal lineup and no postponement requested means the game is forfeited, unless the board decides an emergency existed. The forfeiting team has 15 days (72 hours in the final two weeks) to protest in writing.
• A team that refuses to bowl short-handed forfeits the games it declines to bowl.

Bowling against a known forfeit (for example, the opponents lack a legal lineup): you must still earn the points. Unless the league sets another number:

• each bowler must bowl at least their average minus 10 to win an individual point
• the team must bowl at least team average minus 10 per player to win team points

Points not earned are recorded as "unearned." The forfeiting team gets no points. If the reason the other team didn't show is unknown, your team still bowls for the points.

Yes, by default (a league may adopt its own tardy rule, such as a cut-off frame):

• You start bowling, with your score counting, from the frame your team is currently bowling.
• For each frame you missed, you get one-tenth of your absentee score (absentee score = your average minus 10, unless the league sets another number).
• The partial game doesn't count toward your average unless the league keeps averages frame by frame.

Example: average 160, absentee score 150. You arrive in time for the 4th frame, missing 3 frames: you're credited 3 × 15 = 45 pins for those frames plus whatever you bowl in frames 4 to 10.

Your team still needs a legal lineup present by the end of the first frame (or the frame set by league rule), even if a late bowler is on the way.

Types allowed by default in adult leagues:

• Direct opposition: both teams bowl the match together at another agreed time. Allowed.
• Team unopposed: your team bowls without the opponents present. Allowed unless the league has a rule against it.
• Individual unopposed: one bowler bowls alone ahead of or after the date. Not allowed in adult leagues unless league rules permit it.

How to request: ask before the scheduled time (except in an emergency). There's no fixed 48-hour notice requirement. Requests are decided by a postponement committee or the league board. A league can't ban postponements altogether, and must grant one when a team can't field a legal lineup because:

• bowlers are at USBC, state or local association championships or an annual meeting,
• there's sufficient cause, or
• there's an emergency, such as bad weather or several unforeseen absences at once.

Once you've bowled, your eligibility for that session is used up. If you pre-bowl and then find you're free on league night, you can't bowl again; the pre-bowled scores stand.

A foul is when any part of your body (shoes and clothing included) goes on or past the foul line and touches the lane, equipment or building during or after a delivery. The ball is in play until the next bowler is on the approach ready to deliver.

• The delivery counts, but you get zero pins for it.
• The foul line runs indefinitely, across walls, posts and ball returns.
• Not a foul: crossing the line while still holding the ball, the ball itself rolling over the line, stepping onto the adjacent approach (as long as you don't cross the line there), or a coin, pen or jewelry falling past the line.
• A wheelchair, walker or other aid crossing the line and touching the lane is a foul.
• Deliberately fouling to gain an advantage scores zero for that delivery and you get no further deliveries in that frame.

Who calls it: an automatic foul detector if the center has one. Otherwise the opposing team captains or an appointed foul judge. A foul that the detector misses still counts if it's apparent to both captains or to one or more members of each team.

On a dead ball, the delivery doesn't count, the correct pins are respotted, and the bowler rebowls. A dead ball is called when:

• right after the delivery, someone points out that a pin was missing from the setup
• a bowler bowls out of turn or on the wrong lane (see below)
• the bowler makes physical contact with another person or a moving object during the delivery (the bowler may choose to keep the pinfall instead)
• any pin is moved or knocked down while the ball is being delivered, before the ball reaches the pins
• the ball hits a foreign obstacle, such as a sweep bar that comes down early

Wrong lane: it's a dead ball and a rebowl on the correct lane if one bowler bowls on the wrong lane, or one bowler from each team does. If more than one bowler on the same team bowls on the wrong lane in turn, all deliveries stand, and everyone switches to the correct lanes from the next frame.

Not a dead ball: pins set slightly off spot but not missing. It's your job to check the rack and ask for a respot before you throw; once you deliver, the setup is accepted.

Not once competition starts. Competition starts when any bowler throws a ball for score.

• Before league play: you may sand, polish or clean any ball.
• During league play: you can't alter the surface of any ball, including spares in your bag that you haven't used yet. No abrasives, polish or cleaner, and no patting the ball with rosin or powder (wiping it off afterward doesn't make it legal). Rosin or powder on your hand is fine as long as it doesn't leave residue on the ball.
• Practice: you may use an approved cleaner during practice unless league rules say otherwise.
• Residue you can't wipe off with a dry towel: ask a league officer for permission, then you may clean the whole ball with an approved cleaner.

Penalty: if you didn't know the rule, the ball is removed from competition. If you did know, the ball is removed and the games are subject to forfeiture. Refusing to remove the ball also makes the games subject to forfeiture.

Other ball rules: maximum weight 16.00 lb (no minimum); house balls are allowed. From January 1, 2027, identification markings (brand/logo, ball name, serial number) may not be re-engraved, and balls with re-engraved or unreadable serial numbers aren't allowed in certified competition.

At the lanes, bowl a provisional ball. If the two captains can't agree on a foul, pinfall or dead ball call:

Both scores are recorded and the league board decides.

Filing a protest: put it in writing to a league officer:

• within 15 days of the series, or
• within 72 hours for games in the final two weeks of the schedule, at the end of a split-season segment, or in roll-offs/playoffs.

A verbal protest isn't enough; unless it's confirmed in writing, the result stands.

Appealing the board's decision: file in writing with the local association or USBC Headquarters within 15 days of being notified, or within 72 hours if you're notified in the final two weeks, at the end of a segment, after the schedule ends, or after roll-offs/playoffs. Prizes for the positions involved are held until it's resolved.

USBC's etiquette guidelines:

• One-lane courtesy: if you and the bowler on the next lane reach the approach at the same time, the bowler on the right goes first. Stay off the approach while you wait.
• Be ready when the pins are set, but wait until the pinsetter finishes its cycle and the sweep bar is up before you throw.
• Don't take too long aiming or setting up on the approach.
• Stay in your own approach area while delivering, and step off once you've thrown.
• Keep movement and noise down when others are about to bowl.
• Avoid excessive lofting; it damages the lane.
• Ask before using another bowler's ball.
• No abusive language or obscene gestures, and be a gracious loser.
• Wet shoes are a safety hazard, so watch where you walk.

Separately, USBC rules prohibit putting any foreign substance on the approach or using shoe products or soles that leave residue on it.