Bowling Games for Team Building

Bowling is normally viewed as a singles sport, but the use of teams can expand its reach to multiple players. If you are trying to work on building trust and team effort for students, co-workers or family members, bowling is the perfect activity to learn and grow within a team. Aside from straight team bowling, there are several different games you can play to build trust and have people working together.

Spare Me

Instead of bowling with your own score, players bowl under the same name. For example, Bowler #1 takes the first shot and gets seven pins down. Bowler #2 would then go and try to get the last three pins down. The bowlers alternate who goes first on every frame. This teaches the bowlers to work together to get the best score.

Blind Bowl

Players form two person teams. On a frame, one player blindfolds the other player. They must guide them to the alley and help them shoot the ball straight. The challenge is to actually get a good score and prevent the player from stepping over the foul line. Players alternate the blind fold after each frame. This exercise helps build trust in each player as they guide each other to the lane.

Strike Attack

Players look to achieve their best scores so that their teammate can get a higher score. In "Strike Attack," a two person team each bowls their own frame. The higher score of the two is then transferred to the other player. This will result in much higher scores and the ability to share and work cooperatively to win.

Bowling Buddies

Use two bowling lanes for this next team building exercise. Set up teams of two and have the two players tie a leg to the other player's leg. The team must bowl on separate lanes like this and figure out the best way to work together, bowl and score the most points. A bungee cord may work better than rope for quick removal and reattachment between rounds.