For the sake of complete information, bowling is a game in which players attempt to score points by rolling a ball along a flat surface called a lane to knock down objects called bowling pins. The least the throw it takes to knock the balls down, the bigger the score. The player with the highest total score wins. Simple enough? Good, because we'll chat about the bowling pins.

The American Bowling Congress (ABC) is the one responsible for controlling bowling pins specification. There are tight tolerances placed upon every bowling pin to ensure that every bowling pin in the game of bowling is standard.

As we all know, there are various ways to play bowling, but only those indoor types of bowling employ the use of pins and lanes. To enumerate, these are the ten-pin, nine-pin, five-pin, duckpin and candlepin bowling. All the pins used are roughly of the same shape, a flower vase-like shape with a rounded head, except for candlepin bowling which has, as the name implies candle shaped pins.

Where did the bowling pin's shape originate? That is an unlikely question, since most of us saw the pin as it was today. Take a pensive look at the shape of a bowling pin, notice a resemblance? Right! It resembles the Kegel, an ancient war club of during the dark ages of Germany. Kegel is also the name of the sport that was the forerunners of present day bowling.

Most bowling pins are made with Rock Maple wood, constructed by gluing blocks together to form roughly the shape of a bowling pin. But there had been attempts to make plastic versions of bowling pins. After the wooden blocks are bound together by glue and shaped by the lathe, the product is then coated with plastic material and finally treated with chemicals to produce the glossy finish.