Various Types of Ball Target Sports

Description: Bocce is a precision sport closely related to bowling. Players are permitted to throw the ball in the air using an underarm action. This is generally used to knock another ball away to attain a more favorable position. Bocce is played on soil, oyster shell or asphalt courts sometimes with wooden boards of approximately 15 centimetres in height surrounding the court.

Facts: Bocce has a common ancestry with bowling, both originating from ancient games played in the Roman Empire. Developed into its present form in Italy, it is played around Europe. Bocce balls can be made of bronze or various kinds of plastic. Tactics can get quite complex when players have sufficient control over the bocce ball to land or roll it accurately.

Description: Bowling is a game in which players attempt to score points by rolling a bowling ball along a flat surface in order to knock down objects called pins.

Facts: Ten-pin bowling evolved from ninepin bowling in the 19th century. A regulation pin for this type is 15 inches (38 cm) in height and about 4 3/4 inches (12 cm) in diameter at its widest part; the standard ball has a maximum diameter of about 8 1/2 inches (22 cm) and a weight of no more than 16 pounds (7.3 kg). Each has two or more drilled holes in which to insert fingers for gripping the ball. Candlepin bowling, played in eastern Canada and New England, is a variation of ten-pin bowling, with "double-ended" pins that are the tallest in any bowling sport.

Duckpin bowling, commonly found in the mid-Atlantic and southern New England United States and eastern Canada, is a variation of ten-pin bowling involving small, squat pins. The official small pin is about 9 3/8 inches (24 cm) high and 4 1/8 inches (10 cm) in diameter at its widest part. The standard small-pin ball has no finger holes. The maximum diameter is 5 inches (13 cm).