Keeping track to make sure that the computer is keeping your bowling score accurately is your responsibility. With the advent of automated scorekeepers, many people have become complacent in keeping an eye on their scores when they are bowling. Human nature tends to make us trust the computer more than we should. It is understandable if a person has not yet learned to keep a bowling score; but knowledgeable bowlers should keep track as they go along to make sure of the validity of their's (an their opponent's) scores.

If you remember back to the days of manual scoring, it was always a good habit to keep checking your score as the game progressed. Additionally, in very close games or matches, it was common practice for someone to review the entire scoresheet frame-by-frame to verify each individual and team total. While it is a habit for me to keep checking the scoring, I note that more and more people do not pay attention to their scores as the game goes on. They will just sign their scoresheets without questioning their accuracy. I suspect that a lot of prizes, awards, and money has been lost because no one questioned, for example, a 3-pin loss to their opponent.

There are just too many things that can go wrong with machines and computers. Scanners go out of focus or are misaligned, glitches in the electronic circuitry can cause pin count to be mis-read, and so on. Some real-time examples I have witnessed are people knocking down 6 pins and the machine scores the ball as 7, a person gets a spare and the machine scores it as an open frame, and a person gets 8 pins and the machine scores it as a strike. But, I believe you get the idea.

For experienced bowlers who know how to keep score, get into (or back into) the habit of watching the scores as each frame passes and verifying all totals along the way. For you who've been bowling for a while and haven't learned to keep score and/or you beginners, learn how to keep your score and get into the habit of verifying them as I have mentioned.

Here are the basic rules to remember for keeping a bowling score:

1) if all pins are not knocked down in two balls, add the pins to
the previous frame right away;

2) a Spare is worth 10 plus whatever is knocked own on the next ball;

3) a Strike is worth 10 plus whatever is knocked down on the next
two balls.

Placing these three rules into a very simple perspective:

1) if a bowler knocks down 9 pins in every frame, the final score
will be 90 (for ten frames, 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 9);

2) if a bowler has a spare in every frame with a 9 on every next
ball, the final score will be 190 (19 + 19 + 19 + 19 + 19 + 19 +
19 + 19 + 19 + 19);

3) if a bowler strikes every frame, the final score will be 300,
because 10 plus the next two balls which is 10 + 10 for a total
of 30 (30 + 30 + 30 + 30 + 30 + 30 + 30 + 30 + 30 + 30).

Of course, most scores will be a mix of misses, spares, and strikes (except for the 300 game); but, keeping in mind the three aforementioned rules of keeping a bowling score should assist anyone with learning how to keep a bowling score. The main factor, as in everything we learn, practicing with different scenarios and examples will solidify your ability to do the math.