Game Show where contestants... well... bowled for dollars. The unique twist is that the show wasn't a national broadcast, but a franchise where affiliates had their own local variant (Boston's version used candlepin bowling rather than tenpin bowling, Baltimore had a version with duckpin bowling and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada had Canadian five-pin bowling).
The rules were simple: each contestant bowled a frame, and won $1 for each pin dropped. If they scored a mark (a strike or a spare), they doubled their winnings to $20. If they bowled a strike, they had a chance to go for a Double Strike Jackpot which increased for each contestant who played. Most versions also had a "Pin Pal": each contestant drew a name from a drum of postcards, and the person who sent in the postcard got whatever the contestant got (in some regions, they'd only split a Double Strike Jackpot).
Some versions awarded additional prizes (generally gifted by local sponsors) for certain feats, including a special "Turkey" prize for bowling three strikes in a row. If the contestant won the Jackpot, they could be given a third throw; if they got a third strike, they'd win a large prize ("large" in this case being relative, and again generally gifted by local sponsors). A few versions had returning champs who would continue playing for the same Pin Pal.
The title of the show has lent itself to many parody titles over the years, including the band Bowling for Soup, the Michael Moore documentary Bowling for Columbine, and This Very Wiki's own Bowling for Ratings.
This franchise provides examples of:
- Game Show Host: Almost always a local TV personality, usually the main sports director for the local station that hosted or one of said station's on-air news personnel.
- Home Participation Sweepstakes: The Pin Pals.
- Market-Based Title: Where standard ten-pin bowling was not dominant, the show was renamed to reflect the dominant form of bowling in the area. For example: Boston's Candlepins For Cash.
- Product Placement: Non-cash prizes were generally gifted by local sponsors.
- Progressive Jackpot: The Double Strike Jackpot, which generally (it varied by station) started at $200 and went up $20 for each contestant.
