Whether you’re at the bowling alley or at home, you and your friends will love these fun bowling party games for adults!
Bowling is always a fun way to pass the time, and it’s the perfect party theme for adults — But if you’re hosting a party, you’re going to need to find some entertainment for your party guests.
Whether you’re heading to the alley to knock down a few pins or just using your favorite game as inspiration for a party at home, these bowling party games for adults are the best way to have some fun at your next celebration.
7 Bowling Games for Adults at a Bowling Alley
Hosting a party at a bowling alley is a great way to enjoy some time with your friends for your birthday. But why plan a boring game of regular bowling when you can make things a little more interesting?
Try these bowling games the next time you hit the lanes for a party.
1. Bowling Bingo
Add some fun to the scorekeeping of your next bowling game by creating bingo cards with different bowling outcomes (strike, spare, gutter ball, and the numbers one through nine).
Each time a player bowls, everyone will mark off the outcome on their bingo card.
Just like in the classic game, the first person to bingo wins a prize!
Note: While Bingo Bowling is great for adults, younger children and teams may enjoy it too!
2. Tag Team Bowling
Grab a teammate and see which pair of friends can get the highest score together.
Divide all your players into pairs.
Each pair will take turns bowing the frame – one player bowls first and the second will attempt to get the spare.
Continue bowling the game in pairs until all ten frames have been played.
3. Bowling Bucket List
Before your party, compile a list of bowing tasks that each player or team must complete.
As the players play through the frames, they can begin marking items off their list.
The first player or team to complete every item on the list wins the game!
Your bowling bucket list could include a variety of different tasks, like:
- 7-10 split
- Two strikes in a row
- Spare
- Strike
- Two spares in a row
- Opposite hand spare
- Opposite hand strike
- Front pin remains standing
- 7 and 10 pins remain standing
- Three spares in a row
- Three strikes in a row
- Knock down only the front pin
- Pin 10 remains standing (or any other pin number)
- Score 3 twice in a row (or any other points value)
4. Goofy Bowling
Get silly as you bowl your frames with a round of goofy bowling. Instead of bowing in the traditional way, each player must come up with a funny way to get the ball to the pins. Ideas for goofy bowling could include:
- Bowling backwards (face away from the pins and roll the ball between your legs)
- Granny bowling (rolling the ball with both hands)
- Dance bowling (do a dance move to the line)
- Tiptoe bowling (walk on your tip toes to the line)
- Bowl sitting down (sit on the ground and push the ball to the pins)
- Slow motion bowling (move in slow motion as you bowl)
This fun bowling party game could also be a great date night idea since you only need 2 players!
5. Poker Bowling
Combine two fun party games into one with poker bowling. To play this game, you’ll need to bring a deck of cards and some poker chips to the bowling alley with you.
After a strike or spare, a player collects a card. When the 10th frame has been bowled, each player will look at all their cards and try to make the best poker hand they can.
The player with the best had wins.
To make things more interesting, use the poker chips to bet after each frame based on the cards you have at that point in the game.
6. Shout It Out
Adding in different challenges can be a lot of fun! With Shout it Out, you challenge each player to name as many things in a category before their bowling ball hits the pins.
You’ll need to have the categories written on pieces of paper beforehand, and you’ll need to keep track of the number of items each player lists.
At the end of the 9 frames, whoever has named the most total wins!
Some examples of categories could be:
- types of pets
- 80’s television shows
- movies with a specific actor in them
- popular songs from a certain decade
- boy bands
- types of cereal
- classic MTV tv shows
- fast food chains
- states or cities
7. Bowling Relay Race
A relay race can be a great idea, but you will need 2 bowling lanes next to each other to do it.
You’ll divide into two teams. The first team or player will start together – with each player bowling on the word go.
When the ball returns to the lane, the next player rolls it immediately.
The team to have all of it’s players roll down the lane first wins!
3 Bowling Party Games at Home
There’s no reason to leave the comfort of your home to have a bowling party!
With these bowling games at home, you and your friends can have a blast at your next party.
1. Beer Bowling
Turn bowling into a fun drinking game for your friends with beer bowling.
Set up 10 empty beer cans in the shape of bowling pins.
Then, use a medium sized ball, like a soccer or basketball, to try to knock over the cans.
After their roll, the player must drink for one second for every can that they knock down.
But if they get a strike, the player can make everyone else at the party drink for 10 seconds.
2. Lawn Bowling
Bring the bowling alley to your backyard with a lawn bowling set.
Set up these wooden bowling pins in your yard, then let your guests take turns trying to knock down the pins.
Keep track of everyone’s score and offer a prize to the winner after 10 frames have been bowled.
3. Gutterball
With 50 challenge cards, this at-home bowling game is sure to be a hit at your next party.
Gutterball is a family bowing game with a twist. Knock down the plain white pins to win, but avoid the red penalty pins because if you hit one of those, you’ll have to face the consequences.
As you bowl, use the challenge cards to make things even more interesting in this fun bowling game you can play at home.
Bowling Prizes
If you want to do bowling awards for these fun bowling party games for adults, we have several ideas that are a lot of fun!
We like to tell guests there will be awards or prizes at the end of the party to help spark some friendly competition!
Bowling Award Ideas
The awards don’t have to be something large or expensive. Paper certificates, small trinkets like key chains, or a beer (if you’re over 21) can be great ideas!
- Relay Race Winning Team
- Best Score
- Most Creative Outfit
- Perfectly Striking (Person with the most strikes)
- Sparely Made It (Person with only 1 Spare)
- Goofiest or Craziest Bowler
- Best Granny Roll
- Most Creative Roll
You could also do party favors, but if you’re saving money or it’s a casual night out – you don’t need them or party invitations.
What is good food for a bowling party?
Great food can make a bowling birthday party so much more fun! We like to eat at the bowling alley, but if you’re bowling at home and want to make up a great spread of foods, we have you covered!
You could also go to a restaurant before or after bowling!
Bowling Party Menu
- Pizza
- Hot Dogs
- Burgers
- Nachos
- French Fries
- Brownies
- Cupcakes
- Cookies
- Beer
We hope these bowling party games for adults and event details help you plan a great party!
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