Duckpin Bowling: One Thing You Can't Do in NYC

New York City thinks of itself as the center of the universe and it is in many ways. There are things to see and do here you can't see and do anywhere else.

But there are a few things you can't do in New York City. One of them is duckpin bowling. So for the first time since moving here almost 16 months ago I left New York City limits and took a Metro North train to West Haven, Connecticut to bowl at Woodlawn Duckpin Lanes.

Before I go further, an explanation of duckpin bowling is in order. For starters, duckpin bowling involves a ball without finger holes weighing no more than four pounds and pins standing less than a foot tall. One would think it would be an easier game, but the pins are actually harder to knock down. So instead of getting two shots per frame, a bowler gets three. Unlike big ball bowling where thousands of perfect games are rolled everywhere there has never been a perfect game rolled in duckpin bowling. The closest anyone has ever come to perfection was Pete Signore, Jr. who in March 1992 rolled a game of 279.

Alas, there are no more than 40 duckpin bowling alleys left in the country. Most of them are in Maryland where it was popularized by John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson of the original Baltimore Orioles in the early 1900s. But duckpin bowling originated somewhere in New England. Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut can all make a claim to inventing the game. The convenience of geography and public transport took me to Connecticut.

Upon arriving in West Haven, it took me awhile to find my bearings. It helped that I called Bob Nugent, owner of Woodlawn Duckpin Lanes, who was kind enough to give me directions. Bob emphasized that the walk was 7/10ths of a mile. It is not uncommon for me to walk at least four miles a day back and forth between the apartment and the Chrysler Building. So the distance wasn't a challenge as much as walking on a road that didn't have much in the way of sidewalks except those covered by snow. Nevertheless, Bob was surprised by how quickly I got there.

Duckpin bowling requires one to press a button in the back to reset the pins after each frame and a pedal in the front to dispose of knocked down pins still in the lane. This kept me on my toes. I initially planned to bowl for an hour. But being on a train for two hours warranted two hours of bowling. While I am no threat to Pete Signore, Jr's record, I didn't do too badly. In four of the six games I played, I rolled 80 or better with my best game being 85. To put this into perspective, a 125 average is good enough to land one a spot on the duckpin pro bowlers circuit.

Bob was reasonably impressed when he looked at my score and said it's on the house. At first, I thought he was kidding. But he wasn't. "Anybody willing to take a train from New York and walk here from the train station deserves to be rewarded." This guy is a mensch. Needless to say, it won't be the last time I visit Woodlawn Duckpin. Next time, hopefully I won't be coming alone.