Close-up on a lawn bowling game

© Graham Turner/Alam

Let’s have a ball

You know a game must be fun if it’s stuck around for eight centuries–and that’s how long folks have been playing lawn bowling (in some form or another). But the popularity of the sport really took off with the invention of the lawn mower in 1830, which allowed for smoothly cut bowling greens. Our homepage features the balls called ‘woods,’ or ‘bowls,’ that competitors use during game play. The objective is to roll the grapefruit-sized balls toward a smaller ball called a ‘jack,’ and points are awarded to the players who come the closest. Fancy a game?