History of Bowls Bowls historians believe that the game developed from the Egyptians. One of their pastimes was to play skittles with round stones. This has been determined based on artifacts found in tombs dating circa 5,ooo B.C. The sport spread across the world and took on a variety of forms, Bocce (Italian), Bolla (Saxon), Bolle (Danish), Boules (French) and Ula Miaka (Polynesian). The oldest Bowls green still played on is in Southhampton, England where records show that the green has been in operation since 1299 A.D. There are other claims of greens being in use before that time, but these are as yet, unsubstantiated. Certainly the most famous story in lawn bowls is with Sir Frances Drake and the Spanish Armada. On July 18, 1588, Drake was involved in a game at Plymouth Hoe when he was notified that the Spanish Armada were approaching. His immortalized response was that “We still have time to finish the game and thrash the Spaniards, too.” He then proceeded to finish the match which he lost before embarking on the fight with the Armada which he won. Whether this famous story really took place has been heavily debated. King Henry VIII was also a lawn bowler. However he banned the game for those who were not wealthy or “well to do” because “Bowyers, Fletchers, Stringers and Arrowheaed makers were spending more time at recreational events such as bowls instead of practicing their trade. Henry VIII requested that anybody who wished to keep a green, pay a fee of 100 pounds. However, the green could only be used for private play and he forbade anyone to “play at any bowle or bowles in open space out of his own garden or orchard”. King James I issued a publication called “the book of sports” and, although he condemned football (soccer) and golf, encouraged the play of bowls. In 1845, the ban was lifted, and people were again allowed to play bowls and other games of skill. The earliest documented use of the word “Jack” in bowls is from 1611 “Was there euer man had such lucke? when I kist the lake vpon an vp-cast, to be hit away?”. It appears that jack in some context meant a slight smaller version of something, in this case a Jack-Bowls, later shortened to Jack. In 1667 R. Pierce wrote “he had not strength to throw the Jack-Bowl half over the Green”. Old English Bowling  There is still a league in South East Hampshire that plays what they claim is the old version of Lawn Bowls. The woods used are a minimum of Jaques No 6 Bias and have to end up within four feet of the jack to score. The clubs in the league are Tichfield, Gosport (Alverstoke Old English Bowling Club), Portsmouth, Havant, Hayling Island, Emsworth and Bosham. Lawn Bowls                                                           The English Bowling Association was founded in 1930 and it is a very well organized sport which hosts numerous competitions from the club to the national level. The sport is most popular in the south of England with thousands of devotees. Because success doesn’t require physical fitness, it is particularly favored by older folk but there are a lot of younger players, too. As with many English sports, Lawn Bowls spread to the British colonies from the 1600s onwards. Lawn Bowls was first played in North America in the early 1600’s. Records show that President George Washington played bowls on his estate. In Canada, the sport was introduced around 1730 at  Port Royal in Nova Scotia. In Australia, bowls first was played in Sandy Bay, Tasmania in 1844. The game appeared in New Zealand sometime during the 30 years after that. The World Bowling Board (WBB) is responsible for the standardization of rules across the world, and is charged with the task of encouraging the growth of the game worldwide Lawn Bowls is usually played straight up and down a lawn. In singles each player has four bowls called “woods” (although these days, 90% of bowls are made from a resin material) which are rolled alternately at a target ball called a Jack. Other games are “pairs”- four players in two teams, each player having four bowls, “triples”- three players with three bowls each and “fours” _ four players two bowls each. Whist these are the standard format other variations have been introduced such as two, three, or four bowls in singles-two or three bowls in triples. Each bowl is less rounded on one side which results in the bowl being “biased” in one direction due to the extra weight on one side. The bias of a correctly rolled bowl ensures that it  follows a slightly curved path as it rolls which accentuates as the bowl comes to a halt. The Jack is a smaller white or yellow ball without a bias. Curling The sport of Lawn Bowls is the forerunner of Curling, a tremendously popular winter version played in northern countries (including Canada and Scotland) on ice. It isn’t clear if the Scots or the Dutch invented the game. The first written records on it are from the 1600’s. At one time the stones that slide across the ice were pieces of granite weighing up to 56 kg. Gradually they envolved into plump stone disks with a handle protruding from the top surface. The target is a circle 32 metres from the thrower and the game is played by 2 teams of 4 players, each player sliding 2 stones per go. The slightly bizarre final aspect of the game is that each player is equipped with a genuine broom which is used to scrub the ice just ahead of the stone as it slides towards the target.The scrubbing warms the ice which creates a film of water that the stone slides over speeding it slightly. Skillful work with the broom will successfully deviate the direction of the stone or lengthen the distance it travels in such a way that it eventually comes to rest nearer to the target. Crown Green Bowls Crown Green Bowls is a game of arguably greater interest since it features an additional dimension. A Crown Green is a square lawn slightly higher in the middle than at the edges and play is conducted all over the lawn in any direction making for a great deal more variety than the flat green game. The game has always been associated more with pubs and taverns than Lawn Green bowls and although it does not have the enormous popularity of the flat green game, it thrives very happily within its home base of the North of England and the North West Midlands. Play is almost always singles and each player bowls just two bowls each end. The winner of each turn can play the jack in any direction and at any reasonable distance within the lawn boundary which is a ditch. Some players are best at bowling across the hump, others along the sloping side, some prefer short distances, others long and so many additional tactical complexities are introduced by the unusual lawn. Watching the the multiple games occurring in all directions at once across a crown green bowling lawn is a spectating experience worth seeking out. Somehow, the individual games manage to intersect and cross over each other without any adverse consequences! Crown Green Bowls is a well organized sport arranged on a county bases. Individual clubs, often affiliated with pubs form teams that compete in “midweek” leagues that are grassroots of the sport and , at the next strata up, counties hold their own competitions. Crown Green Inter-County bowls matches date back to 1893 when Yorkshire and the combined county of Lancashire & Cheshire began playing friendly matches and this tradition has carried on until the present day, with the British Crown Green Association taking over the organization of the competition in 1908. As well as Wales, the sport is played in Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man. The first officially organized international happened in 1995 between Wales and England and the following year, the inaugural International tournament was staged in the County Association of North Lancs & Fylde.This competition took the four teams from England, combined Scotland/Ireland, Wales and the Isle of Man. The first competition was won by England, while in the 1999 tournament, the combined Scottish/Irish team were victorious. Short Mat Bowls When winter comes around, Bowls like many outdoor games, become less easy to play. So indoor variations of the game have come into existence. One popular variety is called  simply Indoor Bowls and is essentially Lawn Bowls played on an indoor surface with the majority of the rules consistent with that game. However, another variant called Short Mat Bowls, with characteristics all of its own, has a really big following all over Britain and Ireland. Like many pub games, it is really a miniaturized version of the outdoor game to enable it to be played more easily indoors. It is played on a mat measuring 40-45 X 6 feet with full size bowls, the mat being easily rolled up and put away for convenience. There is a ditch but this is simply an area marked at the end of the mat and to compensate for the shorter distance an intimidating block is placed in the center of the mat. This makes it impossible for a bowler to aim a fast straight bowl at the Jack area all bowls must use the bias to curl around the block to their target. The short mat bowls game was first played in South Wales by two South Africans who came to work in the area. They had played bowls outdoors in South Africa and, perhaps due to the poor climate and the long close season in this country, they began to play a simulation of the outdoor game on a strip of carpet in a church hall. Some time later, they moved to Northern Ireland and took the new game with them. Rules and conditions of play were drawn up and the game soon became well established in the province. It was introduced into England by Irish expatriates, but development was slow until the 1980’s when its potential as a low cost sport for people of all ages was realized. The English Short Mat Bowling Association was formed in 1984, and is now the governing body of the sport in England. Table Bowls Other variants such as carpet bowls and indoor bowls have been popular at one time or another. The best known indoor version of bowls is a pub game that appeared around the district of Carlisle called Table Bowls. In this game a miniature set of bowls and jack are played on a standard 12x6 feet Billiards or Snooker table. The bowls and jack are rolled down a wooden chute which is placed slanting on the table edge with one end on the table. No impetus is allowed to be given to the bowls, it is purely the angle of the chute and how far up it the bowl starts that determines its final position. There are apparently several locations in Queensland Australia where Table Bowls is played.