Nine-Pin Bowling Lives on Despite Early Effort to Ban the Game

While some sports and games — rodeo being one — are deemed to have generally been founded in Texas and are referred to as uniquely Texan sports, other amusements founded elsewhere have evolved into something that has, over time, turned uniquely Texan. Nine pin bowling is a game, or sport if you will, that has roots long before Texas was ever founded as a colony and in places existing before North America had even been discovered. Yet, over time, the game has become one that is not played anywhere but Texas. At that, it is played in sparingly few Texas communities. “Nine-pin,” as the game is known, was founded in Europe and enjoyed the widespread play as early as the 17th century. Germany is known as the country of origin, but the game was popular in other nations including Austria, Belgium, Slovakia, Czechia, Serbia, Croatia, and The Netherlands. English versions of nine-pin became one of few amusements enjoyed by early American colonists provided, of course, the game was not played on Sundays. Still, as decades passed, nine-pin bowling became a game of ridicule, an example of what was wrong with society in terms of loafing and adverse interest in work, and it became a general symbol of the decay of morality. After all, the game required socializing, and evils such as spirits and liquor flowed freely and were often associated with amusements. Unlike its cousin, tenpin bowling, nine-pin does not necessarily encourage the clearing of a set of specially placed pins from the end of a bowling lane. In that regard, nine-pin takes much more skill. Eight of the pins are set in a square, one of its 45-degree angles facing the bowler. The ninth pin is placed in the middle, surrounded by the other eight. While knocking down all nine pins is an accomplishment worthy of a score of nine, the goal of the game is to knock down eight pins, leaving the ninth — the surrounded pin — standing. One can see that the ability to toss balls at the pins with various spins or “English” aimed at particular parts of the nine-pin “square” are beneficial. While some expert players may perfect all of the spins and can readily remove all but the ninth pin from the alley, others may only be skilled in one or two spins. This is where nine-pin further distinguishes itself from the popular ten-pin game. While ten-pin bowling can become a team game by summing the scores of a set of individual bowlers, in the nine-pin game, there is no order of bowlers like in a baseball “batting order.” The captain of a nine-pin team, normally consisting of six players, can pick and choose which bowler is best-suited to toss a ball based on those pins the previously bowler left standing. If a bowler is especially skilled at curling the ball counterclockwise around an object, he might be chosen to knock down three pins making up the upper right of the tilted square. On the other hand, a bowler also skilled at the counterclockwise curve but not having the same length of throw as another may be chosen to knock down the lower left set of pins. Then again, in instances where what would be referred to as a “strike” in ten-pin bowling are needed, someone with the brazen ability to knock down all nine pins in a single pitch may be chosen. Society accepted tenpin bowling as more suitable than its older cousin. Ten-pin was not as closely associated as was nine-pin with alcohol, gambling, and the commission of other mortal sins. Many cities and states banned it outright, claiming that the game destroyed all a morals-based society stood for. When such laws were put in place, the addition of a tenth pin, an idea that had become popular in England and no doubt an abomination for those interested in the nine-pine game, seemed to solve the problem. After all, bowling itself was not abolished — it was ninepin bowling that met the wrath of the public. Of course, ten-pin bowling didn’t remain legal for long. It soon received similar wrath to nine-pin in the young United States. But Texas took another approach to control bowling and its ills. Just a year after gaining its independence, the very idea of banning amusements for any reason and on any day of the week was foreign to many of its new settlers, the Texas government sought a way to pacify both the Protestant urge to promote morality and the public’s need for entertainment. Rather than banning bowling — either the nine or ten-pin variety — Texas decided to tax the establishments where the game was played. And it was no small tax. The government levied a $150 annual tax on such venues. While conversion of Texas dollars into U.S. dollars is difficult before 1839, in that year one Texas dollar was valued at about 37 U.S. cents. So, in U.S. dollars, the currency that would soon become official in Texas, the tax was approximately $405 annually. Translated to more recent times, an operator of a nine-pin bowling alley would be subject to paying a tax of $7,500 at the turn of the 21st century. That is no small tax on a business! Regardless of the legality of bowling in Texas, as the decades passed, the Texas legislature did whatever it could to discourage the game. Whether it was a question of moral decay or outright discrimination against German immigrants who had popularized bowling in Texas is open to debate. But in 1879, the $150 tax established on bowling establishments 42 years earlier had grown to $1,000. As noted in the Galveston Daily News, the price of the “license tax,” as it was called, classified failure to pay as a felony. Furthermore, the Daily News noted, “the entire tax would not be less than $3,000, for which amount it is, or has been, at least safe to shoot a prominent citizen in some portions of the state. It would seem that there is no uniformity in the license taxes on different sports and games of the people.” In 1883, during debate on reforming the state’s blue laws, Texas legislators in favor of eliminating licenses on bowling alleys and allowing for legalizing various gambling devices struck out when the two were separated. The result was a new $25 per billiard table tax. While the Texas government busied itself taxing bowling and similar amusements, others applauded the games. An 1885 bit in the San Antonio Light offered commentary on boys playing nine-pin. “A group of small boys in a yard on North Flores Street have established a nine-pin bowling alley for their own amusement, and every afternoon as they play their game (it) attracts great attention from passers-by. The boys deserve credit for keeping out of mischief in this matter.” Whether it was for the caveat “for their own amusement” or the newspaper’s noted outcome of “keeping out of mischief,” no record is found that the boys were levied a $1,000 license tax. For those who indulged in nine-pin with at least the appearance of reality, San Antonio newspapers, in particular, covered the events with some regularity. For instance, the Daily Light gushed about an 1886 match pitting the Casino Association Club against the Mission Garden Club at Mahncke’s Garden (presumably a licensed nine-pin establishment): “The second and decisive match at nine-pin rolling… as had been predicted by all who have seen the phenomenally good rolling of the Mission boys, in a glorious victory for the Mission boys, who may now virtually be called champions of the city barring the Sommers Garden alley, which will no doubt be tackled next.” The newspaper praised both teams and even noted that “After the game, cheers were given up on each side, and a fine lunch was spread by Mr. Mahneke and a keg of beer was sampled.” It should be noted that the lineups for each team were printed in the paper, and both rosters were filled with surnames like Icke, Heiligman, Heubaum, Umscheid, Sachs, Guenther, and others of apparent Germanic origin. In a city like San Antonio, where Anglo Texans joined former Mexican Texans, there seemed little place for discrimination — at least when it came to bowling. Whatever impact discrimination may have had on German immigrants or their culture in Texas, the Germans became a permanent part of the citizenry. On Sunday, October 7, 1894, “German Day,” celebrated by a large number of fittingly described “German-Americans,” was held in Houston. A parade beginning at Turner hall, a well-known nine-pin establishment, was a feature of the day and was appropriately planned to avoid disturbing any places of religious worship. “By 4 o’clock, the grounds were alive with joyous humanity young and old. Among the oak, pine, and gum trees, the little folks, a there were hundreds of them, jumped and rolled with unbridled glee.”. Not even Sunday dancing and flying horses came under criticism of the Galveston Daily News, and it noted a nine-pin alley as a party area for the youth. Eventually, bans or taxes on amusement like ninepin went the way of other “blue laws” in Texas; however, the fact that ten-pin had been better received eventually made it the bowling game of choice to most of the state. You can still travel to the San Antonio area and find a nine-pin alley or two. And if you stop in the Hill Country to take in a German festival, you’ll stand a good chance of finding a game of nine-pin as a featured attraction. And with both, you’ll no doubt discover alcohol flowing freely.