BOWLS - a simple game made difficult, sometimes, by the players. The game itself couldn't be simpler.

Played on a flat, square green, divided up into a number of "rinks" of equal width, the task is to roll a "jack" (a small, solid, white or yellow ball) to the far end of the rink and then for the players in turn to roll their bowls toward it When all the bowls have been bowled the player whose bowl, or bowls is nearest to the jack (the "shot") wins that "end". A game, or match, can be made up of a varying number of "ends", with a varying number of competing players.

The aggregate scores over the agreed number of ends decides the winners. The games may be "Singles" (one player vs another player), "Pairs" (2 player team vs another 2 player team), "Triples" and "Fours". In a Singles match each player bowls four bowls each end and the winner of the match is the first person to score 21 shots. For a Pairs match, each player bowls four bowls each and is run over 21 ends. In Triples the three team players have three bowls each and play 18 ends, and in Fours each player plays with two bowls played over 21 ends. For Team or Club matches the game may comprise any number of "Rinks" - but generally no more that 6 since that takes up all of the green - and the aggregate of all the rinks for each Team is taken to decide the final match result.

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