Bowling Score Calculator
Enter your pins knocked down for each roll across all 10 frames to calculate your total score, correctly applying strike and spare bonuses.
Total score
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Enter your rolls to calculate.
How the Bowling Score formula works
Standard 10-pin bowling scoring rules:
Open frame: pins from both rolls, added directly Spare (10 in two rolls): 10 + pins from the next roll Strike (10 on first roll): 10 + pins from the next two rolls
Step-by-step calculation
- For each frame, enter the pins knocked down on each roll.
- Open frames score the sum of both rolls directly.
- Spares add a bonus equal to the next roll; strikes add a bonus equal to the next two rolls.
- The 10th frame allows up to three rolls if a strike or spare is bowled, to resolve its bonus within the same frame.
Worked example
A strike in frame 1, followed by rolls of 4 and 3 in frame 2: Frame 1 score = 10 + 4 + 3 = 17. Frame 2 score = 4 + 3 = 7. Running total after 2 frames = 24.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the 10th frame different from the others?
The 10th frame allows a bonus roll (or two, after a strike) within the same frame, so that a strike or spare bowled in the final frame still has rolls available to calculate its bonus — without this, the last frame's bonus would have nothing to reference.
What's a perfect bowling score?
300 — achieved by bowling 12 strikes in a row (a strike in every one of the 10 frames, plus the two bonus rolls the 10th frame allows after a strike).