Digital Strategy versus Bowling Technique

Team Event:
Bowling Experience

At Rocktime, it is customary to donate one day a month to leisurely pastimes that sees the entire workforce (when available) partake in activities that range from rafting and tree climbing, right through to paintballing and other adrenaline based high octaneactivities.

Groups of two employees are picked to decide the activity for the following month. This month Ed and Aysegul picked bowling as the venue of choice. With a bottle of (extremely) well matured wine as the prize and the pride of all involved at stake, it was time to see who would be crowned Rocktime Bowling Champion.

It was 2:30 pm on a pale grey Monday afternoon. The clouds hung thick, low and menacing. They threatened to shower us at any moment, there was a drop in pressure; it may have been the weather outside but deep down we all knew it was time for the fun to begin. We shut down our stations, packed up our stuff and headed to the Bowlplex.

The Rocktime Bowling Championship (RBC) is a highly coveted title. Guy decided to warm up by cycling to the venue in as short a time as possible. Mark, Dave and I decided to talk tactics. Kieron and Ed felt that the best way to warm up was a cheeky game of table hockey to get the motion going in the arms. Krishna and Aysegul felt that the best technique was to work on their accuracy by perfecting their basketball shot at the arcade hoops. Paul decided that quiet meditation followed by humming his favourite songs would swing the title in his favour; and just as the game was getting underway, Alex made a tactically late appearance, designed to confuse and bewilder the opposition in to forfeiting the title before it had begun!

Tactics aside, we were broken into teams of two with an individual winner and a team winner as possible outcomes. The teams were as follows:

The first team: ‘Solid shot’ - Dave, ‘Mr Inconsistent – Guy, Aysegul – ‘The spinner’, Krishna – ‘The “Rookie” ’, ‘Gutter ball’ – Jay(me), ‘Slippery’ –Fiona.

The Second team: ‘Mr Consistency’ – Kieron, Mark – ‘The marksman’, ‘A beer will help’ – Ed, ‘Performance enhancing’ – Paul, Alex – ‘The striker’.

Round one

Finding our feet

The first round got off to a shaky start for all competitors as we warmed into the game, Ed hadn’t used his trump card yet and was struggling to get into form. Krishna the (apparent) rookie was hitting a lot of pins which saw him head to head with Alex for first place. Kieron cranked up the pressure on the front runners with his consistent form of 9’s.

As we entered the twilight of the first round our team was in the lead. But suddenly a late flurry of strikes from Alex, Mark and Kieron turned the game on its head. The first round went to the second team. With Alex as the individual winner on overall points.

Alex performing his low bowling technique.

Round one winner: Team two

Individual winner: Alex

Round two

The competition heats up

By the second game everyone was warmed up and a lot more pins were being knocked down. Aysegul’s spinning shots continued to frustrate her as they defied the laws of physics and span away from potential strikes right at the last meter of the bowling alley. Guy, Dave, Mark and Paul were all putting in solid bowls which saw the score count creep into the hundreds. However Kieron, Krishna and Alex were setting the pace with solid hits from all three.

Ed had had enough and decided it was time to use his trump card. Throughout the first game he was bowling off to the sides. He postulated that the best way to counter this accuracy flaw was to use a pint of beer. The equation (known as Ed’s theory of relativity) went something like this:

Natural Accuracy = negative + Beer Accuracy = Negative, Combined (double negative) = positive accuracy.

It was a stroke of genius which saw him rise up into contention with the front runners for a spot on the podium.

For me, the bowling ball seemed to be magnetically drawn to the gutters on every swing. I decided to invest in Ed’s theory of relativity, this paid off and my score crept back up with the contenders.

Me - looking flustered after getting another gutter ball!

Guy was having some consistency issues which saw him hit 1 pin, and then spare, throughout the round. However his occasional spares and strikes insured that he kept up pace and challenged for a podium finish.

Towards the end as the pressure for first place mounted, Krishna just crept over the foul line and saw crucial points lost as the game came down to crunch time. Paul was sneaking into first place with some consistent and powerful strikes, however Alex had hit several strikes in a row and as the round came to a close he finished as the clear winner.

Round two winners: Team two

Individual winner: Alex

Round three

The controversial round

The atmosphere was merry as the third round got underway, the lane that team one were playing on had taken a beating from Krishna’s controversial bowling techniques that had made him an RBC title contender in the first couple of rounds. Now, some members of the team were adamant that a small crater had formed. I concurred, especially with my gutter ball shot count suddenly rocketing!

Solid bowling performances from Fiona, Paul and Dave saw them mingling with the front runners, the pressure was on. Paul was in the lead with consistent and masterful strikes, pars and high pin counts.

Some people were calling foul as they believed Paul had taken something to enhance his athletic ability. His score was high and he was singing to himself a lot more than usual. However, no one could prove this to be true.

Fiona decided that this round she would switch up her tactics to try and find one that was suited to her, this achieved mixed results with some spares and strikes but the scoring was the same across the board.

Just as the teams were getting into the swing of things, lane one began to creak and moan at the impact of shots. (Krishna!)  Eventually it ceased to work which resulted in some down time.

When the game got back under way the break had caught Fiona and her new bowling technique by surprise. As she swung the bowling ball low and hard she stepped over the foul line and on to the neatly polished bowling alley. As she quickly attempted to prevent a foul call from the computer she jerked her leg back transferring her balance onto the foot in the bowling alley causing a fall that would be difficult to replicate!!

The lane was back on now and it was incredibly temperamental. This was a good thing for me as it gave me another go every time I got a gutter ball. Krishna also made the most of it, getting a free strike without even having to bowl! This change of luck saw my team quickly snatch the lead from team two. Paul had tampered with one of the arcade machines and somehow managed to upload his music onto it. Little did he know it would have detrimental effects for his team mate Alex, who found the music a struggle causing his high strike percentage to dip just enough for Krishna to snatch away the lead at the last minute. Giving Krishna and team one the round by only 20 points!

Round three winner: Team one

Individual winner: Krishna

ROCKTIME BOWLING CHAMPIONSHIPS INDIVIDUAL WINNER: Alex

ROCKTIME BOWLING CHAMPIONSHIPS INDIVIDUAL RUNNERUP: Krishna

ROCKTIME BOWLING CHAMPIONSHIPS WINNER: Team two

The Rocktime team after the bowling event.

Author: Jay (Web Developer)