Zanesville, OH had duckpins

[mikefrom NY]

zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080712/SPORTS/807120335/1006

ZANESVILLE - At age 98, Marie Thomas has retired from bowling after 68 seasons with the Zanesville Women's Bowling Association (ZWBA).

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"I remember bowling at the old A&P store. We bowled duck pin bowling using a ball about the size of a softball," Thomas said. "The one ball I really liked is the Ace Bowling ball. It is the oldest ball ever made."

It continues to go farther west...

[urbie]

Interesting article. I used to live in Chicago, and wanted to get over to the Peterson Classic, but never did. It's a notoriously tough event, because they deliberately put out a ridiculously spotty/inconsistent oil pattern.

As far as the extent of duckpins, people told me there used to be some in Chicago as well, but they've long since closed. There is a candlepin house in Wyoming, Ohio, however. According to "The Game of Candlepin Bowling," by Florence Greenleaf, candlepin and duckpin tournaments used to be held all over the place, a century ago; over a much wider range than the games cover now. This may point to an unintended consequence of replacing pinboys with machines -- that made it impossible to have a house where you could put any kind of balls and pins into play. An old-timer was telling me about a house in Needham, Mass., where you used'ta could bowl candlepins, t*npins, or duckpins on the same lanes!

Urb
Providence, RI

[chrisang]

My sources tell me that it was probably rubber band ducks. I know that they were in Youngstown, OH back in the 40's and 50's