What is Lawn Bowling?
Lawn bowls is a very old game that is played most of the world over. The
object of the game is to get your bowls [which are biased so they'll turn
in a curve] closer to the jack [which is a small white sphere] than your
opponents. Your team receives one point for each bowl closer to the jack
than your opponent's closest bowl. It sounds simple, don't be deceived
though, it is not.
There are many variations of the game, you can have singles games, or
teams of two to four players..
A typical team is three players. The team will include a lead,
a vice skip, and a skip. The lead draws (rolls) the jack and then bowls
first. The lead tries getting his bowls close to the jack. Each lead
alternates bowls until they each bowl three times.
The
vice skip has a more versatile role, depending on whether his lead has
done the job well or not. If the lead has managed to draw the bowls to
a closer distance to the jack than the opposing numbers the vice skip has
a range of shots he can play, he can put in a "blocker", 
which is a short bowl in the normal run, that [hopefully] obstructs the
opposition. He could put in "back bowls", deliberately over bowling and
playing his/her bowl past the jack, the reasing behind such a move will
become clear shortly. The other alternative is that he can continue to
draw into the jack.
If the vice skip is having to force his bowls and fails to change the
head it is not the 'end of the world' for waiting at the head end is the
skip. He or she will be watching every bowl that has come so far and will
encourage his team mates and suggest shots. It is left to the
skip to try to sort out. Comments such as "leave it to you, Skip!" are
none too helpful but sadly often heard! The skip will play all the types
of shots described for the second player - except he/she will be better,
having had more experience at playing them.
If the lead and vice skip are not finding the length or hitting the
right swing [or bias, or line] and have not got the "shot" [the bowl or
bowls nearest the jack] the skip's job gets a bit tougher. He has to try
to disrupt the "head" [the group of bowls around the jack]. He can do this
by bowling his bowl on a tighter line and heavier, to differing degrees
of weight. A full blooded drive, where the arm swings all the way back
and the bowl is hurled down the middle of the green is known as a "firing"
shot. Sometimes there is more skill involved if the bowl is play only slightly
over weight, a shot designed to gently push out the shot bowl and leave
your bowl in it's place, this is called a "running" bowl, and is harder
to do. If your opponents have put in back bowls you may be forced to play
running bowls.
The teams play their games on rinks [part of the bowling green measuring
8 - 10 feet by 40 - 45 yards], the winner is the team that gets the most
shots over [usually] eighteen ends[an end being all bowls rolled in one
direction].