How Long Is A Bowling Lane?
How long is a regulation bowling lane?
What are the essential elements you should know!
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Table of Contents
How Long Is A Bowling Lane
A bowling lane is 60 feet long from the foul line to the head pin and 42 inches in width (41-⅞ inches to be exact).
However, before the bowling foul line, you have the approach area and after the headpin you have the pin deck, and service aisle.
A complete regulation-size bowling lane is about 83 feet 2 inches long including the approach area, bowling lane, pinsetters with a 3-foot service aisle behind it.
To better answer the question how long is a standard bowling lane, it’s worth looking at the length of each component making up a standard lane.
Approach Area
The approach area will extend at least 15 feet behind the foul line.
Typically, at the 15-feet mark before the foul line, you have a set of dots.
You have another set of dots at the 12-feet mark from the foul line.
Bowlers may use these dots to help with their footwork and stride in going towards the foul line for the delivery.
Foul Line
The foul line must be at least ⅜ of an inch and not more than 1 inch thick.
It must also extend the entire width of the bowling lane.
Bowling Lane
From the foul line to the head pin, how long is a standard bowling lane?
The bowling lane is 60 feet long and about 42 inches wide.
It is composed of 39 boards totaling 41.5 inches.
Each board is about 1.06 inches wide.
On the bowling land, 12 feet after the foul line, you have the “arrows”.
The arrows are about 1.06 inches wide and cannot exceed 1.25 inches.
They are generally about 6 inches long.
Some bowling lanes may also have location markers.
If so, they are typically four of them, placed on the 10, 15, 25, and 30 board, starting at 34 feet from the foul line and ending at 37 feet.
The second set of markers are located on boards 10 and 30 starting at 40 feet and ending at 43 feet.
Pin Deck
The pin deck is 2 feet 10-3/16 inches beyond the bowling lane.
The head pin is positioned at the 60 feet mark from the foul line.
Each pin is spaced out 12 inches apart as measured from the center of the pin (pin width is 4.75 inches and space between each pin is 7.25 inches).
You have four rows of pins where each row is 10 ⅜ inches back from the center of the head pin.
Tail Plank
Right after the pin deck, you have a 3-inch tail plank.
Pinsetter Curtains
The last element is the pinsetter curtain that is positioned approximately 14 inches from the tail plank.
How Long Is A Custome Bowling Lane
How long is a custom bowling alley?
If you want to build a bowling alley in your home, your bowling alley may require as much as 87 feet:
- Room size: 100 feet minimum
- Room width: minimum 15 feet
- Ceiling height: minimum 10 feet
- Approach area: 16 feet
- Bowling lane and pinsetter machine: 67.5 feet
- Service aisle: 3.5 feet minimum
- Seating area: 13 feet
Takeaways
How long is a bowling alley?
From the foul line to the head pin, how long is a standard bowling lane?
Let’s look at a summary of our findings.
How Long Is A Bowling Lane:
Related to How Long Is Bowling Lane
Bowling boards
Bowling lane
Bowling lane dimensions
Bowling lane length
Bowling pin setup
Bowling pin spacing
Bowling pin
