Turkey bowling is a sport which is based on ordinary bowling. A frozen turkey serves as the bowling ball and 10 liquid-filled plastic beverage bottles are used for bowling pins. The turkey is bowled down a smooth surface such as ice or a soap-covered sheet of painters plastic.[1] The sport is commonly associated with Thanksgiving.[2]
Turkey bowling is popular in minor league ice hockey in the United States and Canada.[1]
The original variant involves turkey bowling in an aisle of a grocery store. A Derrick Johnson claims to have invented turkey bowling in 1988 when he worked as a grocery clerk at a Newport Beach Lucky's branch while observing a manager slide a frozen turkey across the floor and accidentally topple a soda bottle.[3]
Derrick became a self-appointed commissioner of the "Poultry Bowlers Association" and codified the rules and terminology, such as "the fowl line" (cf. "foul line"), "the gobbler" (three strikes in a row; cf. turkey (bowling)), "the Butterball" (a gutterball) and "the wishbone" (a 7-10 split).[3]
- ^ a b "Protestors cry foul at turkey bowling", Manchester Evening News, 3/11/2003
- ^ Genovese, Peter (November 23, 2023). "Turkey bowling? N.J. bar keeps wacky Thanksgiving tradition alive". NJ.com.
- ^ a b "Derrick Johnson's Unique Bowling Style Is Pure Poultry in Motion", People Magazine, October 01, 1990 Vol. 34 No. 13