The Unusual Spare

As you may know from a previous post, my 5 year old and I have spent several days at the bowling alley this summer.  One cool thing about the alley we go to is that the screen lets you know when you have an unusual spare.  In other words, if the pins remaining after the first throw are statistically uncommon, it tells you.  I've noticed, however, that my daughter and I tend to throw more "unusual" spares than "usual" spares!!!  I'd like to think it's because we are both so awesome at bowling that we are too good for "usual" spares!  :-) Here are a couple pictures of unusual spares from our last game of bowling.

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of my favorite unusual spare that my daughter rolled earlier this summer. Below is the standard pin arrangement.  After the first throw my daughter left standing the 5, 7, and 10 pin. Now that's an unusual spare!

So if you and your child roll a large number of unusual spares, don't fret, you're in good company!