Bowling

Overview

Bowling can be played at the two Memory Lanes alleys, one on Firefly Island in Broker and one in Westminster, Algonquin. Niko Bellic can bowl alone or against a friend or girlfriend. The activity is introduced in the mission First Date but is open at any time when no mission is active. A full game of ten frames costs $10, and a half game of five frames costs $5 (both cost $10 on PC). In The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony the alleys are still open, but bowling is no longer a friend activity, and Air Hockey largely takes that place.

Walkthrough

1. Enter a Memory Lanes alley and choose a half or full game.
2. Set your starting position on the approach to pick a line.
3. Roll the ball. You can still adjust its path until it passes the red marks in the middle of the lane.
4. Knock down as many pins as possible across your frames and finish with the higher score.

Tips

• Aim for the pocket between the head pin and the second row, which most often produces a strike.
• A strike is all ten pins on the first ball (X), and a spare clears the rest with the second (/).
• Three strikes in a row is a turkey. Twelve strikes gives a perfect 300.
• Splits, with pins left on both sides but none in the middle, are very hard to convert.
• Rarely, a pin knocked over from the neighboring lane can still count toward your score.

Rewards and unlocks

• Gobble Gobble achievement for bowling a turkey.
• Required for 100% completion: win at least one game.
• Playing with friends raises their like rating in GTA IV.