The biased bowl
The defining feature of lawn bowls is the bias. Each bowl is weighted/shaped so that it doesn't roll straight — it curves as it slows, following an arc toward the target. Players must account for this curve on every delivery, choosing a line that bends into the desired spot. It's the feature that most distinguishes lawn bowls from bocce, whose balls roll true.
The jack
As in bocce, play centers on a small target ball — here called the jack. The jack is rolled out to start an end (a round of play), and bowlers deliver their bowls trying to finish closest to it. The curving bias means there are multiple lines to reach the jack, adding tactical richness.
Drawing and driving
The two core shots: a draw is a controlled delivery that uses the bias to curve gently to rest near the jack — the game's bread and butter. A drive (or fire) is a fast, forceful shot that travels straighter and is used to scatter the head or knock the jack or opponent bowls away. Mastering the draw is the mark of a skilled bowler.
The green and the rink
Lawn bowls is played on a large, flat, closely-mown green, divided into playing lanes called rinks. The condition and speed of the green dramatically affect how much the bowls curve and how far they run — reading the green is its own skill, a little like reading the oil in tenpin lane play.
A worldwide game
Lawn bowls is played across the Commonwealth and beyond, with a strong club tradition and competition at every level up to the international stage. Together with bocce and pétanque it forms the 'green' branch of the rolling-games family — distinct from pin bowling, but unmistakably part of the same ancient impulse documented in our origins guide.