When you throw a dead ball, the delivery doesn’t count, the pins are respotted, and you get a chance to bowl again without penalty.
This is a common source of conflict in league bowling. Bowlers often argue about the rule in the case of someone bowling on the wrong lane, or bowling out of turn, or bowling without a full pin deck.
The rule is much more forgiving than many people think. For instance, if you throw a 7 on the wrong lane, that 7 is erased. If you then throw a strike on the correct lane, you get credit for the strike. Here are all the reasons a dead ball will be called, taken from the official USBC rule book:
A ball shall be declared dead if any of the following occur:
- After a delivery, attention is immediately called to the fact that one or more pins were missing from the setup.
- A human pinsetter interferes with any standing pin before the ball reaches the pins.
- A human pinsetter removes or interferes with any downed pin before it stops rolling.
- A player bowls on the wrong lane or out of turn, or one player form each team on the pair of lanes bowls on the wrong lane.
- A player has physical contact with another person or moving object as the ball is being delivered and before a delivery is completed. In such case, the player has the option to accept the resulting pinfall or have a dead ball called.
- Any pin is moved or knocked down as a player delivers the ball but before the ball reaches the pins.
- A delivered ball comes in contact with a foreign obstacle.
