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Kegeln - the German "bowling" game
In Germany people go bowling just as they do in other countries, but we've also got our own kind of bowling which is called "Kegeln" (comes from the noun Kegel which we call the bowling pins used for the kegelsport) and which is a sport that has been well-known for centuries. Up to the 18th century, it used to be played outside, but then they started to build Kegel alleys inside, too. You can often find them in the basement of roadhouses and restaurants.
What is special about Kegeln? First of all, it is played with nine pins instead of ten. They are arranged like this, in the shape of a rhombus:

The sport Kegeln actually used to be a predominant game in the US, but then the American way of bowling took over and it seems to have only survived in rural Texas. The ball doesn't have any holes and you hold it like this:

There are a lot of Kegel clubs in Germany and it's the favorite sport of many middle-aged/old people, but it's popular for people of any age.
It's not rare that children have birthday parties at a Kegelbahn (Kegel alley), playing games with their friends.
You can play for example that everybody has to hit one pin, two pins, three pins, etc. (up to nine) and who gets everything first wins. Another game is "17+4": Goal is to get 21 points but no more than that. If you get two "Neune" (roll nine pins twice), you get 3 extra points and win. There are hundreds of different games.
If you're interested, check out: http://www.deutscher-keglerbund.de/freizeit_kegelspiele.pdf (it's in German though).

