a game played in the open air with wooden bowls (generally made of lignum vitae) on a smooth green-sward or in a close bowling alley. A small ball, called a block or jack, is rolled to a convenient distance, and forms the mark towards which the player aims. Each player is provided with two bowls, and the party who counts the greatest number of best bowls, i.e., nearest the block, wins the game, which is usually thirteen casts or best bowls. Four or five persons to a side is the largest number that can conveniently join in the game. The bowl is constructed with a bias to one side, so that its direction towards the mark forms a gentle curve. When a bowl strikes the jack and removes it from its original position, the aspect of the game is generally altered, the relation of the bowls to the mark at the final throw being that which decides their respective value.