candlepin bowling

I'd never heard of it before today.

Aidan received a Wii for Christmas and has become quite the bowling aficionado -- he's developed one helluva hook and slice. So on a bitterly cold Saturday, an excursion with his dad to the local lanes seemed like a great way to pass some free time away from his little sister and have some fun.

One thing though -- the bowling alley had some weird, bocce ball-looking bowling balls, rather than the big ol' heavy, three-holed variety. And the pins? Super narrow sticks ... not at all like the traditionally-shaped ones.

Google to the rescue ... or more specifically, Wikipedia:

Candlepin bowling is a variation of Bowling that is played primarily in the Canadian Maritime provinces, Quebec, the New England states of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where it is much more common than ten-pin bowling, as well as in one municipal bowling center in Wyoming and Ohio.

Like apple cider donuts and stuffed quahogs, it's just one more Yankee thing I've discovered on this crazy adventure we're living up here in New England. Who knew, eh?