Expert: - 1/18/2008

Question
What is the slope of the gutter?  I am a HS math teacher and went bowling recently.  I saw a ball that was stopped in the gutter begin rolling on its own and realized the gutter was sloped in order for the ball to be returned without any assistance.  Is there a standard slope to the gutter?

Answer
Grace,
There are no requirements for the main gutters. One of the requirements of the lane is it be within 40/1000s of an inch of dead flat.

A portion of the lane adjacent to the pin deck, called the flat gutter has some requirements, but none that require any slope. You'd think sloping the gutter to get the ball to roll toward the pins/machine would be logical.

Thank you for the question.