Expert: Warren Friedl, Pro Shop Owner/Operator, - 10/20/2009

Question
Hello,
I organized a bowling party a few months ago ceated teams by having everyone report their average and then we drew names.   The plan was to have teams of 4, but we ended up having two extra people.  I randomly assigned them to two teams and then said that the 3rd highest (middle) scores for those teams would be dropped and not count toward the 3 game team aggregate score for each team.  My questions is this:  Is that a good way to do it, or does it give an advantage to the teams receiving a 5th player?  If it is not a good method, please suggest a better one.

Thanks.

Answer
Philip,
Kind of gives the teams with extra players an advantage. I'd create another team with players from two random teams and your two extra bowlers, give the teams giving up a player an absent bowler/vacancy score. You can arrive at that score a number of ways.

Your group sounds like a fun time. Making the vacant score totally random (have the center pick a number out of a hat-they usually have a way to do that for mystery pots), or a mean score of the group, or second highest, second lowest (from the team being played), lots of options to make the score fun. You can even change the number each game so a real high or real low number doesn't put a team at a real advantage/disadvantage.

Lastly, encourage the group to bring two friends so you can round out the teams. good luck with your parties. Thanks for the question. Good bowling.