Ten-pin bowling is a relatively recent form of recreation that can trace its history to similar games played, according to some authors, as early as 3200 BCE--under the (possibly apocryphal) Egyptian Pharoh, Narmer.  Others suggest the point of origin to be Germany, around 300 CE.  The form shown here was popularized in the United States prior to the Civil War.  Bowling reached its zenith in the middle part of the twentieth century.  The importance of bowling, and particularly league play, was remarked upon by Robert Putnam in his book, Bowling Alone.  In his study, Putnam uses the decline of league play as a metaphor for the collapse of community in America.