Bowls is played on a flat square or rectangle of closely mown grass called the 'Green', which is divided into smaller playing areas called rinks. The Green is surrounded by a small ditch to catch woods that leave the rink, and a low bank on which markers indicate the edges and the centre lines of each rink.

Players take turns to deliver their bowls  from a mat at one end of the rink towards a smaller white (or yellow) ball (the 'jack') at the other end. The object of the sport of Bowls is deceptively simple - to get one (or more) of your bowls closer to the jack - one point is scored for every one of your bowls that are closer than any of those of your opponents. 

Bowls are shaped so that they take a curved path toward the jack. To be successful your bowl must be delivered at the right speed (known as 'weight') along the correct line.

There are many different formats to the sport - but the most common are singles, or in teams of pairs, triples or fours. In singles, the winner is the first person to reach 21 points; in the other formats, the winner is the team that scores the most points over an agreed number of ends.