Hello all,

I have been wondering when bowling alleys got different weighted balls for recreative bowling and been unable to find any information about it.
Or did they always have balls with different weights?
When I see pics I see a lot of balls without the weight numbers so I assume that means they're all the same weight.
I am hoping someone here knows the answer.

Thank you!

I know when I started bowling in the early 60's the house had balls of all weights at that time from 8 to 16 pounds.

While most did not have weights on them the different weights had slightly different designs in the cover that would tell you what weight class the ball was in.

I agree, I started in the 60's too and the very light (8-9 pounds) had blue and red triangles on the coverstock. The next group (10-12) had yellow speckles or dots on them.  Beyond that, I don't remember.

Born in the 70s, first started bowling in around 78/79, but definitely youth leagues in the 80s. The polyester and rubber house balls we had back then were black, but definitely had the weights on them. No house balls of various weight were color coded. I just don't remember seeing any balls back then (read: early to mid 80s) that were under 8 pounds. I was always told that that was the lightest they had, and that was what to start with, so we did.

BL.

In 1962 for my 7th birthday my dad had a new Brunswick 8# bantam bowing ball drilled up for me.
That was the ball with the red and blue triangles. The cover was hard rubber and it had a cork core.
There were many of those black with yellow specks balls on the racks.
Funny how none of these older balls cracked. Planed obsolescence?