There are several variations to the game of bowls.  The traditional outdoor game played on grass or artificial surface, which is also played indoors as “Long-Mat” bowls, Crown Green bowls as popular in the North of England, and Short-Mat bowls.  All share the same objective of getting a bowl or wood nearest to a target - the jack.

Woods are constructed of hard materials in a near-globe shape but are made in such a way as to allow the wood when rolled to follow a curved path, that tends to get tighter as the wood slows down.  This “bias” allows a player to use this to get around other woods that may be obstructing the way to the jack.

Woods are made in various colours, with a range of sizes and weights to cater for differing hand sizes or other playing styles. 

The jack is a smaller globe, usually painted white, but exclusively yellow for short-mat bowls. 

The playing surface or mat used in our Short Mat game is similar to a roll of carpet, 6 feet wide by up to 45 feet long. It has lines marked at either end to show  the playing areas, such as the location of the foot mat on which the player will stand before making their shot, an area inside of which the player must keep when stepping forward to play a shot, and two lines the signify the length of mat designated as the playing area inside of which will initially be the jack. Any wood bowled which fails to reach this playing area is removed from the mat before the next wood is bowled. If a wood is too long to stay in the playing area, it will end up in the “ditch”, after which it too will be removed in most circumstances.

At the mid-point of the mat a 12-inch wide wooden block is placed centrally at right angles. The bowler has to carefully direct their shot  to avoid hitting this block, adding an additional level of skill to the game.   

There are extensive rules to ensure that the games can proceed as determined by the English Short Mat Bowling Association who oversee play in the UK.