I played bowls growing up, and I've always wanted to make a game out of it. Battle Bowl is that game, my first, and a proper passion project: the game of bowls crossed with a roguelike.
You bowl head to head against the club's characters, the vicar who only ever draws and the colonel who drives at everything, and between matches you build a bag of daft special woods and collect cards and charms that bend the rules.
No two runs go the same way, and one good bowl can turn a match. It plays free in the browser on PC and phone, with a party mode for two to four players round one screen. Steam is next.
How it plays
A run, end to end
1
Line it up
Step on the mat and pick your line. The guide shows you the line, never the weight.
2
Let it go
Weather and wind have their say, and nothing allows for them but you.
3
Count the head
Nearest the jack holds shot. Three ends a match, and every wood that counts adds up.
4
Hit the Tuck Shop
Spend your winnings on new woods, cards and charms for the bag.
5
Beat the club
Green by green, character by character, until the season's yours.
The bag
50+ ability balls
Win them, then bowl them. Here are 32 of them, rendered straight out of the game.
Uncommon01 / 32
The Space Hopper
Super bouncy. It skims the rough and springs off the banks, and it's only out if it stops out: bounce it back in and it plays on.
What's different
The house rules
Party mode
The Grudge Match for two. Fete Day for three or four: heats, a final for the Cup, and your name on the Honours Board.
No microtransactions
Seasons will come with a pass you earn, not one you buy.
“You actually get rewarded for the level you progress and the skill and the effort you put in.”
Made, not generated
There's no AI art in the game. Every model is built in code in Blender, or comes from hand-made packs.
Proper physics
Under the cartoon there's a real bowls simulation, so every wood runs true.
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