Improving your VR scores in Premium Bowling

This brief guide for Premium Bowling should help you improve your scores in VR, by translating and applying real bowling concepts to the VR space.

Introduction

Hi all, just wanted to drop a few tips here for anyone that wants to up their game in VR. This will be fairly brief for now, as Sadetta has done such a good job in the physics in this game, that a better way to achieve high scores in Premium Bowling is to learn the game of bowling itself. If/when you see something that is seemingly not translating the same way that you would expect it to, consider that you are using a headset that might be changing the way you see things. We might interpret ball speed differently, or pin action might not be what you expect simply because your headset resolution doesn't fully allow you to see where the ball landed in the pocket.

That said, if you have experience bowling, the biggest thing to think about is applying your strategy to VR, and remembering to apply the same tricks that you do in reality.

Develop a "VR swing"

Because we don't have the physical weight of a ball to guide our swing, I've found that it's best to develop your shot around a swing that is extremely comfortable and easy to repeat. You should spend as many games as it takes, without concentrating on score, to develop a very comfortable swing speed and direction that feels natural to your arm. Remember, most pro bowlers take the "grace" approach and rely on a pendulum motion on their downswing, letting gravity do most of the work.

The optimal ball speed at entry is roughly 17 mph, which is not exactly muscling it. You don't want to have to be concentrating on the speed of your arm, because once you apply muscle, there is too much room for variance in your swing. In turn, your balls will change speed, spin will generate more/less hook, and you will not have a consistent pocket shot.

Lock your wrist rotation for a hook

Most pro bowlers do not try to "wrap" their hand around the ball to generate spin. This is a dangerous approach because it's too easy to have large variance in the amount of spin you apply, and this is true for Premium Bowling as well.

Instead, just concentrate on making the angle of your wrist consistent on your release. As the tutorial shows, the more "closed" your hand is, the more hook you will generate. Try to imagine your release as a rear wheel drive car. Your wrist rotation is the front wheels steering, your arm is the rear wheels pushing. You can achieve the same result consistently if you lock into a specific wrist position, create a very stereotypical "rolling a ball" motion with your arm and hand, and then just execute fluidly without concentrating on rotating your hand.

Throw at the aimer, not the pins

Most bowlers develop a spot on the lane where they throw for any given pin set, on any given oil pattern. In Premium Bowling, we obviously have the adjustable aimer. You might find that you are much more consistent if you concentrate on this spot during your approach and release, rather than looking at the pins.

If you're concentrating on the pins, your arm has a tendency to swing at the desired pin. With a stronger hook, this can create problems.

This is true for a spare pickup as well. Once you determine what kind of shot you need, keep your eye on the lane position instead of the pins. This will help your overall swing consistency, especially in current gen VR where the pin resolution isn't exactly perfect due to the distance.

Find your optimal pocket

I'm not going to go too far into strike theory here as there are plenty of resources on the internet on where your ball needs to land, at what angle, in order to generate the proper strike pin action. What I can say, is that Premium Bowling gives VERY realistic pin action. What you need to concentrate on here is moving your aimer back and forth down the lane until you find an entry angle that doesn't leave pins. Here are the very realistic scenarios that I've been able to depend on in game:

• Too light: this will almost always leave the diamond pattern on the opposite side of your pocket entry
  
• Just light enough: you will strike fairly consistently, but the pins will make a sweeping motion to clear the 10 pin (right handed), though this isn't a preferred strike as the margins aren't very wide here, and clearing the right side can be more luck than anything
  
• Too centered: it's possible to be "too perfect" in the pocket at a bad angle - this will almost always leave the 10 pin as the 3 and 6 clear around the 10 rather than into i
  
• Just right: perfect pocket entry typically looks slightly heavy into the headpin, your ball will send the three into the 6 and 6 into 10, and the pins will "flush" right off of the lane
  
• Too heavy: this is easy to see as you'll start leaving splits, or potentially just 7 pins (right handed)

Which leads me to...

Make MINOR adjustments

Once you have a comfortable swing as detailed earlier, you'll need to find two things. Both are interconnected, but you should only adjust one at a time while you evaluate the effectiveness of the change.

Where you aim: If you throw a slower ball with a lot of spin, you'll likely want to target something closer to the outside of the lane. In conjunction with the lateral aim, you also have to decide how far down the lane you want your ball to travel to that point. This will determine the angle of entry on the pocket.

Where you stand: You can manipulate your angle further by taking small steps from left and right. You don't want your angle to be too light or too heavy, so once you find a good target with healthy pin action, you can adjust your starting position to tweak how you get to the pocket (for right handers, take a step left if you're hitting too heavy, or right if you're hitting too light).

You can use any combination here to achieve proper impact and angle on the pins, but you need to experiment with one change at a time, in small increments! If you're hitting the pins at, what appears to be a pocket shot, but leaving a 10 pin, try moving your aimer forward or backward in very small increments to see how the pin action is impacted.

Take a breather!

I know, very cliché. However, this is a hybrid physical and mental game. Both become quickly fatigued, especially when you are not limited by the normal physical and monetary restrictions of bowling.

When your throw isn't as consistent as it normally is, just walk away and come back later.

Wrapping it up

That's it for now. I'll say this in conclusion: bowling is one of those sports where you have a lot of variables to focus on all at once to improve your game. Keep revisiting each aspect of your throw, and try to improve that part until you don't have to think about it anymore.

Good luck!

[Maveric]

GREAT guide! My thing now is to try and get my positioning right.

[Nobody]

"How do you throw the ball?" You need to provide clear instructions. Your user experience sucks.

[kasmar45]

oksay, now that we are done with the atta boys, how do you actually throw the ball

[terryleemartin]

I just bought the game and I'm sure this will produce some laughter from some of the readers, but I can't figure out how to consistently release the ball. There must be some trick to it. About 8 out of 10 times I pick up a ball and try to swing and release, and find that no ball is sent down the lane. My assumption is that I am to release my hold on the trigger and sometimes that works and other times it just doesn't. Would appreciate any help.

[Shrimp Fried Rice]

Good stuff. I've been a bowler for 30 years and this would even apply to people who are beginning to bowl for real. Instead of moving the aimer, you'd just want to be moving your feet or looking at a different arrow instead.

[vesa]

Great guide. Thank you!