DIY Ghost Bowling Game

This fun ghost bowling game that I like to call skulling is a simple DIY Halloween game that’s perfect for classroom parties, kid parties, and really any Halloween party where people like a little friendly competition!

Plus, it’s simple to make, inexpensive, and easy to store to use year after year! All you need are some white pool noodles, a black permanent marker, and a plastic skull to roll!

I’ve been the room mom for my son’s class for years. I’ve hosted a ton of Halloween parties for kids over the years. And I’ve been to a lot of parties for all ages.

I’ve created over 50 different Halloween games for my site because I personally get tired of playing the same ones all the time.

Most of those are a little more unique like this Halloween pictionary game (it’s not what you think it is) or Halloween family feud but sometimes you just want some simple, straightforward, classic games to play!

So this DIY ghost bowling game is just that – a classic, fun, and straightforward game that will work for any age.

But of course I couldn’t stop there – not only did I include how to make this ghost bowling game, but I included FOUR different game ideas to play if you want to incorporate bowling but still in a unique way! There are game options for kids, teens, and adults!

Why You’ll Love This Game

• Inexpensive – I got everything to make this game from Dollar Tree for under $5!
• Easy to make – this one is super simple to make yourself and unlike toilet paper pumpkin bowling, the ghost bowling pins should last longer!
• Works for any age – this game is simple to switch up depending on the age you’re playing with. Let smaller kids stand closer to the pins, move teens back, and move adults back even further (or not). I’ve even included some variations to make this game even more fun for teens and adults!

Supplies

Like I mentioned before, this is a cheap game to make and play. All you’ll need to make the game is:

1. Three white pool noodles – we picked these up for $1.25 each at the Dollar Tree. If you can’t find them at yours or don’t Dollar Tree stores, you can get them on Amazon too!
2. One plastic skull – we bought ours at Dollar Tree but you could find this numerous places! I recommend one that’s about the size of your hand, maybe a little bigger.
3. Black permanent marker – if you don’t have one of these in your house already, you can and should order one right now. They come in handy!

How to Make a Ghost Bowling Game

This simple DIY bowling game takes about five minutes, maybe less to make. That’s why it’s perfect for any party, even if you’re looking for last minute ideas!

1 – Cut the Pool Noodles

1. Measure a pool noodle and draw a line with a pencil 1/3 of the way down the pool noodle.
2. Use the sharp knife to cut right over top of that pencil line to create your first ghost bowling pin.
3. Place the piece of cut pool noodle right next to the remaining 2/3 of the pool noodle. Cut another piece that’s the same size, using the first piece for reference. This should give you three evenly sized pieces of pool noodles.
4. Repeat with the other pool noodles until you have nine pieces of white pool noodle.

2 – Add Ghost Faces

Once you have all of your pool noodles cut, it’s time to add ghost faces! Draw them on using the black permanent marker.

If you need ideas for what ghost faces look like, I drew about 25 different ones in this ghostbusters game you can look at!

Once your ghost faces are added, you’re done! The game is all ready to be played!

How to Play this Skulling Game

There are a lot different ways you can use this ghost bowling, or skulling as I like to call it, game.

For all of them, you’ll first need to start by setting up the bowling pins. Stand them up close together with one in the front, two behind it, three behind that, and three more behind that. If you want to do ten pins, put four in the final line.

Then you need to tape out lines for people to bowl from behind. Once you have your pins setup and lines taped, you’re ready to play one of these four fun ghost bowling games!

Option 1: Traditional Bowling

The first way to play of course is to play actual bowling where you have ten frames, two rolls per frame, and keep track of points. That’s complicated and not how anyone is ever going to do this – but it is an option.

This works best if you have a small group and really want to have some sort of friendly competition going. You could do this in conjunction with things like my Halloween trivia game and my stack attack party game for a Halloween Olympics of sort.

Option 2: Two Rolls Each

The way I envision most people doing this ghost bowling game is giving each person two rolls each, or one if you knock down all of the ghost bowling pins on your first roll.

Choose a line for bowlers to stand behind (I like to do different lines for different age groups) and let them roll the skull to try and knock down the bowling pins.

• For young kids – they get a prize for playing whether they knock anything down.
• For teens – they get a prize for knocking down all of the pins in one shot.
• For adults – they get a prize only for getting a strike.

Option 3: Don’t Strike Out

For this third game, I recommend playing five frames where everyone gets to bowl once per frame. The goal is to toss the skull and try to hit as many pins as possible without getting a strike (knocking down all the pins).

If someone knocks down all the pins, they lose all the points they’ve earned so far. They can still earn more points in future rounds but all their current points are gone.

For scoring, you can either make each pin one point for the entire game. Or if you want to make it a little more competitive, you can do one point per pin for round one, two points per pin for round two, and so on until each pin in round five is worth five pins.

The person with the most pins at the end of five rounds wins.

Option 4: Take It Or Lose It

This third option works best for teens or adults and is where the friendly competition style game comes in.

Split your group into two teams. I’m going to call them Team A and Team B.

Set up the pins just like a normal bowling game and have someone from Team A come and up take their turn skulling. For every pin they knock down, they earn a point for their team.

However, they do not get a second turn. Instead, someone from Team B then comes up and tries to knock down the remaining pins. If they pick up any of the remaining pins, those pins get added to the Team B score.

For the next frame, setup the pins and Team B goes first this time around with Team A trying to pick up any missed pins.

Continue going in this manner for ten frames and the team with the highest score wins.

Option 5: A Pin to Win

Last but not least, in this fun variation that’s best for teens and adults – start by putting numbers on the back of your pins (1-9).

Then write down the numbers 1 to 9 on pieces of paper and put them in a bucket, hat, or paper bag.

Select someone to go first and they get one chance to bowl and hit pins. Their goal is to hit as many hits as possible without getting a strike, or I like to call it, striking out. If they strike and knock down all the pins, their turn is over and they’re out.

Once they’ve bowled, see which pins they knocked down. If none, their turn is over and they move on.

If they hit pins, take note of the pin numbers they hit. Then have that same person go to the bag of numbers and blindly pick a number out of the bag. If they knocked down the pin with the same number on it, they win a prize!

Set the pins up again, with the pins in no particular order (numbers can and should be randomized to be anywhere in the placement), and the next person gets to play and try to win their own prize!

Bowling Prize Ideas

If you’re doing this with young kids who all win a prize for participating, I recommend just doing little Halloween trinkets like stamps, spider rings, and anything you might find in a Halloween pinata!

If you’re doing this with teens or adults who actually have to win something, try one of these instead!

• Gift cards
• Halloween movies or books tied up with one of these Halloween gift tags!
• Cash or lotto tickets (always a hit for adults!)
• Any of these Halloween party favors
• One of these Halloween party snacks (they make great prize options)
• Movie tickets

And if you really want something people will want to win, you could even do something like tickets to a Halloween event like Oogie Boogie Bash, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party, or a haunted house!

More Fun Halloween Games

This ghost bowling game would be perfect with any of these other fun Halloween party games!

• Halloween bingo – a Halloween inspired version of the classic game!
• Halloween charades – another classic but with lots of variations to try at this year’s Halloween party!
• Trick or Treat Game – this silly game includes choosing pumpkins to tricks or treats!
• Halloween name that tune – see who can name popular Halloween songs (straight from this Halloween song list)!
• Truth or Scare – a Halloween inspired truth or dare game that’s great for kids and families!