PBA Bowling
PBA Bowling — frequently asked questions
- Is PBA Bowling on Steam?
- No. PBA Bowling is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.
- What platforms is PBA Bowling on?
- PBA Bowling is available on Intellivision.
- When did PBA Bowling release?
- PBA Bowling was first released on July 31, 1981.
About PBA Bowling
Get your ball and rack up the pins, as one of America's favorite sports makes its Windows 95 debut in PBA Bowling. The official computer game of the Professional Bowlers Association, PBA Bowling brings the excitement of one of America's best-loved pastimes to your PC. With a realistic physics model, digitized players and full-motion video, you'll think it's Friday night at the local lanes!.
Summary via IGDB.
Game details
- Platforms
- Intellivision
- Developer
- Mattel Electronics
- Publisher
- Mattel Electronics
- Game modes
- Single player, Multiplayer
- Themes
- Non-fiction
Details via IGDB.
Reception
Collector value & authenticity
Intellivision · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-10-20
How often it sells
- Loose: about once a month
- Complete: about once a week
- Sealed: about 3 times a year
Sales frequency from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, as of 2026-10-20.
Price over time
- Loose
- Complete
A loose copy sold for about $1.50 in Apr 2009, $5.95 five years ago, and $2.82 as of Oct 2026.
Show as table
| Month | Loose | Complete |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 2010 | $1.50 | — |
| Jan 2011 | $0.75 | — |
| Jan 2012 | $0.87 | — |
| Jan 2013 | $0.99 | — |
| Jan 2014 | $3.49 | $5.99 |
| Jan 2015 | $4.99 | $8.02 |
| Jan 2016 | $4.99 | $4.99 |
| Jan 2017 | $4.95 | $10.00 |
| Jan 2018 | $5.00 | $5.99 |
| Jan 2019 | $2.16 | $6.98 |
| Jan 2020 | $2.42 | $7.60 |
| Jan 2021 | $5.15 | $12.07 |
| Jan 2022 | $5.99 | $8.51 |
| Jan 2023 | $6.61 | $9.99 |
| Jan 2024 | $7.49 | $7.49 |
| Jan 2025 | $4.14 | $6.67 |
| Jan 2026 | $4.39 | $10.34 |
| Oct 2026 | $2.82 | $5.29 |
Monthly price estimates from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, sampled quarterly, through Oct 2026.
Release record
| Territory | Product # |
|---|---|
| North America Mattel Electronics | 3333 |
- North America: Product number confirmed by Mattel's own catalogue.
- Region
- NA
- Released
- 1981
- Controller
- Hand controller
- Players
- 1 to 4
- Authenticity
- Low
The best-looking bowling cartridge of its day, praised for its options and faulted for being slow to master.
Mattel Electronics released PBA Bowling in July 1981, also known simply as Bowling. You aim by moving a ball across the lane, then press the disc a second time to set how much hook the ball takes, so timing and rhythm matter more than speed.
Period critics split. Electronic Games in March 1982 liked that the game takes time to learn and said that, once the rhythm clicks, no bowling cartridge was as enjoyable. Video's Arcade Alley column that month called it the system's best new offering and pointed to options for ball weight, left- or right-handed delivery and lane slickness. Joystik in December 1982 agreed the graphics were realistic and the options good but rated the play challenge and staying power low.
What the press said at the time
| JoyStik Vol. 1 No. 3 | December 1982 | Rating G · Graphics 8 · Game Play 3 · Longevity 3 |
“achieves greatness by boldly striking out in a new direction that departs markedly from all pin games on the market today.”
“PBA Bowling offers very realistic graphics. And we like the options of lane slickness and ball weight. But when it comes to challenging game play, PBA Bowling throws a gutter ball.”
“More realistic than one would expect. Besides the standard elements of heaving that ball down the alley, you'll find variations like ball weight and lane slickness built in.”
“Certificates of Merit: Conquest of the World (Odyssey, for the Odyssey) Bowling (Mattel, for Intellivision”
JoyStik’s capsule ratings run from one star to five.
Worth knowing
- From the Intellivision manual. This is the British edition of the manual, distributed by Advanced Consumer Electronics Ltd of Wembley, England.
- From the Intellivision manual. Besides regulation 10-frame bowling there is a Pick-up Spares practice game with 10 frames of spare setups drawn at random from 32 possibilities.
- From the Intellivision manual. You choose ball weight, alley slickness and bowling hand; left-handed bowling makes the ball curve to the right.
Before you buy
A complete Mattel copy has two keypad overlays. Sears also sold this game under the generic name Bowling, in its own box, so a Sears-labeled copy is the same game. Loose carts are very cheap, and sealed copies carry a premium far above a complete copy, so a sealed price is a packaging price.
PBA Bowling screenshots
Watch on YouTube
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