7.3 Glossary

Glossary

A reference guide to the key terms used throughout Spectre Stats and this documentation. Terms are organized by topic area for easier browsing, or use your browser's find function (Ctrl+F / Cmd+F) to jump straight to a specific term.

🏆 Competition & Session Terms

Competition: The top-level container for a bowling event in Spectre Stats. A competition represents the overall event — for example, a full league season or a specific tournament. Sessions are logged within a competition. See Logging League Play & Tournaments.
Session: A single night or round of bowling within a competition. For league bowlers, each weekly league night is one session. For tournament bowlers, each squad or block is one session. A session contains one or more game scores, ball selection data, and any notes recorded at the time.
Competition Type: The category assigned to a competition when it is created. Spectre Stats uses three competition types: League (regular organized competition at a consistent venue), Tournament (single-event competitions, often at unfamiliar venues), and Practice (deliberate practice sessions tracked separately from competitive results).
League: An organized bowling competition run over multiple weeks or a full season, typically at a regular bowling center. In Spectre Stats, league is a competition type used to group all sessions from one season of league play under a single competition record.
Tournament: A single bowling event — often at an unfamiliar venue, on a challenging oil pattern, or in a specific competitive format such as match play or eliminator. In Spectre Stats, tournament is a competition type that keeps event results separate from regular league play.
Archive: A status that can be applied to a completed competition to remove it from your active list without deleting any data. Archived competitions and their sessions are fully preserved and continue to contribute to performance charts and overall stats.
Session Average: Your mean game score across all games bowled in a single session. For a three-game session, this is the total pinfall divided by three.
Competition Average: Your mean game score across all sessions logged within a specific competition. Updated automatically each time a new session is saved.
High Game: The highest single game score recorded within a session, competition, or across your full history — depending on the context in which the term is used.
High Series: The highest combined score across a set of consecutive games — typically three games — recorded within Spectre Stats. Tracked as a personal best milestone.

🎳 Shot & Performance Terms

Shot Data: The detailed information recorded for an individual delivery — including ball used, starting position, target, result, ball speed, rev rate, and any notes. Shot data is optional and can be entered frame by frame or added after the fact. See Recording Shot Data.
Frame-by-Frame Entry: A detailed session logging mode in which shot data is recorded for every delivery across every frame, rather than entering only the final game score. Produces richer performance data but takes more time to log.
Score Entry: The quick session logging method in which only the final game score — and optionally ball selection — is recorded. The fastest way to log a session at the lanes.
Strike Rate: The percentage of first-ball deliveries that result in a strike. Calculated automatically from frame-by-frame session data. A key indicator of first-ball effectiveness and pin carry consistency.
Spare Conversion Rate: The percentage of spare opportunities successfully converted. Calculated from frame-by-frame session data. Includes both single-pin and multi-pin spare attempts.
Split: A leave in which two or more pins remain standing after the first ball, separated by a gap that makes a spare conversion difficult. Common splits include the 7-10, 4-6-7-9-10, and 5-7.
Rolling Average: An average calculated across a moving window of recent games or sessions — for example, your average across the last 20 games — rather than across a fixed season. Updates continuously as new sessions are logged.
Season Average: Your mean game score calculated across all sessions logged within the current league season or a defined date range. Resets at the start of each new season.
Performance Charts: Visual graphs and trend lines in Spectre Stats that display how your scores, averages, strike rates, and other metrics have changed over time. Available to Pro subscribers. See Charting Performance Over Time.
Milestone: A personal best achievement tracked automatically by Spectre Stats — such as a new high game, high series, or highest rolling average. Milestones can trigger optional push notifications.
Starting Position: The board or foot position on the approach from which a bowler begins their delivery. Logged as part of shot data to help track lane play adjustments over time.
Target: The arrow, board, or breakpoint a bowler is playing through on a given shot. Logging targets alongside results helps identify which lines produce the best outcomes on specific oil patterns.
Entry Angle: The angle at which the ball enters the pocket at the pins. A higher entry angle generally produces more striking power and pin action. Logged as part of detailed shot data.
Rev Rate: Revolutions per minute — the number of times the ball rotates on its axis per minute from release to the pins. A key factor in how much a ball hooks and how it interacts with the lane surface.

🎱 Arsenal Terms

Arsenal: Your personal collection of bowling balls as recorded in Spectre Stats. Each ball in your arsenal has its own detail page with notes, maintenance history, and performance data. See Ball Notes & Your Arsenal.
Ball Notes: Freeform observations recorded on an individual ball's detail page — such as how it rolls, what conditions it suits, or advice from your pro shop. Separate from the structured maintenance log.
Coverstock: The outer shell of a bowling ball — the material that makes direct contact with the lane surface. Coverstock type (solid reactive, pearl reactive, hybrid, urethane, plastic) and surface preparation are the primary factors controlling how much a ball hooks.
Surface Preparation: The current finish of a ball's coverstock — typically expressed as an Abralon or sandpaper grit value (e.g. 1000 grit, 2000 Abralon) or a polished finish. Lower grits create a duller, more aggressive surface that hooks earlier. Higher grits and polish create a cleaner surface that skids further before hooking.
Current Surface: The surface preparation field on a ball's detail page, reflecting the ball's present grit or finish. Updated automatically when a surface change is logged in the maintenance log.
Layout: The drilling configuration of a bowling ball — including pin position, mass bias location, and finger/thumb hole placement. Layout affects the ball's motion characteristics and how it responds to different oil patterns. Layout notes can be recorded manually or populated automatically via Spectre Cloud.
Maintenance Log: A chronological record of every service event performed on a ball — including surface changes, cleanings, polishes, resurfacing, repairs, and oil extraction. Stored on each ball's detail page in Spectre Stats. See Ball Maintenance Records.
Surface Change: A maintenance entry type that records a change to a ball's coverstock grit or finish. Logging a surface change updates the ball's current surface field automatically.
Resurfacing: A full coverstock restoration — typically performed by a pro shop — that returns a ball to a specified surface preparation. Often done after extended use when a ball's reaction has become inconsistent due to wear or oil absorption.
Rejuvenation: A service process that extracts absorbed lane oil from a reactive coverstock using heat or a specialized machine. Restores the ball's original reaction characteristics. Also referred to as oil extraction or baking.
Inactive Ball: A ball that has been retired from active use but kept in your arsenal record to preserve its historical performance data. Inactive balls no longer appear in active selection lists during session logging.
Spec Sheet: A pro shop record of a ball's drilling specifications — pin position, layout measurements, weight, and balance holes. In the Spectre Cloud ecosystem, spec sheets are created by the pro shop and can be shared with the bowler's Spectre Stats arsenal.

🛢️ Oil Pattern Terms

Oil Pattern: The distribution of lane conditioner (oil) applied to a bowling lane before play. Oil pattern length, volume, and shape determine how and where the ball hooks, making pattern knowledge a key part of competitive bowling strategy.
Pattern Length: The distance in feet from the foul line to where the oil pattern ends on the lane. Shorter patterns (typically under 38 feet) allow the ball to hook earlier and more dramatically. Longer patterns (42 feet and above) require more ball speed or surface adjustment to generate sufficient hook.
Oil Volume: The total amount of lane conditioner applied to the lane, measured in units of oil. Higher volume patterns are generally more forgiving. Lower volume patterns are drier and cause the ball to hook more aggressively.
House Shot: The standard oil pattern used at most recreational and league bowling centers. Designed to be forgiving and accessible — heavy oil in the middle of the lane funnels the ball toward the pocket. Most league play takes place on a house shot.
Sport Shot: A more demanding oil pattern with a flatter, more even oil distribution across the lane compared to a house shot. Less forgiving of errant shots and typically used in competitive league, sport bowling certifications, and some tournaments.
PBA Pattern: An oil pattern from the Professional Bowlers Association's library of standardized competitive patterns — often named after animals (e.g. Cheetah, Scorpion, Viper). Used in PBA events and many regional tournaments. Generally more challenging than house shots.
Oil Pattern Matching: The process of identifying which balls in your arsenal have historically produced the best results on a specific oil pattern, based on your logged session data. Spectre Stats builds this reference automatically as you log sessions with pattern and ball information. See Oil Pattern Matching.
Breakpoint: The point on the lane — typically measured in boards from the gutter — where the ball transitions from its skid phase to its hook phase and begins curving toward the pocket. A key reference point for reading oil patterns and adjusting ball path.
Carrydown: The transfer of lane oil from the oiled portion of the lane into the dry back end as balls travel down the lane during a session. Carrydown reduces hook in the back part of the lane and typically requires adjustments in ball selection, surface, or line as a session progresses.
Transition: The gradual change in oil pattern conditions during a session caused by ball traffic — oil is displaced from the front part of the lane and carried further down, altering where and how much the ball hooks. Reading and adjusting to transition is a core skill in competitive bowling.

☁️ Spectre Ecosystem Terms

Spectre Stats: The bowler-facing competition and performance tracking app developed by BowlDevs. Designed for competitive and semi-competitive bowlers who want to analyze their game, manage their arsenal, and track results over time.
Spectre Cloud: The pro shop management platform developed by BowlDevs — the same team behind Spectre Stats. Used by pro shop operators to manage drilling specs, client records, and ball inventory. Can connect with Spectre Stats to share arsenal and ball data with bowlers.
BowlDevs: The development team behind both Spectre Stats and Spectre Cloud. Founded by Mark and Luis, BowlDevs builds software tools for the bowling industry.
Cloud Sync: The automatic synchronization of your Spectre Stats data across all devices where you're signed in. Requires an internet connection. Ensures that sessions logged on your phone are immediately available on the web and vice versa.
Spectre Cloud Integration: An optional connection between a bowler's Spectre Stats account and their pro shop's Spectre Cloud account. When linked, ball data, drilling specs, and spec sheet information can sync automatically between the two systems. See Spectre Cloud Integration.

💎 Account & Subscription Terms

Free Tier: The no-cost version of Spectre Stats, which includes basic competition logging and arsenal tracking. Some features — including advanced performance charts, full competition history, and unlimited ball tracking — are restricted to Pro subscribers.
Spectre Stats Pro: The paid subscription tier that unlocks the full feature set of Spectre Stats, including advanced performance charts, unlimited ball tracking, full competition history, and Spectre Cloud integration. Available as a monthly or annual subscription.
Restore Purchases: An option available on iOS that re-links a valid App Store subscription to your Spectre Stats account. Useful if your Pro subscription is active but not showing correctly in the app after reinstalling or signing in on a new device.

Frequently Asked Questions
Troubleshooting & Common Issues
Logging League Play & Tournaments
Ball Notes & Your Arsenal
Oil Pattern Matching

Tip: If you encounter a term in the app or in this wiki that isn't listed here, reach out to the Spectre Stats support team — it may be a newer feature or a term specific to your region's bowling culture that we can add to this glossary.