I laughed for a full two minutes when I first watched this.
Preparation
Make sure you maximize your boost before the event begins. You won’t want to run booster ads when you could be bowling! Some people don’t run 2 AB ads while they bowl.
Most importantly, make sure you have an excellent connection. Lag is one of the biggest factors that decide who wins ties during bowling matches. There will be matches that you lose because of lag. It happens even to top-tier bowlers. Do as much as possible to reduce lag so that your throws will register correctly.
Each match costs 2 AB. From the 4 AB deposited, Atlas Reality will add 2 to 3 AB to the total prize pool. It is unknown if 2 or 3 is added until after bowling starts. The best way to tell is to look for the total prize pool. If it’s odd at some point, then it is 3. If it is never odd, then it is 2.
Starting The Event
Bowling officially starts when you see the bowling icon follow you. It looks like this:
If you tap this icon, this takes you into the bowling event. Tap the button at the bottom to pay 2 AB. The system will randomly assign you a bowler. It will do its best to match you with someone who has a similar number of wins as you do, though sometimes it matches you against a top bowler, even if you only have a few wins.
How To Play
The goal is to get as many points as possible. Red is 1 point, yellow is 2 point, and green is 4 points. If you wait too long, then you will fall behind and potentially lose frames. There is a maximum of 6 inputs, leading to a potential high score of 22 points per match.
If you look at the image below, notice that there is a horizontal bar on the bottom and a green tick mark that moves left and right. There is also a “bowl” button on the bottom. “Bowl” is your input and the horizontal bar is the associated marker for your input. After you bowl, there will be a small delay before you can bowl again.
Note: There is a bit of lag on the first throw, so you’ll have to compensate for it.
Playing The Lag
To those who haven’t played before, you’ll notice within your first few matches that there is a delay between tapping the “bowl” button and when the game registers your input. This will take some getting used to.
Tap Vs. Hold And Release Method
While many players will bowl by pressing the “bowl” button, others prefer to hold the “bowl” button and release it when their icon is over the intended mark. While not universally true, such players believe that holding and releasing gives them greater accuracy than tapping.
Optimal Strategy
I am posting two versions of optimal strategy, one is to achieve 22 points and the other is for 20 points. I am posting both versions because some people’s lag is so bad that their last shot for attempting 22 points doesn’t count. If that is you then I recommend shooting for 20.
There are two ways to get 22 points. One is to get 2 points early on the first throw and get 4 points on every throw after that. The other is to get 4 points early on the first throw, 2 points on the second throw, and 4 points on each throw thereafter.
In both cases, you’ll throw when the icon goes:
- Left to right
- Left to right
- Left to right
- Right to left
- Right to left
- Left to right (score will update in a split second)
Below is a video recording of both versions.
Version A: Early 2 Points
Version A: Late 2 Points
Alternatively, to score 20 points, you’ll aim for the green by shooting:
- Left to right
- Right to left
- Right to left
- Left to right
- Left to right
If you miss your opportunity, you must adjust.
Tiebreaking
The person who got to the score first wins.
Exiting Bowling
You can skip part of the “results” animation if you keep tapping the bottom of your screen where the “OK” button exists. This will save you a few seconds each match, allowing you to do a few extra matches.
Below is example of me quickly exiting and re-entering a match. Although the event is different, the concept is the same.
Mulligan
If you lose a match and want a chance to get some of your AB back, you can run an ad to get 1, 2, or 3 AB. There’s a bit of a delay between stopping the needle and when the needle actually stops. Just like in other events, lag is a major factor that determines your result. However, lag tends to clear up after the first hour.
Bear in mind that if two people play each other trying to purposefully lose, the app will just assign one of you as the winner.
Below is an example of me running the Mulligan.
2 Hour Event Recording
I went on a livestream with AJDownTown and PharaohSilver to do bowling for the first time. The video is below.
Ranking
Your rank in bowling depends on the number of matches you win. If there is a win tie between bowlers, the bowler who got their first will rank higher.
If you want to win the top prize, you’ll need to play the entire time. However, sometimes you can’t do that. If you are a proficient bowler, consider going for bottom 500 for a small payout. This will help you minimize AB cost and earn you a decent payout while you practice your skills to take one of the top 100 spots. People in ranks 101-400 usually lose AB. However, with the Mulligan feature, the 101-400 people can make a profit.
There is also ranking payouts available for your state/territory. This will vary considerably, depending on which state you are in. Atlas Earth will assign you to a state/territory based on your location when you first open bowling during the event.
Finally, if you want to minimize the number of matches you do, aim for the bottom of your target tier. However, the number of wins you will need depends on the number of participants. The more people there are, the more times you will need to win. However, more participants also mean a larger prize pool. Obviously, if a bowling event exceeds one or two hours, more wins will be required to keep your rank.
Other Tips
- The biggest thing you can do is not panic, and just play your best game. If you concentrate on your throws and stop worrying about the other player, you will fare better. However, some people will choose to glance at the score and shoot for 3’s when they are three points ahead, which forces the other player to get 4’s or lose the match.
- The biggest issue isn’t lag, it is lag spikes. If you had consistently bad lag, you can compensate for that. What you can’t compensate for is when it is all over the place. So if you have a lot of lag spikes, this might not be the game for you.
- Because of lag, it is better to be a little conservative over missing. However. If you find that you are consistently losing to someone, then it is best to be a little more courageous on your throws.
- You can also break the cycle of facing the same player over and over again by waiting about 10 seconds before starting another match. This is useful if you keep losing to the same player over and over again. It’s a good time to check the leaderboard!
- If you find that you are losing a lot, consider taking a break and target a lower rank with Mulligans. Or…perhaps this just isn’t the minigame for you.
- If this is your first time, consider pushing for top 500 on your first go and Mulligan every time you lose a match. If you think you are decent at the game and have time, push hard for a typical 2 to 2.5 hour event. This will help you figure out your overall rank and will help you figure out which rank you should target and how often you should Mulligan your losses.
- Ask yourself what your goal is. Look at how long the event is through Reddit, then ask what you aim for. If you want T100, most times you’re going to need to play for most of the window. T50 or above, unless you’re RainbowUltra, Arn, me, etc. You’re playing the full 2 1/2 hrs or about 4-5 hours on weekends. If you can’t manage to play that long, consider shooting for top T500 and relax. It’s a minigame, it’s supposed to be fun!
- If there is 30 minutes to an hour left of the game and you’re on the edge of a higher bracket, consider sacrificing Mulligans to push for the higher bracket. You are risking a little bit of AB for a potentially bigger payoff.
- If you think you have your ranking secure and have time to continue playing, consider Mulliganing your losses intentionally to squeeze a few more ads for a few more AB. This will also help raise the pot and could potentially raise your payout. However, bear in mind that other people might also be Mulliganing their losses, which could lead you to unintentionally winning a match and wasting 2 AB.
Closing Thoughts
I hope you found this guide helpful.
If you have any questions, feel free to DM me on Reddit or Discord. If you don’t know where the Atlas Earth Reddit and Discord servers are, select Resources.
For those who haven’t yet downloaded Atlas Earth or want to learn more about it, check out my Beginner’s Guide.
Updates:
08/15/2024 – Updated maximum score to 22. Thanks to KC_Fan for discovering this!
07/30/2024 – Updated the optimal strategy to achieve 22 points.
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