Members of one of the 17 surviving nine-pin bowling clubs in the United States view the Barbarossa Nine-Pin Bowling Club as their “church.” They faithfully bowl every week during a series and depend on the club for socializing and life-long friendships. Competition and winning are not a high priority. Every nine-pin bowling club in the United States resides in the Texas counties of Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe and Blanco. The sport was popular with German colonists until the early 19th century when most states banned the sport during prohibition days. Texas didn't ban the sport, but taxed it heavily.
Bowlers within these counties loved the sport so much, they continued on even in the face of high taxation. Therefore, it survived and thrived for decades in Central Texas. On the eastern edge of New Braunfels, Barbarossa is a four-lane bowling alley with no automatic pin-setting machines or ball returns. Pins are arranged in a diamond shape with the “redhead” pin in the center. Four teams with six members, bowl 18 frames every night during the series.
My film documents nine-pin bowling through the stories of Barbarossa bowling club members. They talk about the history, their family’s involvement in the sport, and how it's played. But, most importantly, they talk about what means to them in their hearts. You see the club sitting in the middle of nowhere on a country road, pictures of past members, lanes and pins, people bowling, kids setting pins and lots of socializing and trash-talking. Watch how this community overcome the odds.
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