Not that I can remember. I've had five in a row and then an open, maybe two but I can't recall five. That stings.
Some years back I was in a 24 team mixed league. Last night was position night 1 vs 2, 3 vs 4 etc. We were in second place and needed to win two games and total pins or better. One guy on the other team was serious as heck about this mixed, handicap league. He had an average about the same as mine in the mixed league, about 185. He came over to where I was sitting at a table eating something and started on about how tough lanes 1 & 2 were, how different they were.
We started and they were a little ahead on marks. I REALLY wanted to beat him just because he was SO competitive in fun mixed, handicap league. I had four spares in a row, then, something I had never done before I rolled 17 straight strikes to finish the first game and through the start of the second game. Had twelve been in one game it would have been a perfect, 300 game. We were so far ahead at the end of the second game they couldn't possibly win. Ed, the guy that was so upset his head was flame red. Everyone had been signing up for the awards banquet and it started on our lanes where we all signed up. After the second game, Ed went down to the end of the house and took his name off the banquet list. Ed had a number of the high positions for games, sets and so forth. That night I rolled a 728 high scratch set, a 279 high scratch game, we took first place. I also took high handicap set and high handicap game.
I didn't mean to trounce his team so bad. It's just hard to "ease" up when you get into a rhythm. You do that and everything can go to heck. Sort of like football where they're ahead and shift to a prevent defense.
I couldn't do anything like that today, to old, to long ago. But it sure was fun that night.
I had a coach and he'd made a flat rubber pin out of a cars inner tube, painted it white, put 2 red stripes on it with a hanger. The house where I usually bowled in Miami would let me shadow bowl as much as I wanted and gave me a discount on games. My coach would hang the fake pin in say the position of the 10 pin. Furthest right and difficult for right handed bowlers. He had me hit that fake pins hundreds and hundreds of times. Same with other pins. He wanted me to get to the point where I just did NOT, EVER miss a spare. It played head games with opponents. Even if I hung a pin, there wasn't a chance in a hundred that I'd miss the spare.
Curtis was my coaches name. He had been a pro, way back before they paid hundreds of thousands and then ran a lawn mowing service. He did everything wrong with his delivery dating back to when lanes were much more irregular but he was a great coach.
Five strikes in a row is terrific. But it can unnerve someone as they start looking at the 200+ at the end of the game and choke. Once you get past the first 200 they come a little easier. But sometimes that first one can be a bear.
Whenever I practiced before a league or tournament I never kept score. I wasn't interested in the score, just the delivery and consistency, not missing splits.
Good luck, practice doesn't make perfect but it makes it a lot more fun.
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