I was surprised when I encountered Wii Bowling at least once every week on an activities schedule for the elderly.
I shouldn’t have been.
Wii Bowling creates a remarkable facsimile of a bowling alley – players sit down between turns and can hold conversations as they play, they can cheer each other on and snack. Where tennis or boxing requires an orientation shift from the traditional counterparts, bowling retains a familiar setup.
By an odd turn of fate, I was in Vienna last year and heard Ian Bogost speak at their F.R.O.G. Conference. In his keynote he focused on sports games and made the point that a colloquial definition of sports includes a wide range of rule sets and variants (i. e. “I’m going to play  basketball,” could mean “HORSE”, a regulation game, a pick-up game or one on one – the vocabulary is by no means explicit). Therefore “basketball” might conceivably be seen to include digital variants.
Wii Bowling is not a game all of the residents can play – injured shoulders and precarious balance make it difficult. But people can play from wheelchairs, the WiiMote is not heavy and the mechanics are pleasingly simple. And what does it mean for the elderly to be able to bowl? For this game so close to a familiar one now beyond their reach?
One of the most dedicated bowlers is nearly one hundred years old. He would like to see a three hundred game someday. And he might.
I don’t think it would mean less that pins are built of pixels.