Feather Bowling is a unique sport on the shuffleboard, bowling or bocce line. The two-team game uses a flattened wooden “ball” that is approximately nine inches wide. The ball is rolled down a 60-foot-long dirt-covered alley to get as close as possible to a pigeon feather at the end of the lane. Just to do cool stuff (and the ball’s rotation unpredictably) the alley is curved to form a shallow depression along its entire length and, at least according to the Michigan Trivia Book, the dirt laid over the clay lane is mixed with ox blood.
Belgian pastime
As the story goes, the game of “feather bowling” migrated in the 1920s / 1930s from Belgium to the Cadieux Café, a Detroit-area bar that catered to Belgian immigrants. And there the game has been around for 90 years, along with other Belgian favorites like Belgian mussels and Ales. Regarded as the only place in the US to host Feather Bowling, the Cadieux Café may have its own unique variation of the Rolle Bolle game that was originally played in Belgium. A video posted on YouTube shows the version of the game Cadieux Café.
Variations
Ontario, Canada and several Midwestern states are home to Belgian clubs where a variation of Rolle Bolle is played. Whether known as Rolle Bolle, Belgian Trough Bowling, or Feather Bowling, Belgian games share some characteristics, while other elements of the game may have evolved in a way unique to the particular venue. For example, the male version of Rolle Bolle played in Ontario, Canada, is the most similar to the “Feather Bowling” played at the Cadieux Café, except that a wooden peg is used instead of a feather.
In recent years, the sport of feather bowling (or Belgian bowling) was picked up by Bath City Bistro on Mt. Clemens, which is about 17 miles from Café Cadieux in Metro Detroit. Instead of packed dirt, however, the Bath City Bistro lines its streets with rubber. As this video posted on YouTube demonstrates, the change significantly softens the ball toss and represents another evolution of the game. The cleaner look of the lanes also fits in better with the more modern atmosphere of the bar / restaurant.
The old country
According to an article in Smithsonian magazine , although “feather bowling” is still played in Belgium, it is not widely played or well known. Apparently Belgians who still play the game take it much more seriously than their American counterparts. Instead of the party atmosphere and loud shouts and cheers common at the Cadieux Cafe, Belgians give a bowl the same silence that a golf swing offers.
Whether the ‘feather bowling’ played in Detroit is a direct transfer from Belgium or a variation on the historic game played there, it’s a better choice of Belgian games for the Cadieux Café to have embraced than, say, pigeon racing, another Belgian game. that could have crossed the ocean and transformed in a unique and unpredictable way.
