Wait a minute! I don't remember writing a check for bowling!

For years, the time-honored sport of bowling has been admired by groups of friends and men that want to escape from their nagging wives. And what better way to get out for a night of bowling than to stay in for a night of bowling! Grab yerself a beer and a chili dog and get ready for the most active sport this side of racecar driving! Wii Sports: Bowling, comin' at ya.

Once again, the controller is very much the essence of this game, and excepting the use of one button (which essentially tells the machine when you want to let go of the ball), it's all about your form and technique. And let me tell you: I suck at bowling. Much like real life, in which I cannot properly throw a bowling ball down an alley, I ended up with a lot of near misses. On her first play of Bowling (and actually, her first play of anything on the Wii), my mom soundly thrashed me. For whatever reason, my ball pulls to the left. I need bowling lessons.

My personal problems aside, it really is a great and intuitive system. Every person I know that's given the game a try has said that their Mii's bowling perfectly matches their own. All of the spin you can put on the ball. All of the different times you can release it. It adds up to, probably, the best hardware showpiece in the Wii Sports collection. You want to know what the Wii can do? Holy shit, it can do this.

I've taken to bowling "granny-style," because at least that way I can get the ball to go straight. The game can't sense that I'm doing that, but I'm totally going underleg. That's my wish for the inevitable Wii Sports 2--learn to visually portray the different techniques of the amateur bowler. And also, I want it to do my homework for me. Do I ask too much?

The game is one of the only two on the disc that allows for multi-player with a single Wiimote, which is especially helpful when NO STORES ANYWHERE CARRY WIIMOTES. Seriously. I waited two hours outside of Circuit City for my game system, and half the people there were waiting solely for the controller. The store had actually gotten fewer supplemental controllers than gaming systems. Still, due to the nature of bowling, the passing around of a controller doesn't detract from the game. It's fun to gather your friends around and get soundly thrashed.

It's a great, well-designed game. Probably the best in the collection, to be entirely honest. I'm a little disappointed, however, that I suck at it. If you're a pro bowler or have lots of friends, this will probably be the most interesting Jenny on the block. Otherwise, you'll probably find yourself gravitating towards the sports that require less talent. I'm a tennis pro!