Fivepins is found exclusively in Canada, where it is said to have been invented a century ago in response to complaints that the tenpin game was too strenuous. Due to their lower operating and maintenance costs, string pinsetting machines are the most common type found in Canada. A few manufacturers offered "free-fall" pinsetters once upon a time, although they are no longer made.
Although the game involves only five pins, you may notice 12 pins on the deck in some of these pictures. Whoever last set pins at St. Philip's Anglican Church in Vancouver, BC, decided to leave all the pins (plus a few extras) standing at the end of his or her shift. I photographed those lanes exactly as I found them.
