Tram bowling is exactly what it sounds like and it’s spectacular

Everyone, welcome to your new favorite sport: tram bowling. The particular clip above is from a test run for the upcoming three-day Tram-EM European Tramdriver Championship in Berlin. According to Berliner Morgenpost, most of the event is based around driving discipline and accuracy, and tram bowling is the finale -- as well it should be because hell yes, bowling should be played with trams.

Here’s an example of a non-tram bowling event: there’s one task where a driver has to go through a gate as delicately as possible, or else the tennis balls sitting on top of the gate will fall. This 2013 video is a pretty good illustration:

Why do these tram sports exist in the first place? The idea was born in 2012 in honor of the 140th anniversary of the Dresden tramway network, per Berliner Morgenpost. They’d invited teams from 10 countries and the event was successful enough to warrant subsequent events in other European cities. And according to the official Tram-EM website, togetherness is really important:

A European championship brings people together and connects them through play, entertainment, and information. Additionally, TRAM-EM wants to project the public transport service as a modern and interesting service.

It supports the exchange of experiences among drivers and managers, and it has an advertising effect – regional and Europe-wide. TRAM-EM promotes the cultural exchange in Europe and peaceful competition for future-oriented local traffic.

All of this looks and sounds fun, and I’m jealous we don’t have a version of this in America ... yet.