I've only played bowling once or twice, and while I agree it's not the most entertaining sport ever I thought one of its most compelling use-cases was to bring people together.
Yes, you might be "less enthusiastic" when your friend gets a lucky strike, but that's the whole point, you don't go there as a professional player keen to win no matter what, what you did describe would be the perfect moment to make fun of said friend, a third friend might reply that "you're jealous cause he's better than you" etc etc, I mean things that people usually talk with friends and that do make life less stressful.
I agree that playing to win isn't the right approach to have fun at bowling with new friends. I still find that's it's hard to care about the game (to enjoy your own good moves), and then at the same time not care about who's winning.
I guess what I'm saying is that it seems like we're playing bowling because of tradition. Someone could come up with a better-designed game, maybe involving pins and balls, played in a bowling alley. People would still enjoy feeling like they're going out and having fun, but they'd be playing a more compelling version of bowling.
Yes, you might be "less enthusiastic" when your friend gets a lucky strike, but that's the whole point, you don't go there as a professional player keen to win no matter what, what you did describe would be the perfect moment to make fun of said friend, a third friend might reply that "you're jealous cause he's better than you" etc etc, I mean things that people usually talk with friends and that do make life less stressful.