Curvebowl, or "short mat bowls," is a variant of the English bowls sport that spread to Flanders in the 1980s. The first clubs were founded in Limburg. Short mat bowls clubs subsequently sprang up in dozens of Flemish municipalities, including Maldegem, and the sport is now primarily played in the Flemish region.

 

The game is played on a mat measuring approximately 14m x 1.80m, with a wooden block placed in the center. The goal is to roll a bowl as close as possible to the "jack" (a small yellow ball) across the mat without hitting the center block or rolling off the mat. Because the bowl's center of gravity is offset to the side, it can curve around the center block.

 

It is a gender-neutral, challenging and highly attractive sport with a perfect mix of strategy, game insight, precision, technique, tactics, control and concentration.