Idiom: Go down like ninepins

[Tom]

Hello everybody

Could anyone please tell me the origin of the given idiom?

Go down like ninepins

Thanks a lot in advance

Tom

[Mister Micawber]

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Nine pins is a bowling game in which the wooden pins are knocked down by a heavy ball that is rolled at them. When they are struck, they fall down loudly, dramatically and decidedly; therefore to go down like ninepins is to lose or fail decidedly and obviously.
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_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mister Micawber