Perfect games are rare enough, but two perfect games on the same night in the same house?

Not at Family Bowlaway … at least, not before last Tuesday night.

Nelson Johnson of the Strikes & Spares League rolled his third career 300-game in the first game of league play that evening.

Tracy Rose, wife of Strikes & Spares league secretary Mike Rose, rolled her first career 300-game in the third game of Candy Girls league play that same night.

"That's never happened here before," said Andy Hevesy, general manager of Family Bowlaway, of the two perfect games on the same night. "We give the bowler a competitive shot, but if someone rolls a perfect game on these lanes, he's earned it.

"We average about eight to 10 perfect games a year here. That covers a lot of leagues over a lot of months."

Johnson has been a league bowler for 20 years and a member of the Strikes & Spares league for seven years. He has never averaged above 216 for a full season, but is averaging 223 so far this campaign.

Johnson is good friends with Mike Rose and used to bowl with him and Bryan Worsley, one of Tracy Rose's brothers.

"I've known their family for a long time," Johnson said. "Tracy came down and congratulated me after my perfect game … Then I did the same for her."

Johnson rolled a 726-series last Tuesday for his sixth 700 of the campaign. His two previous perfect games were Feb. 14, 1995, in City League play at Sherwood Lanes and May 6, 2001 at the state tournament in Wilkes-Barre.

He rolled 27 consecutive strikes over three games on that Valentine's Day of 1995.

"I was two strikes short of getting two perfect games that night," Johnson recalled.

He had no problem securing the perfect game this time around.

"During my last two (perfect games), I was nervous and unsure of myself during the 10th frame," Johnson said. "This time, the jitters weren't there at all. I was fully confident and relaxed that it was gonna happen."

Johnson has come close to more perfect games in the past, rolling a 298 at Meridian Lanes in 1999 and a 299 in November of last year at Family Bowlaway.

Rose had been a league bowler for 26 years without ever rolling a perfect game. A 180-average bowler, her previous high game was 289.

Her father, Al Worsley, brothers Jim and Bryan, and husband Mike all bowl in Strikes & Spares while her and her mother, Paula Worsley, bowl in Candy Girls on the same night.

"That's our family bowling night," Rose said. "Having them all there when it happened was wonderful.

"I could hardly believe it when it happened. I mean, I've been waiting so long. But it was worth it."

While Johnson said every one of his strikes was solid, Rose admitted that a couple of hers were shaky.

"The last three were all solid, though," she said. "By the seventh frame, I was feeling a little nervous. My arms were like jelly.

"By the 10th frame, I was extremely confident. I figured I made it that far, I want to finish it."

And finish it she did — while being five months pregnant at that.

"I used to bowl four nights a week," Rose said. "I averaged between 195 and 204 back then. My priorities have since changed."

Mike and Tracy Rose have a 3-year-old daughter and have her sibling on the way.

Though Candy Girls bowls two leagues away from Strikes & Spares, Mike Rose caught word of his wife's strike streak on the lanes.

"Word got to me that she had hit nine in a row and that I wasn't allowed to come down and watch the 10th," he said. "I managed to get down there to see the final shot."

Rose shot a 684 series that night. Her first game was a 178, followed by a 206.

Rose struck out to end the second game, thus finishing her night with 15 consecutive strikes.

"I switched balls after the first game," she said. "It turned out to be a pretty good move."