Crown Green Bowls are sold in pairs - you only need two to play the game whereas Flat Green Bowls are sold in sets of 4. You may have seen Indoor Bowls on television - this game takes it origins from Flat Green Bowls - hence the reason that each player is able to deliver 4 bowls per end.
Other than the fact that a different number of bowls are required there are also some major differences in the make up of the bowls themselves. A crown green bowl is often smaller than its flat green counterpart and as a result often weighs less too. Both types of bowl consist of a weighted element known as the bias. This allows the bowl to turn in the direction of the bias as the pace of the bowl slows. This provides the player with the opporunity to approach the jack from two different directions - the bias simply needs to be facing the direction in which the player requires the bowl to turn to. However a flat green bowl has a greater bias strength - often referred to as '3 full bias' whereas crown green bowls are generally '2 full bias'. The result of this is that flat green bowls will turn a greater distance than a crown green bowl. This allows the player to deliver the bowl on a wider path and then arc into the jack as it slows. Possibiliy one of the reasons for this is due to the fact that there are likely to be a greater number of bowls in play in a flat green game thus making it difficult to bypass bowls that are cluttered around the jack.
It is not only the bowls that are different - the jacks are too. In flat green bowls the jack resembles a snooker ball and does not contain any bias at all. However in crown green bowls the jack is essentially a miniature version of the bowls and also contains a bias giving it the opportunity to arc upon slowing its pace.
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