Why have I been encountering the Bowlder attack?

The general consensus seems to be that players get addicted to opening in that fashon for the kings pawn, and so they simply try to play a carbon copy game with the sicilian.

I've asked the same exact question myself, and it seems that it's just what beginners are comfortable with. The Sicilian looks like a weird move to a beginner, so they think they can try a compound move accomplishing both beginner goals of trying to get Scholar's Mate and a good square for the bishop. This turns out to be a mistake, for reasons that are not obvious without experiencing them first.

I prefer to play 2. . . Nc6 against this variation, it works fine if you aren't comfortable with the immediate e6 in the Sicilian (which I indeed am not).

Yeah, I tend to play the knights as a response too. To be honest, I've been working on my queen's pawn game so much lately that I haven't gotten to play against the sicilian in a long while. If someone wants to set up a game and challenge me to play white against the Sicilian, I'm totally game :).

This opening works for me most of the time... not sure why

Would it be impolite to say thank you that early?

That reminds me of a friend who said "No need to say I love you when you play 9. O-O-O" against him in the Sicilian Dragon Yugoslav Attack instead of 9.Bc4.  Thought that was hilarious.

Well, what does the line usually look like?

The true status of the line 1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 is a little deceptive, if one looks at the database statistics (as mentioned by NM Reb above). With my database (slightly different to Reb's) I find there are no less than 5 moves for black with over 50 games which achieve >65% score for black (2. ...g6 is the addition to Reb's four moves). The obvious conclusion would be that 2. Bc4 is a serious blunder that can be refuted, which would be surprising. However, looking at the Elo performance, e6 and Nc6 achieve results in line with the rating of the players, a6 and d6 achieve results substantially better and g6 achieves poor Elo performance (-85 points).

So there are two factors at play. Firstly, two responses to Bc4 gain rating points, and secondly people who play the sicilian on average have substantially higher ratings than those who play 2. Bc4 against it.  (Those who play 2. ...g6 have an even larger rating advantage over their opponents, but their choice is questioned by the loss of rating points!).

Overall, the bottom line is that 2. Bc4 gives an equal game, and black has several ways to prove this.

On the question of why people play it, I would say that Bc4 is a typical move by people who have got their habitual openings from playing rather than from studying, which is probably a quite large majority of players. I bet there is no book that recommends this move against the sicilian!

Elroch, that was a very helpful post, thank you :).

One doesn't see the name "Bowlder" very often as a last or first name...just thinking outloud.

I see that a ton on the internet, but rarely in real life

I've been playing chess for about five years now but I find it impossible to memorize all the infinite variations. I didn't know 2. Bc4 was bad.

burn that into your memory :). but yeah, as someone posted above, it's just not particularly good. The biggest thing about "not particularly good" lines is that you tend to have to be much more careful about how you proceed.

 Maybe it's the same reason why obscure beers are always naming themselves after animals or having mascots who combine 2 or more different animals, like a rabbit with wings or a turtle with antlers.  People must really like to think that the beer they're drinking contains beast juices from some mad scientist's DNA splicing zoo of monsters whose blood mixes well with hopps.

 only partially a fair cop guv, I was more than familiar with the Lion, I think it''s a load of old guff, but was too lazy to write up a posting like scarblac's

I was taught as a kid as a "general rule" to develop Knights before bishops. Sometimes there's a good reason to move a bishop first( as others have pointed out; depends on your opponents move) but Bishops have the advantage of long range influence, whereas Knights are obviously at their best as close to the centre as possible.

I like Nc6 even better than e6 in response to Bc4. Pretend you don't see the threat and lure them into playing Qf3 before responding with e6. If you play e6 immediately, they'll know right away that you aren't falling for the trap. Just pretend you are clueless, then shatter their hopes after they've wasted another move setting up a scholar's mate.

According to Wikipedia:

"2.Bc4 (the Bowdler Attack), though once played at the highest level, is popular today only among club players or beginners who are unfamiliar with the Sicilian and are looking either to attack the weak f7 pawn or to prepare for a quick kingside castle. However, after a move such as 2...e6, Black will soon play ...d5 and open up the centre while gaining time by attacking the bishop."

This should help answer the "Why" question.

Yes, that's my style, too. My line is 1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Qf3. And then I totally shock them with Ne5 which protects f7 and also forks the queen and bishop. You can almost see the confused expressions on their faces. Sometimes they don't see the attack on the bishop and I pick it up for free.

I keep thinking of this as the Rasik Variation after that article on this site. It sounds kind of cooler too.