Candlepin is most certainly the better game! While "splits" do happen in tenpin, they're nowhere near as varied as candlepin with its "wood" and ability for pins to move but not fall down. Getting a strike or a spare means something, rather than tenpin where knocking down all the pins on most frames is basically expected. Candlepin has a world record single string score that is far from 300, whereas in tenpin perfect games are common.