Quote Originally Posted by Aslan View Post
True. A lot of times balls go on clearance because they didn't sell very well and the website retailer wants to unload them. The only counter to that is....sometimes bowling ball popularity is more of a "popularity contest" and has nothing to do with actual performance. Storm is a pretty popular brand...the Optimus, Sync, Byte all sold very well. Yet...there was also a ton of criticism for those balls. The Deadly Aim sold very, very well...yet had a lot of critics. Then there are balls by less popular brands like the GameChanger (Ebonite) that many pros seem to really like, but the bowling public didn't really invest in and the opposite is true for balls like the re-released Widow series from Hammer...where the bowling public was really exicted about it...but the pros didn't really use it very much. Sometimes popularity is just popularity.


Well I tend to limit my interest to the Brunswick and Storm families with the occasional hammer ball tends to narrow the field a bit. your correct though what you see on tv and what you see on league night being effective aren't necessarily the same thing.

Quote Originally Posted by Aslan View Post
The biggest blow to the closet of destiny is the tendency of the balls to crack. I've lost 2 retired balls to cracking...but who cares? They are retired. On the other hand, I've lost 3 undrilled balls to cracking...and only one was still under warranty...meaning I lost about $170 and never even got a chance to throw the balls. If that keeps occurring...I could quickly see the $20-$110 savings per ball evaporate.


Yeah I see that as a serious issue myself. I wouldn't buy anything I didn't intend to drill in the next 6-8 months myself.




Quote Originally Posted by Aslan View Post
I wasn't knocking the Mastermind series....I love that series! I wanted a Mastermind and a Mastermind Genius. What didn't make sense was:

The Mastermind was a solid. The Genius came out 6 months later and was a Hybrid. 7 months later they released the Intellect...another solid. They then finally released the Scholar; a pearl variation...6 months later.

So,
1) Why did it take them so long to release a pearl version?
2) What was wrong with the original Mastermind, that they felt they needed to release the Mastermind Intellect (another solid)?

They then released the Mastermind Einstein five months later...another Hybrid. So, what was wrong with the Mastermind Genius?

Then...instead of releasing a new Mastermind Pearl...they released a THIRD SOLID!...the Mastermind Strategy!!

When a ball company releases a line...it's usually a 3-ball line...solid, pearl, then hybrid. They sometimes release them all at once...sometimes release the solid and pearl...then 3-6 months later release a hybrid version. Brunswick released a very popular Mastermind...then a very popular Mastermind Genius...but instead of releasing a Pearl version...they released another solid...less than a year after releasing the original solid Mastermind. When you compare the two balls...they are identical except the Intellect has the Honor Roll A+ coverstock versus the Masterminds Honor Roll coverstock.

That's *!%^ing stupid! All I can think is that either they had a problem making a pearlized version of the Honor Roll coverstock...OR there was a problem with the Honor Roll coverstock.

They finally release a Pearl (Mastermind Scholar)...then change the coverstock AGAIN...as well as the core...and create a new Hybrid; the Mastermind Einstein. Just when they had a complete series using the Honor Roll A+ coverstock...they change the coverstock AGAIN...and the core! Then comes the solid version (Mastermind Strategy)...never released a pearl version.

Now, I never saw a problem with the Mastermind series....so I don't know why they felt they needed to keep changing things like mad scientists. But, I do think it hurt sales of the line because:
1) Usually when a company changes a spec before releasing all 3 versions (solid, hybrid, pearl)...it's a sign that the original version wasn't very good. The Radical Reax was a very anticipated ball....then in a very short time after release...there was a "Radical Reax Version 2"...which pretty much killed the enthusiasm for the Reax line.
2) The Mastermind series became too confusing. Nobody could figure out which ball was supposed to fit where...because there were 3 different versions of the solid, two different versions of the Hybrid, and only one version of the Pearl. It's kinda like when Track was naming all their balls with numbers and letters. It was supposed to make things easier...but all it did was confuse the hell out of everybody.
Well first off these balls were release over probably 3 years so not quite as run on as you would believe. The Intellect was solid but polished so in effect a pearl, So you basically got the normal sequence solid, hybrid, polished. Of the 1st iterations of the series the Original was probably most popular the Intellect the least. Only people I know who liked the intellect added surface to it making it closer to the original.

The next group were the Scholar a pearl with a weaker cover, The hybrid Einstein with a stronger cover and higher Rg core, the Braniac same core as Einstein pearl with a stronger cover. I consider these the 2nd iterations of the series. The Scholar was kind of unloved but it was much weaker than the rest of the line which confused people. Popularity was close between the Einstein and Brainiac both were really good along with the original being the best of the bunch.

They changed the core again with the Strategy I seen quite a few sold didn't know anyone who loved it or hated it. I think they are done with the masterminds now but they may surprise me. The only ones I thought really strange were the Einstein and Braniac the motions were somewhat close even though the Braniac was longer with a touch more backend I wouldn't want them both in the same bag.

Sorry I'm bored today lol