Alonzo, I would suggest the Strategy as a ball up from the Brainiac. It has a stronger solid coverstock than the Brainiac and would be able to handle heavier oil. The Einstein has a hybrid coverstock and would be a good ball that would fit in the middle of those 2.

I agree and that's dead on.

I think the only ones that weren't super popular were the genius, scholar, and Einstein.

Hearing wonderful things about the brainiac and the synopsis is good on the strategy. 

The OG mastermind I feel was the most beloved.

 However they also hit another home run with the nirvana for a solid assym. 

Quote from: billdozer on September 08, 2016, 10:57:47 PM

I think the only ones that weren't super popular were the genius, scholar, and Einstein.

Hearing wonderful things about the brainiac and the synopsis is good on the strategy. 

The OG mastermind I feel was the most beloved.

 However they also hit another home run with the nirvana for a solid assym.

I agree on the Genius it was junk, the Scholar was a good ball on the right conditions it just required a defined dry area or it was over under, the Einstein may have been the best ball in the series. It may not have sold as well I don know about that but I don't know a single bowler who threw one that didn't like it and I still see a lot of them in bowlers bags and on the lanes here.

Amyers - what's your take on the Brainiac?

The Einstein was my favorite. I had very low expectations for this ball. Very user friendly and great across a variety of conditions. Can't say enough good things about it.

Here's my rundown of the series based upon the ones that I've thrown:

Original - the best true oiler of the group. As expected, the ball grabbed pretty early, but it still gave adequate downlane motion to promote carry.

Intellect - For me, this one was almost too much on the backend at box finish. I've never had a solid ball backend the way this one did. Now, when I knocked the shine off, it was smoother and more controllable. This was one of the best carrydown balls I've ever used!

Strategy - I've only thrown mine at box finish so far. For me, this one is pretty much between the original and the Intellect. It's definitely cleaner up front than the original, but it's not as violent on the backend as the Intellect was for me.

Einstein - I agree with everyone's take that this is a true benchmark ball. Smooth and even describes this ball perfect. For me, I've found very little use or this piece on house shots, which makes it very similar to how the IQ Tour Solid was for me. When the shot is tough, the Einstein is great. When it's wide open, and I'm looking to score, this usually isn't the ball that I want in my hands. It's a very good piece, but it's a niche ball for me.

Genius - The Genius was a unique ball motion for me. At box finish, it was too squirty for me. I liked it much better with the box shine knocked off a bit, which allowed the ball to pick up and be smoother/more continuous.

Overall, I think that it's been a really, really strong series of balls, one of the best Brunswick has had since the Inferno days. If you know what you want them for, you can pretty much cover any conditions with just a few from this line.

My favorite in the Mastermind series is actually the Strategy. I just shot 300 with mine a couple of weeks ago and it's hard to put it down. It acts like the original Mastermind on steroids, just a nice heavy roll through the pins but a little "flippier" than the original. The original is my second favorite, followed by the Brainiac, the Genius, the Scholar, and finally the Intellect, which was my least favorite. To me, the Strategy ended up being what I THOUGHT the Intellect was going to be, that solid compliment to the original that had a little more back end motion, but I drilled a few Intellect's and neither the pin up or pin down layouts worked as well for me, even with multiple surface adjustments. But, that happens with any bowling ball series, you're going to have favorites and one you just won't match up with. That being said, I drilled Intellects for many customers who have shot some great numbers with them, so you can't really go wrong with ANY Mastermind, just find the one that matches up to your game and stock up on them!