Changed bowling alleys and the new bowling alley has given two completely different shots.  One is heavy oil in the middle (5 to 5) and dry on the outside with carrydown.  The other shot is heavy in the middle, and even heavier on the outside with dry backends.  Was a great ball on the lesser oil at the previous house that i bought it for but on both shots at the new house this ball isnt any good for me.  On the first shot the ball snapped off the dry but ran out of gas and fluttered lightly into the pocket.  On the second shot, the ball did very little on the heavy oil in the fronts and was very inconsistent on the backend, breaking too early or late.  With the amount of hand i put into the ball, the ball is very speed sensative.  A lot of times it breaks to hard or skids too long on the oil leaving a mess.  I gave it the boot in favor of the much stronger and more predictable control zone.

So I let the bowler on my team try it out, he throws about half the revolutions and a little slower.  He was using an old hammer and getting nothing out of it.  With the rock pearl, he got the pop and the consistency he needed and bowled his high game of the year.  Needless to say, i sold him the ball for $75.

If you have the perfect shot for this ball, it will work for you well.  If anything else, the ball is a dud.  For a good ball, read my review on the control zone.

Greatness

I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT I GOT THIS BALL OFF E-BAY AND IT IS ONE OF THE BEST BALLS I HAVE EVER HAD.SOME OF THE REVIEWS SAY IT LEAVES ALOT OF CORNER PINS BUT THATS NOT TRUE IN THE ONE I HAVE SEEMS TO CARRY REAL WELL.HAD 793 WITH IT LAST YEAR SO YOU CAN'T SAY IT DOSN'T CARRY.ITS ONE OF THE MOST PERDICTABLE BALLS I HAVE THROWN.NICE SMOOTH AND HITS VERY HARD!EVEN WORKS WELL WHEN THE LANES DRY UP A BIT.NOT SURE IF ITS A BALL FOR HEAVY OIL HAVENT REALLY THREW IT ON THAT LANE SO THAT MAY BE DIFFERENT. JUST MY THOUGHTS,HOPE IT HELPS YOUR GAME.BUT FOR THE MONEY ITS A VERY GOOD BALL

I drilled this ball up about three weeks ago.
1.5"x4.5" (pinxcg) which basically gave me a slightly thumb weighted (maybe 1/8 oz) ball. I cut the surface twice (600, then 1500) to take away the gloss. This allowed the ball to roll a little sooner and cut down on back-end squirt.

The ball works excellently on heavy oil.

Last weekend, I bowled at a center which normally does not have oil. (The owner believes that value is created by minimizing cost -- so they use the cheapest oil... if they use it at all.) However, for some reason, they oiled for, what appeared to be, 50 ft.

While everyone struggled to hit the head-pin on the shot, the Pearl Rock allowed me to play a relatively tight line (22 to the 16) with enough recovery and entry to score decently. If not for a missed 7-pin, I would have shot 200. With the missed 7, I shot 196. Not bad for an "older" particle ball.

While the ball certainly does not shred racks, it does roll consistently enough to keep you in play.

If you're looking for a ball to "read" lanes for you, try the Rock Pearl with a low-flare set-up. Heck, I'm actually quite confident that the ball reads lanes well with a higher-flare set-up... I've seen some juniors use it as a "read" ball.

So, if you can't find a Tour Power (which is the situation I was in), I'm pretty certain that you will find the Rock Pearl to be an adequate substitute.

this ball has a very late reaction. it doesn't really work for me even on Christmas tree patterns.  

I used this ball on a med to dry condition.  No matter where I moved on the approach I could not get lined up with this ball.  I used it for about 20 games and gave up on it.  A year later I found this ball and decided to give it another shot.  Well....I put it back where i found it. .......i still wish there were more red cuda/c  around.....!

A GOOD EDGE BACK IN THE DAY!

SPECS: My favorite drill pattern, pin above and between my fingers with the Mass Bias out about 1 inch, PAP was out about 5 1/2 inches. 1000 Grit finish no polish.

House 1: Brunswick Synthetics put in, in 2000 Oil was ten to ten heavy in the middle very dry outside, This is when I bowled youth leagues still! shot was like this. about 12-15 at the arrows varying on who I bowled against each week and the break point was five revved up past 45 feet and came back hard into the pins throw alot of messengers around great carry for the most part but ten pins could be a pain if the ball was coming in with alot of angle. Rock Pearl was relativly forgiving with this lane dressing if I got the ball out to early it had a smoother easier reaction dry to late it snapped harder overall very good read from beginning to the end of the day.

Same house the following year as and adult bowler, Oil was heavy across the middle no place for a Pearlized ball and there was a fair amount of hang if I went to far outside with it all in all a more difficult pattern to play on. Moved the shot right a little now 10-12 at the arrows depending on other players with the break point in at 7th board or so. Rock Pearl was still revving up past 45 feet but the ball cut alot harder due to the higher volume of oil earlier in the night, as a result I had bad reads early in the night.

As the night bore on however Rock Pearl found its home most bowlers were playing close to the same line they dried the track quick when I seen this I moved left farther playing around 15 at the arrows and 7 at the break point still past 45 feet down the lane ball had better lenght later in the night than other equipment so I scored well the last game and a half. Hit and carry were the same regardless of what time of night I throw the ball great as long as the ball was in the pocket it carried like a gem.

I was just learning to bowl on sport patterns when I had this ball so I really can't say how it did on them I was not consistent enough at the time.

Overall: I was a house bowler at the time and this ball fit that house and pattern well great for dry backends or outsides when other gear read to soon this ball read and turned later on the lane. Pin carry was incredible I really don't remeber having any trouble with this ball not carrying it was a tremendously tough coustomer in the pins. Overall good ball lane and shot specific but in my view on of the best when it was in it's theatre!
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Mainzerpower