I got to thinking about this the other day and realized most of my bowling success came from a particular series of balls like:

1.The Messenger Series by Columbia
2.The Zone series by Brunswick
3.The Planet Series by Roto Grip
4.The One Series by Ebonite
5.The Nighthawk/Hawk Series by AMF

I am just now discovering the Phaze Series by Storm. I never liked the Black Widow Series by Hammer, nor do I like the Idol Series of balls. I tried some of the Road series but those balls are not for me either.

What were your favorites?

Great thread! It’s always fun to reflect on the balls that really clicked over the years. Here are some of my favorites:

Storm: The Hy-Road series has always been solid for me, especially the original and the Hy-Road Pearl.
Brunswick: I have to agree with the Inferno line—Absolute Inferno was my go-to for a long time.
Columbia: Definitely the Messenger series, a classic.
Hammer: While the Black Widow series wasn’t for you, I had a lot of success with the Widow Ghost Pearl—consistent and strong finish.
Roto Grip: The Idol series didn’t work for me either, but the Halo series was a game-changer on heavier oil patterns.

Motiv: Venom
Hammer: Black Widow
Storm: !Q
Roto Grip: Hustle

I haven't thrown enough balls from the other lines and/or can't say one series stands out.

These are only including reactive balls - although it would stay the same with Storm. I've generally had more success (overall) with non-reactive, especially bowling two handed. I had a 299 one handed with the Daredevil Trick. Other than that, my 300 and 800 one handed were with the Hot Cell (same series). I had a 300 and 800 last year with the !Q 78U (different nights and two handed). And a two handed 300 with the Radical Spy.

Old school.
Lane 1 - Cherry bombs.
Track Exceptions.

I gotta admit that the Motive: Venom line is like a Swiss army knife for all bowlers! I haven't heard a bad word said about any of those balls and I have to admit that I too had success with them as well.

Loved my Planet Series balls so much that I had two Saturns, two Plutos, a Neptune and a Mercury and would use them all on most patterns. Definite winners all.

I forgot about the Cell line. I tended to use them mostly on medium-heavy and heavy oil. Those balls are monsters for sure also.

I wish I had tried out that Columbia Resurgence series. I had a buddy who swore by all of those balls. He had great success with them as well.

Much like the Ebonite Game Breaker series, I view the Storm IQ series as must have benchmark type pieces that will get you out of trouble no matter the pattern you're on. So smooth and readable.

I waited way too late to try out Lane 1. Those balls were carry monsters. By the time I started to experiment with a couple of them, they were getting phased out.

I actually owned a Shift and a Gravity Shift but ended up selling them to a partner of mine because he kept begging me for them. LOL.

I'll join in. Made many a dollar and won many a tournament with:

Ebonite: The Nitro series, the Matrix series, and the Apex series. The Nitro was a great alternate to the Hammer, but when Ebonite brought out reactive resin through the Turbo/X and Crush/R, they caught everyone's eye, but the Nitro/R and Nitro R2 took off immensely, and a few companies couldn't keep up.

Honorable mention here would also be the NV series. The NV was okay for me, but the Total NV and Complete NV were so good I ended up getting 2 of each and kept them at the ready for when I needed it; the Complete NV joins the Blue and Blue Pearl as trophy (read: honor score) balls.

Hammer: The entire original Faball line. There is a reason why up until recently, the Blue and Blue Pearl were still in my bag. as 300/1100 series balls, they now enjoy a trophy retirement.

While the Widows have already been mentioned, I'll go another direction and throw in the Blood series. The First Blood and Cold Blood were phenomenal pieces for the early 2010s, and when they brought out the Gas Mask Clear in Japan, EBI finally had the good idea to make a plastic ball with core, in the BW Spare, but more importantly the True Blood. Those three in that series were great for me.

Brunswick: I didn't throw much of them, but a longstanding series that was great that I did get to throw were the Zones. I can't remember how many of those balls in that series were made, but I want to say that there was a good 160something of them made since 1995 (still being poured today).. Throwing the Command Zone Arc and the Riot Zone got me the most success from Brunswick (pre-BoB).

There are more, but I'm also trying to limit this to series that had more than 2 balls in it, which rules out something like the Quake, Pulse, Optyx, and TPC series.

BL.