Now you will have the information any time you need it. They also have a section for asking them directly.


page 88 of playing rules.

http://www.bowl.com/rules/

Good times...no chance at Nationals

But at a state tourney, local tourney, league, whatever, I could see it happening. I could see someone say that practice time before a tourney or league does not count as sanctioned play because no score is kept, and thus, any delivery, ball, etc can be used until score is being kept. Nobody has ever sanctioned someone throwing a 300 prior to the first frame of league, right, because they threw 12 in a row in.

charlest,
     Would that be dependent on each tournament set of rules? For Nationals (and I am going off memory here as I don't have the rules in front of me) it states you can't throw a ball that hasn't gone through the scale room, I believe. So you couldn't throw a ball that was sanded to 10 grit with a hardness of 50 to burn up the oil off a desired line ( for example). So if the tournament has specific rules about it, you might not be able to throw an "illegal" ball in practice, even if truly the start of sanctioned competition is frame 1.

Nationals is and will be the one and only exception, no reason to try to find cheeky ways around it to look smart.  Yes, at all leagues and tournaments that don't require checking equipment in, you can use whatever you want in practice.  I however don't see the point.  A Jackal Carnage at 1000 will pick up the same amount of oil as an Alpha Crux at 1000.  The whole conversation about this issue is waaaay too far out of control.  Yes, hypotheticals are fun now and again, and it's great to make sure you understand the rules so you know what to tell others, but I can guarantee you I won't say a word if I see someone throwing a Jackal in a sanctioned league, not going to be that guy.  As far as I'm concerned, it's just another ball, and they still have to throw it well.  Extra flare is not always a good thing, especially on a house shot.  I'd almost rather they throw it. 

Rico
+1
Truer words were never spoken.