Tonight, after league, I bowled on a set of lanes that had not been oiled since tuesday. They were completely void of oil aside from a few spots here and there. None of my balls would move very much, and all hit like a marshmallow. I finally grabbed a house ball off the rack and threw without a thumb and was able to get a decent reaction, and had a little power at the pins. Is there anything I can do with my own equipment to be able to bowl on such a condition, or should I just find a plastic ball to throw?

 Why even bother to bowl on lanes like that and expect to score?

 It is about the friction.

 Low friction lanes allow for high friction balls.

 Likewise, high friction lanes need low friction balls.

 You can get a lane so dry that nearly nothing will work, not even plastic.

I was able to no thumb it, but I was still playing up the right. The plastic ball was coming back without any oil on it. I was only throwing without a thumb because of the crappy house ball fit

There is no point in bowling on a shot like that.  The only thing it's going to do is create bad habits. 

This is where I bring out the Nexus Pearl.  What happens in today's bowling vs. bowling of the last 2 decades.  When the lanes dry out, it definitely pushes down.  There's always been carry down, but it's even more so now.  The best ball for this is the Nexus Pearl and move to the right.

Well I'd have to bowl on those lanes.  Usually when the oil pushes down the Nexus Pearl for me allows me to move right and throw into the track or just left of it.  The carry down keeps the ball from over snapping.