is the darkest area where the most oil is?
Yes that is the area that oil is put down in both forward and reverse.
The more forward loads you have the more oil you will have down lane in the buff out area cause it gets carried downlane by the buffing brush.
Reverse give the pattern it's hold and helps to increase the amount of oil in the heads since it is being carried back by the buffing brush.
There is more to it than that but I wanted to keep it simple.
Based on the spreadsheet this pattern would be very wet/dry due to the small forward volume with nothing outside 7L or 5R and high reverse volume. I would think it would require playing inside angles using the bounce that is outside 5. Lane surface and condition could change this though.
The funny thing about the pattern in the link that you posted is that it wouldn't be a USBC legal pattern. If you click the "click here to view the pattern" link it shows the actual loads that are applied and this particular pattern does not have any forward 2L - 2R loads. These 2-2 loads are needed to get the 3 unit minimum volume on the 2 board 1' from the end of the pattern.
I have never seen a pattern that didn't have at least 2 2-2 loads. In many cases at least 3 loads are needed to get the required 3 units.
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