I can only turn the "way back machine" to the late 70's. That's when I started bowling with the AMF Voit Red,White and Blue ball. Probably a modern ball for the time. I remember the oil being much shorter in the early 80's. The patterns were also flatter, less of a hump in the middle. The pins we bowled against were all 3lbs 8oz. to 3 lbs 10 oz. (I know this because of ABC inspections and I also have some)
At some point in 82 0r 83 a new center opened and started putting out the wall shot, and people started throwing 300's, sometimes up to 10 a year in that house. The owner would re-oil the lanes and have the mechanic bowl on them for a while after an honor score so they would pass ABC inspection.(Yes it's hard to believe they would inspect after every 300 game)
During this period I generally used a white dot, blue dot, or a bleeder. The best bowlers learned to tear the cover off the ball and were able to get a pretty decent hook with good power. I remember bowling 25-279 games with plastic.....then The Angle came out. The incredible difference in hitting power was unbelievable. Scores started to go up immidiately for those investing in a Hammer,Angle, or LT48. No more 279's all the time, the carry was better. With the more aggressive cover stock the oil volumes started going up too. Then in the mid 80's they started using lighter pins too, the scores went up even more.
I think we all know what happened in the early 90's with the advent of reactive balls and the B.S. procedure for becoming an ABC sanctioned house.
