i'm going into this with an open mind. i've seen what the scorpion blog at bowl.com says as to the best way to play the lanes. it's 41' long with a higher concentration of oil farther down the pattern. a more direct route to the pocket is desirable. i've bowled on the shark pattern twice----it's 44' long and outside of 10 is unplayable. using that as a guide i plan to play a straighter line around 12 and see how that works. the house this tournament is at, enterprise park lanes, has 16 year old brunswick synthetic lanes. most of the wear and tear in this house in between 8 and 12. this is the area where the pattern will break down the most. i will test several areas during shadow balls and see how it goes.