I resurfaced my son's old Rising Star with 1000 Abralon with polish (was my ball that I gave to him a few years ago) for a tournament that he was in yesterday. I did it the night before and was kind of leery of doing it just before competition, but that's what he requested. He used to love this ball, but kind of left it in the bag and been throwing the Sinister, and mostly a Hammer Epidemic. That was basically his one-two punch, then a Grenade as his spare/burn ball. Hasn't pulled out the Grenade in a long time as well since he gave up on using a spareball.
At the start, out came the Sinister, but he couldn't get a good read with it. Then out came the Epidemic, got his lowest game of the 6 game set. Then he pulled out the Rising Star and BINGO! The ball was just reading so well, even with the lanes getting burned, the ball would hold so well, he shot a 289 with it. The other 2 games were mid 200's. He didn't win but came close and placed.
With that said (sorry for the long story) what is something current that is close to the Rising Star? Any brand, just want to see some options if he asks for a new ball to replace this one, but hopefully not too soon. Balls are so expensive.