Info about me – Right handed…..PAP 5.5 over and 7/8 up, 19 mph, 500 RPM.
Reign of Fire – Drilled pin above bridge with the cg kicked out slightly with a really small hole on my axis.
I drill most of my equipment pin down, but I have had a lot of success with the T-Road Solid and Virtual Gravity pin up, so I decided to put a similar layout on the Reign of Fire.
The first time I used it was in league on a house shot on old beat up wood lanes. It was great on the fresh as it did not over react off the dry boards. After bowling 240 I had to put it away as it just started to burn up too quickly.
I am also bowling in a white and blue league (for more information on the red, white and blue patterns go to bowl.com) on AMF synthetics. On the White pattern I was using a Virtual Energy and Reign as it was difficult to get the ball through the front part of the lane. When we changed to the blue pattern, there was a little more volume and that allowed me to use the Reign of Fire and Invasion (I will review that one in another thread).
The first week on blue, which played similar to Chameleon for me with more oil, the Virtual Energy was too skid/flippy and the Reign just didn’t pick up soon enough. It was between the Invasion and Reign of Fire, I chose the Reign of Fire because the Invasion forced me to start a little deeper and my carry was not as good and I didn’t think the lanes would transition as well. I shot 750 for the three games only having to move four boards left as the night went on. The worst thing I left was a 4 pin when the lanes started to transition; the Reign of Fire is so smooth that the ball never over reacted.
For me this ball is a cross between the T-Road Solid and Dimension. I think the Reign of Fire will be great on almost all fresh conditions as long as you can get it through the front part of the lane. I have left mine at box finish because it gives me something different. I have seen a lot of people shine it with good success as well. It compliments the Reign just as it should. It is earlier and smoother down lane.
The Reign of Fire will be a great benchmark ball.
Derek Eoff
Storm Staffer
