BallReviews

Equipment Boards => Columbia 300 => Topic started by: 2handedrook12 on April 29, 2016, 10:16:23 PM

Title: Dot Series (Classics)
Post by: 2handedrook12 on April 29, 2016, 10:16:23 PM
Can someone list all of the Dots made back in the day? Currently I have a Wine U Dot, U2 (original not "classic"), and two Yellow Dots. Off the top of my head, I know theres a Black U Dot, Blue Dot, and a White Dot (currently out). Any others that I'm missing? Believe there's a blue ball that came out around the same time as the Yellow Dot.
Title: Re: Dot Series (Classics)
Post by: bullred on April 29, 2016, 11:05:24 PM
Orange Dot (ugliest ball ever made)
Title: Re: Dot Series (Classics)
Post by: squirrelywrath1 on April 30, 2016, 12:52:11 AM
There's also the original Black U-Dot, the Gold Dot, and the Slate Grey U-Dot.
Title: Re: Dot Series (Classics)
Post by: Walking E on April 30, 2016, 01:13:12 AM
I'm pretty sure that the black reactive ball I had in the mid-90s was called the Columbia Green Dot. I can't seem to find any reference for it online. It had green lettering on a jet black shell. I left it at the bowling alley one night - intentionally.
Title: Re: Dot Series (Classics)
Post by: Juggernaut on April 30, 2016, 04:22:44 AM
White Dot
Blue Dot
Red Dot
Yellow Dot
Yellow Dot (the later blue version)
Orange Dot
Black Knight (solid black ball with a white dot, but slightly harder than a regular white dot) This was basically a White Dot with a special name.
Gold Dot (This ball was pearlized urethane in several colors)
Wine U-Dot
Black U-Dot
Slate U-Dot

 The U2 and the Vector series also had the U logo in the center ring, but weren't officially called "Dot" balls.

 The Sur D may have been considered part of the "Dot" series, but I have never heard it referred to as that. It is always denoted by the name "Sur D" on it.

 Can't think of anymore right off.  I was a big fan of the silver and carmel White Dots.

 P.S. There was also the "New formula" Yellow Dots that they tried in the late 1980's, but they sucked, and C300 soon went back to using the old formula again. The "New firmula" balls looked much different than the regular ones. They were a dullish finish, and sort of resembled the turdish looking Orange Dot balls. I had one and hated it.
Title: Re: Dot Series (Classics)
Post by: Juggernaut on April 30, 2016, 04:28:59 AM
I'm pretty sure that the black reactive ball I had in the mid-90s was called the Columbia Green Dot. I can't seem to find any reference for it online. It had green lettering on a jet black shell. I left it at the bowling alley one night - intentionally.

 That was C300's first "reactive" ball that I am aware of. It came out when the Black U-Dots were popular. I had a friend that ordered a Black U-Dot and got one of those by mistake. We didn't even know they existed, and wondered why it had green lettering insteadof white. It came polished, and we couldn't figure out why. He left it like that when he drilled it, and we weren't expecting much hook, but the dang thing outhooked any other U-Dot I had ever seen. We never understood why until years later.
Title: Re: Dot Series (Classics)
Post by: Josey Wales on April 30, 2016, 12:18:48 PM
I still have a Bud II (black u-dot 2),
Title: Re: Dot Series (Classics)
Post by: mdb222 on May 14, 2016, 09:10:36 PM
I have to add the lite dot, the first ball I ever had way back in the day!
Title: Re: Dot Series (Classics)
Post by: rackattack on May 15, 2016, 07:22:20 AM
After they banned the origional Shur D , Columbia reformulated the cover and rereleased it as the red dot Shur D. It was the same cover as the Caramel white dot. The blue white dot became very popular for awhile because it took the acitone bath better than the other colors.
Title: Re: Dot Series (Classics)
Post by: spencerwatts on May 18, 2016, 12:47:33 PM
Let's see here . . . and I was a Columbia guy through and through back in the late 1970s to late 1980s.

Blue dot: Bone dry lanes. Ball was like 90 hardness.

White dot: Dry lanes. Ball was like mid-80s hardness.

Yellow dot: Greatest ball they made. But brittle ball surface especially those that were considered bleeders. Best used on medium oil conditions. Most were 80-82 hardness. The bleeders were slightly softer ranging from 78 to 82 hardness.

Bonanza yellow dot, sur-d ball. Softer than the yellow dot. Some were even barely legal for the day. Ball was most times 72-76 hardness.

Orange dot: Piece of junk. Best and only use was outside 10-board. If memory serves me correct, it was Columbia's venture into a soft rubber ball.

Original U-dot series: Wine dot (medium lane conditions); Black U-dot (oily); Pearl dot (bone dry). There was also the U-2 (which was supposedly super aggressive.)
Title: Re: Dot Series (Classics)
Post by: KeithJFro on May 29, 2016, 11:38:38 PM
Was the ORIGINAL blue dot only in silver?  I could have sworn they had another color.