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Author Topic: Game Time?  (Read 1712 times)

loose5682

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Game Time?
« on: July 16, 2006, 11:47:40 PM »
Just picked one up off of eBay, wanted to get some info about the ball.  About all I know is it's a particle pearl shell, could it be drilled strong and fit into the medium-heavy category, or is this more suited to a length drilling and a medium-light ball?  Anybody with any experiences with this ball, it would be appreciated if you'd chime in, thanks!!
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Andrew Loose

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"Strike for show, spare for dough, split for D'OH!"
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

 

azguy

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Re: Game Time?
« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2006, 08:09:21 AM »
Not much help, but here goes. A guy last season used one, never really paid attention to the layout, but he's more down 10 board. It did have a nice arc, didn't do well the few times we had heavy oil, but on med it was a killer. That guy would hit his mark 8 out of 10 times, single pin conversions were good, but splits were his down fall.

I'll try to call him and get his layout, if you want, but I was not impressed in heavy, I'd say it was better for the med that we had most of the year.

As I said, maybe not much help, but there it is.

Good Luck !
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loose5682

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Re: Game Time?
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2006, 09:59:13 AM »
I have an idea of what layout I'm going to use depending on what the ball is for, so i've got two layouts in mind, a milder layout for lighter mediums and a stronger layout for heavier mediums.

I plan on taking the ball up to 2000 and then going with a pin under bridge, CG swung right layout, this would ideally let the ball get down lane and just roll throughout the whole lane (weaker)

Or, I'll go with a 3 3/8 x 4 layout, ball at 1000 grit, with the pin about 1 to 1 1/2" above midline (depending on pin length), this would be the stronger layout

So I basically know what i'm gonna do regardless, I'd just like some opinions from people who have thrown the ball, Paul Smith? any other Ebonite staffers?
--------------------
Andrew Loose

1/2 of ABT's Finest

"Strike for show, spare for dough, split for D'OH!"
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

Ramtart

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Re: Game Time?
« Reply #3 on: July 17, 2006, 10:25:32 AM »
Andrew,

How's it goin' dude? I had an Ebonite game Time Last Year. It was one of the free balls given away at the True Amateur Tournaments Megabuck event in Vegas.

I had mine laid out by Ebonite Sales Rep/PBA Wester Region member Dave Wodka.
We went with a pin above ring finger and CG in the middle of grip layout.

Wait a minute...now that I think of it...I did a review on this ball last year!
Here, I cut and pasted for you below from the Reviews section.

Hi everyone, here's my review on the Game Time.
See my Profile for my personal Stats.

I got this ball at the True Amateur Tournament in Las Vegas back in February in 2005. Ball is laid out with Pin over my ring finger and cg located in my palm. This layout was chosen, because I wanted an even "Arc-Type," look at the back end.

Layout looks like this...
----------
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--------p---
---O--O---
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----------
----cg----
----------
----------
-----O----
----------

Actual Pictures Below...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0703/128177/RamtartsBowlingBalls/xcel3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0703/128177/RamtartsBowlingBalls/xcel2.jpg

When I first got the ball, it was in OOB condition (1000 grit). At the TAT, this ball was very strong on Medium Oil with Out of Bounds from the 8 board to the gutter. With a differential of .50, I shouldnt've been surprised by the backend reaction it had. After polishing the ball up, I saw the true Arc shape reaction on the backend.

I didn't expect much out of this Mid-priced ball from Ebonite. I threw one game with it at the TAT, and now I have about 20 games on it after Polishing it up in the Lustre King. I would have to say this is ball is very versatile. Here is what I experienced on different types of conditions...

Light Oil - Dry Lanes
This ball really shines on Light conditions. When polished up, it revs up real nice and saves a lot of energy for the backend. Even with the Arc-Shape reaction, this ball can mix up the pins with the best of them. Lots of messengers and can drive through the pocket real nice.
This ball supposedly is for Heavy Oil, but with the Layout & Cover matchup combined with the .50 differential and Big Weighblock, it's a monster on Lighter conditions!

Medium Conditions
This ball in a polished state reads Mediums very well. It does need to find some dry/friction. The ball still hits very good as long as you hit the ball when the lanes seem to have more oil. I like this ball on Mediums and is a good first ball out of the bag for the THS.

Heavy Conditions
A couple of weeks ago, our House tried something different. They tried a flatter oil pattern. I don't know how many units of oil they put out there, but my Xcel didn't move much on this condition if that tells you much. You may call me crazy for pulling the Polished Game Time out, but I decided to try it anyways. The ball went fairly straight, but what I liked about it is the way it handled the very little dry back end that was present. With the Arc layout, it did not jump off the dry, but was very smooth. Since I was pointing the ball, I didn't want the ball to get all "Jumpy," once it touched the dry. Needless to say, there were a bunch of corner pins present due to minimal pocket entry angle from a flat oil pattern. With this ball, I did not have a lot of room, I pretty much pointed the ball to the pocket with softer speed. The Polished Cover/Arc-Type layout combo did not give me the opportunity to cover a bunch of boards, but relied mainly on your shotmaking (Something I certainly need to work on hehe).

Ball Flare Potential
With this type of drilling, I didn't expect much flare, but geez, this thing flared about 5-6 rings! I will get a picture of this during practice or league with an update...

Overall, Ebonite won me over with this ball. I am glad I picked one up at the TAT. Thanks to PBA PRO and Ebonite Staffer Dave Wodka for chatting with me at the tournament, analyzing my game, and laying out my Game Time & Xcel. Also, thanks to Wester Region Pro Paul Smith "The Pizz," for all the advice on the ball. I am thinking about picking another one up in OOB condition with Pin over ring and CG kicked out (4x3 type drilling) to cover medium conditions.

Definatley a Bang for the Buck ball. At $80-$100 bucks before drilling, you can't go wrong.

Hope this helps!
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Ram
S.F. Bay Area, California

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Food is good for you!

Edited on 7/17/2006 10:21 AM

loose5682

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Re: Game Time?
« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2006, 11:02:02 AM »
Interesting, I have no intentions of initially polishing this ball, but I may take it up to 2000 or 4000 grit eventually.  I'd like to have a particle ball in the medium-heavy category, but it looks like this isn't it, maybe i'll try the V2 Particle there...thanks for the help!  Other opinions welcomed
--------------------
Andrew Loose

1/2 of ABT's Finest

"Strike for show, spare for dough, split for D'OH!"
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should