By "unique," I mean you can't get that look easily out of anything else. Since it's easy to overlap stuff in large arsenals, these balls offer/offered something that separated them from the pack and carved out a nice.
10. AMF Ninja Master -- Back when everyone was trying to build a reactive that out-hooked everyone else, AMF put this out. I finished second in handicap all-events at Alabama's state tournament (to this date, my only real tournament accomplishment) using this ball. I don't have that one anymore, but I have another. It's still usable on league shots. One of the smoothest balls ever made.
9. Lane #1 XXXL Starburst -- Plastic with a real core. You get the spare ball benefits and also something for truly fried lanes. Great ball.
8. Brunswick Quantum Helix -- Automatic attention-getter with its looks, but what made it special was that its construction basically allowed it to play the unplayable line on most given patterns. Its problem was it didn't always prove able to play the preferred line. But if I was struggling, I usually could get out of jail with this. I sold mine a couple of years ago and now regret doing that.
7. Brunswick Sidewinder -- This one is new for me, but I've found it to operate on one of the widest sets of conditions of any ball. I can use it on anything from pretty wet to almost a true dry lane. Nice accomplishment for a particle hybrid ball.
6. Ebonite Ice -- At first look, it's just a medium-dry pearl ball but it's one of the most versatile in that particular realm. I bought one used that already had 150 games on it, I put another 70+ on it and then it cracked. It worked on just about anything I could throw at it other than a flood. Probably my favorite Ebonite ball of all time.
5. AMF XS -- And not just because of its white shell. The first one I had, I kept sanded, and it was a complete turd. Then I got my second one and kept it polished. Had a very unique roll, was forgiving and carried the house. I still have my second one, and it has at least 1,000 games on it. I still take it to league with me every now and then and it never disappoints.
4. Storm Thunder -- This was the first ball I ever saw really turn the corner. I remember my breath being taken away, actually. The combo of that core and the Curelyon coverstock Storm used created a very unique hook shape on the lanes. I just recently found film of Pete Weber throwing one of these on a telecast way back when and he had the same hook shape I saw on THS.
3. Storm X-Factor -- First pearl I can ever remember that would perform on oily lanes. First real mass bias ball that ever really got the core dynamics right, in my opinion. I have one with about 1,500-2,000 games on it now and it still performs.
2. Lane #1 Uranium HRG -- Most unique ball Lane #1 has ever built. Works in places none of its other gear will work. The one-off core just lopes and lopes. Great hitting power at the back of the pattern. Won't work for speed-dominant players on anything above medium-light, and a lot of people I know don't match up to this ball and hate it. But I should just inscribe "get out of jail" on mine because that's what it is.
1. Visionary Slate Blue Gargoyle -- I'm not even really sure where to start. A dry-lane ball? Yes and no. Classic urethane roll? Well, not really. This thing defies explanation. It's like a resin ball with no resin in the cover. I now have two of them in differing weights. My heavier one (16) could fill three roles for me if I wanted it to (spare ball, dry-lane ball, outside-angle ball for mediums). I'm not sure you can get more unique than this.
Jess
