History of Bowling Balls | Reactive Resin 

Track made a reactive ball in the early era called the Nuke. I had three of them in different configurations and surfaces. Hit like a tank, and was very versatile. Lots of high scores with that has a junior bowler. Nu-Line also had a solid reactive called the Super X which was also an amazing ball.

There was actually a ball between the Navy Hammer R and the 3D, and to my recollection, it was the one that got Hammer going back I to the right direction, and that was the Red Hammer R. Where the Navy had the old traditional Faball weight block, the Red had a completely different symmetrical weight block and that was the one that really got everyone's attention, then the 3D took that to the next level.

WOW. You guys just sent me on the ultimate trip down memory lane, and even mentioned the names of some old acquaintances. This was literally a chronology of my adult life. Thanks for that, and I would love to see more bowling history videos from you guys. I remember the Ray Orf 890 series. I also remember the controversy, but you know what? Up until that time, he did and no one else. You should be proud of him.

TurboX still in my bag-great ball. Storm Firestorm ‘95 my favorite ball of all time.

Quite a trip down memory lane. Brunswick's Teal Rhino Pro and Danger Zone were my favorite Go Tos. Columbia Torque also went well. I think it was one of the early tournaments in 1992 or 1993 where Norm Duke won with a Piranha and all of the sudden everyone had to have one. It didn't work for me as it seemed too erratic in its reactions. The downside of that era was the explosion in costs of the balls, which went from the 30s and 40s to pushing $100 a ball and $200 for Quantams. At the scratch tournament, regional and national tour levels it became an arms race. When I had to carry 9 balls to a regional tournament in the late 90s, it told me it was time to get out and I was probably not the only one.

You guys did a great job on the ball series. The Cuda C was my favorite of all time

Man there’s a lot of memories for me sitting on that table.

The original Rotogrip Outlaw (which came out around the same time as the Teal Rhino Pro) was a great ball. I still had it in my bag ten plus years after I first got it, because I could always find a way to score with it when my newer, supposedly better, stuff wouldn’t work.

Impressive work putting all those classics together, guys. There's more than a couple of those I'd like to have.

Man, I remember all of those balls on that first table. I saw them all over the bowling center when I started bowling league in like 1995-96. I had an X Caliber, a Rhino Pro Teal and the Red Alert Special Edition. I wanted the Red Pulse with the clear pin. Another lefty had one and let me throw it and I wanted it.

As a kid bowling in the 90s and early 00's... The hammer 3D offset was absolute money for me. I won a lot of tournaments throwing that ball. That one will always be special to me. Also the original inferno was great. Amazing to see how drastically different bowling is now. I used to have a 3 ball arsenal as a kid. Now I have 12 and growing....

Fantastic series guys! So informative and entertaining. Very nice collection sheesh!

Great Collection! Couple points you guys missed: You didn't go into too much depth on the emergence then death of Particle balls, or the general technology shakeup that happened about the time Ebonite's The One came out, specifically when Storm (with the Paradigm) and Columbia (EPX-T1) both put out balls that were very unique in formulation that wound up being soft and cracked all the time. Also no discussion of company mergers, buyouts, and odd companies (Lane 1, Elite, MoRich, etc.)

What a fantastic series. I loved the walk down bowling ball history!

Two words four syllables to tell you the best bowling ball of all time. OMEGA CRUX.

wow the OG cell and black widow, along with the OG virtual gravity then the hyroad, the code black and the wrecker. wow really good collection guys awesome video

Columbia piranha orange and the jade. Won plenty of tournaments in junior days. As adult started with ebonite throwing the ONE bowl my first 300 with it that whole season in 2006-7 had at least 1 game of 250+

loved this segment. I started league bowling and so many of these were on my wish list. I did get to buy the Cuda C off a teammate. I still have to this day...

Don't forget the Ebonite Raid and the Vendettas from Dyna-Thane. Still my fav of all time, the Hammer Jet Black Taboo

Seeing the Pulse brought back some great memories for me. I loved that ball.

Great series of videos! Thank you! My wife found a Turbo X at Goodwill 3 months ago. Span was perfect and I use it occasionally in league. Didn't know it was that old!

Awesome Video series! I didn’t see the Burgundy Hammer, in Jersey in the mid 90’s that was a super popular ball.

Great video. You guys could have filled that table with nothing but Zones lol 😃 IMO the best line in the 90s.

What do you guys think about the Hammer Nova Pearl ? I have one that ex-pro Carol Norman used on tour 94ish. I started bowling early 70s with several friends including Carol. 95-96, Carol gave me her ball. I use the Nova as a strike ball but also use for the 10 pin by killing the hook. It's my go to when nothing else is working.

Loved the video. I picked up a PBA 60th anniversary edition ball from the 2018 TOC. And then also my pro shop owners son ended up getting a gold mission unknown when it first came out and it was really crazy when he found the ball lol. Loved this series

I've got a 75-82 Don Carter performance, a Columbia 300, and a Galaxie 300 bowling balls.

AMF Night Hawk was a fantastic early resin.

I loved the Cuda/C! I still have one. I also have and love the Cuda 2000. I also throw the IQ Pearl gold and just picked up the IQ 30. Loved seeing this video!!

Enjoyed your video guys. I remember a lot of those balls going back to the 70’s. Three of my favorites that you didn’t have would have been the Ninja, purple hammer, and Track’s Elite.

I think the Ebonite Wolf series was a great one. Which they would bring it back.

What a great collection! This brings back many memories in my 22 years of drilling. I feel like the Ninja is a monster that you missed. Also, my (then) boss got a bunch of X-Caliburs in 1991... I know this for a fact as we all got them from him and he didn't own the center after November 1991.

Notable absence of Motiv, DV8, Radical, Lane 1 from the reactive ball era? And the absence of renewed urethane technology like Pitch Black? I know they are newer companies, but given their obvious presence on the PBA tour they should be highlighted in our bowling history as well.

Man I have a turbo x I bought new in the 90's and I still love that ball Used it today actually

Great videos on the history of bowling balls. I still have and can use an original Midnight Blue Quantum. My all time favorite ball.

Combat Zone was awesome.......shot 859 at Forum Bowl with a Pearl Combat Zone. Was the house record for long time.......

Great videos awesome history

I have the Teal Rhino Pro that I used up until last year. I would still be using it, but it started cracking from the left finger hole down past the thumb hole so I had to retire it. Even in todays lane conditions I think that ball is one of the best.

I've used a decent amount of reactive resin balls. Currently I use a Storm t-road pearl and a Brunswick teal rhino pro which you guys mentioned both in this video

I still have an original Ebonite Turbo Black that I use for dry wood lanes. Love that ball and have had some great games with it. My favorite ball that I have and still bowl with regularly is an original Ebonite Predator from around 2001. Probably got 1500+ games on it and still going strong. Other than that I have an Ebonite Savage I pull out from time to time and if the oil is real heavy I use my Ebonite Big One.

Enjoyed this history video thanks.

Love these videos please give us more

7:25 I have one of those! I LOVE the Ebonite Mission.

As far as impact goes you HAVE to acknowledge the Helix Quantums. They might of been a little gimmicky but they changed the game. Also, while I realize this video is mainly focusing on cover stocks you cannot forget to mention the impact of certain weight blocks. The introductions of ceramics and how they effected the way the balls hit made almost as much impact as the resin covers.

Loved my green NITRO!!!

virtual gravity was the first high performance ball i bought and it was really good loved it.

im missing the lane#1 bowling balls by richie sposato in the trip down memory lane❤

One of my favorites was an early resin, the Columbia Pro Hook. The black one. They called it the Columbia NoHook. It didn't hook much, but man, did it hit.

Depending on the Beast version you have there. . . the first one was Urethane. I have that ball and I got it back then . . they did have some with particles in the surface and eventually made a reactive version, but the first one is Urethane.

Columbia black and gold ti messenger was my first resin ball and still my first love lol

Loved my purple Rhino pro (835 set plus 5 others in practice). Maybe mention the Phantom line (black was 1st asym ball I think) & I still have my black 1. Also, the Brunswick Attitude line namely Tude2 I've had since new circa 1997 (300,236,300 high) Ball still crushes on most patterns! Great videos on ball history thanx, guys!

The red Pulse, even as of now, is my favorite ball I ever had. Did my best games with that ball. Would love to find one again. The teal Track Titon was pretty close too. I bought the Mission 2.0 when it came out 7-8 years ago. Didnt care much for it. Now I just picked up the Hammer Black Widow Legend. Looking at possibly the Trident Abyss next. Would to know your thoughts on the Hammer and Trident.

Champion made a ball I think was called the dragon, or snap dragon. Its was green. That ball was a great early reactive ball people often forget.

My favorite ball was the Pearlized Cuda C..I loved that ball and for me it hit harder than any ball I've owned (that's just my opinion). Other people may say different for them but Based on my experience that's how it went for me. I've had better performing balls than that, but the Cuda C impressed me the most at the time. It just fit my style of bowling..

Pretty much had a version of every ball I've had on this series including my old Quantum and Gyro Pro. The only thing missing was the Storm El Nino/Wrath/2000 or the La Nina. The Wrath was what I threw my first 300 with.

My favs from the late 90s were the Pacific Storm, Forest Fire Storm, burnt orange pearl Synergy ETS and Danger Zone 2!

The AMF XS. Bone-white. Asymetrical. Hard to keep clean, but mine hit like a truck. :)

Another great video walking through the past seeing all these bowling balls I've thrown with the funny thing is most of these balls I've had of cracked I still have my old urethane balls though 30 years later I did have a resin react to ball that lasted 20 years a track heat Elite but it eventually gave up the ghost to anyways thanks for the history lesson guys is a great video

The "earlier" balls that stand out in my mind as being especially popular: AMF: Bone XS; not because it was good, but because it was different. Brunswick: Danger Zone; Teal Rhino Pro; Gold Rhino Pro; Absolute Inferno Columbia: Piranha C; Titanium Messenger Pearl Ebonite: Turbo X; The One Hammer: The original Black Widow, best reactive Hammer ever. Roto: Cell and Cell Pearl Storm: Eraser PBT Track: T-Shark, I believe was their first reactive? Critical Mass Code Red; Animal My favorite ball was the Black/Gold Ti-Messenger Pearl. There was just something about that core that Columbia got right, and Superflex has to be one of the best coverstocks ever.

i cant stop: remember the white AMF XS😊

Very cool video. I couldn't imagine bowling with a wooden ball

AMF XS designed by Mo Pinel as the first asymmetric reactive ball. SD-73 the highest differential symmetrical ball. Visionary Immortal Solid and Pearl with the highest differential of any ball at 0.078 and asymmetrical, too.

Omg the beast. It’s been for ever since I seen one

Very nice 3 video presentation. I liked that you mentioned Mo Pinnel but I was surprised you didn’t have or mention Morich or Radical balls. I still have a Morich Weapon of Mass Bias personally. Great asymmetric ball.

My first actual "real" (or what I would consider, at least) bowling ball was a Hammer Big Blue solid (as opposed to the Big Blue Pearl shown here). I got it used from another bowler and absolutely loved that thing. It was the ball on which I went from the beginner no-thumb style throw to a (again, what I would consider to be) real traditional full-grip style. The back end on that thing was incredible and I've thrown Hammer pretty much exclusively ever since. I have been searching for another one for YEARS without luck. Wish I could find another...

Greats which come to mind: 1. Brunswick Sapphire Zone 2. Storm Eraser 3. Track Critical Mass Code Red 4. Brunswick Purple Quantum

Venom Shock, Primal Rage, EPX by Columbia 300, Virtual Gravity Nano, X-Factor, Purple Hammer stand out as balls that need to be added to the big collection!

I’m really curious about the Columbia super Cuda solid I have one in the original box and it has a yellow lettering yellow pen but the box has the pink but on the black and white stick on labeling reads super flex cover which I think is correct for the super Cuda were they using up the old boxes ?

Sorry for the necro. I think ther's an argument for adding the Motive Venom Shock to your collection. It's been around for a long time, as ball longevity goes, and appears to be pretty popular.

No Radical? The best product out right now. Mo and Phil are awesome at what they do.

i had a blast with my bone XS i wish i could find one.

Shot my first 700 series with a green manhatan rubber. Brunswick edge and nitro r squared were good ball for me and of course the angle.

I remember my dad throwing the 3D Offset when I was real little, and I shot my first 300 with the original red mission.

Jade Pearl Piranha/C! Bowled my first 700 with it in 1998

First reactive I got when I was a kid was the original solid blue Zone. Still think my FAVORITE reactive balls was the neon green storm Bolt and the thunder road. Loved those balls. Track had some awesome balls too. The critical mass, and my favorite track, the Triton elite. One more awesome one that stood out was that old school ebonite Omega! Awesome balls Great selection though!!

3D offset was the first new ball I bought myself after bowling several years with hand me downs. Loved that ball and still occasionally throw it when I'm in a house with dry wood lanes.

When I first started league bowling as a Jr. Bowler I had the Nitro R2 Purple ball. I absolutely loved it. Didn't even know about the Green Nitro R. Can anyone let me know what the difference is between the 2? Also is there some where reputable that you can buy the Nitro R 2 new at all? Thanks

My favorites in the late 90s were the critical mass, synergy ets, forest fire storm, pacific storm, shadow c and the ti tour boss.

If you guys could bring back just ONE ball from those days, from the introduction of reactive all the way through the 90's, what would it be? I'm not talking about remakes, I'm talking about if you could get a number of original's and drill them for use today. For me it would be the red Pulse. I had a modest 6 perfect games and only 1 800 series and none of them were with the Pulse but it was the best ball that I never shot an honor score with. Great ball, great shell, great versatility and was more durable for me than the average.

I would love to have a 16lb red mission unknown,i have a black mission unknown and i love it,my best ball that i had from 1996 until it cracked in 2012 was green track synergy pearl i was throwing that ball until it cracked

Omg. X caliber Was my first reactive resin ball and ball and then I bought four of them at the time and just left three of them in box because i love the ball so much and it was the best ball. I ever used The Excalibar was the boys in my first perfect game with and the original game breaker was the one I used for my second and last but not least the orange storm I forgot which model it was was my third perfect game

Was hoping you'd bring Andrew in for the modern balls. The dude is an insane bowler

No mikasa anywhere? Hahah I wouldn't spend the thousands either. Great content and trip to my childhood and beyond. Thanks for the great series gents

Vapor Zone seems like a really obscure ball which i had

Awesome videos guys! 2 questions regarding the looks: 1. Why did ball makers stop making burgundy balls? They’re stunning! 2. Why are all the new swirl/pearl style patterns more ‘open’ than the older ones? The older ones have far more detail and seem like more time & smaller swirls were put into them. They look so much better than newer swirled design balls. Is the difference a time/cost cutting measure, or is there performance differences?

Another unique ball you may want in a collection is the Omega

and what about the iconic failure quantum helix 😮 wauw. Man so great to see al those old benchmark balls ❤

everybody and their momma had the power torq. I went with the Track Nuke. it was sweet. and, cant forget the Brunswick XS Marshmallow

Omg I had that teal rhino pro that thing was a beast

I really want the navy hammer and pink purple where can i buy them

Red Triton Heat.... good ball

Also really could have done a whole video on just the balls that really changed the the industry

I still own my Turbo X along with 2 track Triton ocean blue and track synergy Pearl . I think the Triton and synergy were also a reactive balls

Do you think there has been any significant advancement to bowling balls over the last 10-15 years? I've recently started bowling seriously, as a boy 8-12 (32 now) bowled with my dad and grandpa every Sunday. Unfortunately, they don't have high school bowling for boys in my area so my attention was directed towards other sports and up until probably 8 months ago I'd only bowled maybe 20 times over 20 years. Now that I've dove head first back into bowling I can't say I've noticed much of a difference in terms of overall performance between the new balls and the old balls. I have an old zone which was my dad's while I was growing up and it still knocks them down. It's interesting. I've stuck with the proven since my return to bowling in building my arsenal.... the phaze II, hy road, purple hammer, black widow, zen.... it's just interesting to me how many balls manufacturers are producing year to year these days.

I think I had 35 of those balls!!! None of the Infernos, but from the xcaliber on, I had almost all of those...🙃🤩😍

I went through a couple Virtual Gravitys also...they were incredible balls, especially fresh out of the box...just seemed to die after 6 months or so.

Turbo X was my baby, until it was stolen while i was in the restroom 😫😫😫🤯

Ive got 2 ebonite signatures new undrilled. Late 70's. Could u put a vallue on it? And a red xcalibur?

Storm X-Factor got me really into bowling. "What?! This ball smells like strawberries!" Sounds silly, I know, but it sure worked.

I tossed a bunch of these. One that I had alot of success with that wasn't mentioned was the Storm El Nino, and the pearl El Nino. I am a bowling ball slut and will toss ANYthing that works for me. Right now I tote a Columbia Blue Dot (spare ball), a Hammer Pink Widow, a Brunswick Upper Cut, and a 10 year old ball that my driller/coach has been trying to get me to throw away for 5 years by a company called Elite. The ball is the Gold Label. I have told him I am willing to spend, so if he can come up with something current that does what that one does, I will buy it...my go to on the burn. It knows how to delay, and it can turn the corner when the time comes. I find most current stuff starts too early for my slow, slow, slow old man speed.

You mentioned Mo Pinel, but didn't showcase any Radical balls! Radical redefined the hook rating scale after breaking the previous hook ratings several times! I love the collection, but it just doesn't feel complete without the monster hooking balls Radical put out. Also, how about adding the first "clear" ball ever produced? Or maybe getting the one in the movie that Big Ern throws? Ha ha