Brunswick Kingpin Bowling Ball Review (2023 Update)

If there’s one piece of sporting equipment that’s the most overlooked by the majority of people, it’s the bowling ball. Using the right ball for you could be the difference between winning and failing miserably, so it’s important to find yourself a great bowling ball. 

We’re not talking about checking the racks for a public bowling ball at your local alley, but instead investing in your own ball to bring with you to every game. If you opt to compete in tournaments, your professional bowling ball will pay for itself in no time. 

The Brunswick Kingpin bowling ball has been reinvented and is better than ever before, thanks to a new core, outer core filler, and coverstock. That’s a lot of change for the better, in our eyes. 

Today we’ll be reviewing the Brunswick Kingpin to see whether the new technological advancements have worked in its favor, or whether it was too much too fast and the launch fell flat. We know you’ll be wanting to know more about this intriguing bowling ball, so let’s get right into it. 

Specification

  • Level: Professional
  • Weight: 12 to 16 pounds
  • Length: 100
  • Hook: 300
  • Color: Black, blue, and purple mixture
  • Core: Asymmetrical Ultra Low RG
  • Finish: 500/1500 SiaAir Micro Pad
  • RG (at 15lb): 2.483
  • Differential (at 15lb): 0.055
  • Asy (at 15lb): 0.020 
  • Coverstock: Reactive Solid Enhanced Composite Adhesion
  • Flare potential: Moderate/significant
  • Lane condition recommended: Heavy
  • Warranty: One year limited

Features

The Core

At first thought, some people may assume that the core of a bowling ball is in the shape of a sphere, however, this is absolutely incorrect. There are a few different shapes that the core could be, but the Brunswick Kingpin comes with an asymmetrical core. 

Asymmetrical cores come in a range of shapes and sizes, with differing levels of intermediate differential. Due to this core, the Brunswick Kingpin offers a highly angular ball motion. This can take a few throws to get used to, and the angle is never quite the same. 

For this reason, you’ll need to be able to determine the angle before even throwing the ball. This is a tricky skill to perfect, and this is one reason as to why the Brunswick Kingpin is highly recommended for professional players only. 

The core has an Ultra Low RG, or Radius of Gyration, which means that a bigger portion of the ball’s mass is compacted in the center of the ball. This promotes the ball to roll earlier throughout the beginning of the lane rather than simply gliding. This allows a better performance on an oily lane.  

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Coverstock

The coverstock is considered the most important part of a bowling ball, and it’s been found that it’s actually responsible for up to 80% of the performance of the ball. The Brunswick Kingpin’s coverstock is made from Reactive Solid resin, which offers much more friction with the bowling lane than other types of coverstock. 

This allows the ball to impact the pins with all the more force, increasing the overall performance and allowing you to hit more pins down. There are three types of reactive resins, and the solid version is said to garner the most friction. 

For this reason, it’s a great feature that the Brunswick Kingpin has such a coverstock. You’ll be able to benefit from a smooth glide and a hard-hitting final impact at the end of the lane.  

The Outer

The cover of the Brunswick Kingpin is 500/1500 SiaAir Micro Pad, which offers the ball quite a rough surface in comparison to other types of bowling balls that you’d typically find on the sides of the bowling lanes. 

This is particularly beneficial for oily lanes and works well with the reactive resin coverstock to gain enough friction to maintain great control down the lane. This strong finish will allow your bowling ball to remain on course as to where you influenced it to travel. 

This outer finish simply works with both the core and the coverstock to offer you a great and high-quality and -performing bowling ball for a number of occasions. 

Required Maintenance

While these materials are great at helping improve your bowling performance, unfortunately, you cannot simply leave the ball in your bag until the next time you need it. There is a maintenance routine that you need to follow to ensure that your Brunswick Kingpin remains on top form.

The coverstock is rather porous and therefore needs to be cleaned thoroughly to ensure that nothing gets stuck in the material. This could affect how well the ball is able to grab onto the lane and create that much-needed friction. The impact at the end of the lane may also suffer from poor cleaning. 

Reacting to Different Surfaces

As we’ve already mentioned, the Brunswick Kingpin is a great bowling ball for oily lanes. However, it’s not as well-performing on dry lanes. If you don’t know where you’re going to be playing beforehand - perhaps you’re playing an away game in a tournament - you may want to take both your Brunswick Kingpin and another bowling ball that works best on dry lanes. 

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Many professional bowlers carry multiple bowling balls around with them to all of their games. This is because you often don’t know the condition of the lane. Even if it’s your usual lane, the condition may not always be the same. 

What We Loved

Brunswick Kingpin is an excellent hooking bowling ball, meaning it can hit those oil patterns such as breakpoint movements and backhand crashes. As long as you have a high-quality oil, this ball will not fail you in this aspect. Get ready to wow your peers with all of your new tricks! 

Moreover, just wait until you see how this bowling ball crashes into the pins at the end of the lane. Provided you use the best oil for the job, the maximum amount of pins are sure to be hit down - either by your ball or another falling pin. It’s like an explosion at the end of the lane. 

Brunswick bowling balls have been known to offer great performances like this, so it’s not surprising that this is just one of the many things we love about the Brunswick Kingpin bowling ball. 

The second thing we loved about the Brunswick Kingpin is the design and how this works in your favor. The core works with the coverstock, and this works with the outer casing to keep the ball calibrated and on track. 

All too often you line up a bowling ball perfectly for that trick shot, just to be let down by the ball’s inside mechanisms failing and throwing it off course. The powerful Brunswick Kingpin remains in line with where you want it to go and doesn’t let you down. 

What We Didn’t Like

Now, admittedly we don’t have much bad to say about the Brunswick Kingpin bowling ball, but there are a couple of things that we think could be altered to make the ball even more impressive. We’ll discuss these below. 

First of all, the Brunswick Kingpin is heavily influenced by the use of oil. The less oil you use, or the poorer quality of the oil, the worse the performance is going to be. It won’t necessarily be catastrophic, but the performance is certainly not going to be as good as if you were to use oil to your advantage. 

This ball is also targeted towards professional bowlers rather than beginners or intermediate players. We’d suggest that this is because of the particularly angular breakpoint shape. A beginner might fare better with a straight alternative, or any ball that offers a less angular shape. 

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Professional players will be able to get a better understanding of this quicker and be able to use it to their advantage, but beginners might not be able to do this very well. The hook pattern can be rather unpredictable when you don’t know what to look for. 

Pros

  • Asymmetrical core offers highly angular ball movements. 
  • The coverstock offers good friction for better control.
  • Rough outer shell keeps the ball on course for where you want it to go. 
  • Great bowling ball for oily lanes. 
  • Offers a nice impact with the pins for a better game performance.

Cons

  • It doesn’t work as efficiently on dry lanes. 
  • Only suitable for professional players. 
  • Heavily influenced by the use of oil on the lane. 
  • Requires thorough maintenance to keep the quality high. 

Final Say

Overall, we think that the Brunswick Kingpin Bowling Ball is a great option for professional players who are looking for a new ball to take to oily lanes. All of the components work well to give you a great performance time after time. If you don’t mind taking the time to maintain your ball properly, this will be a great addition to your bowling gear. 

One thing we will reiterate is that many bowling professionals carry a selection of bowling balls with them to unknown lanes in anticipation of the surprise lane condition. Bowling balls that assure they are for all lane types usually aren’t and your performance will suffer. 

For this reason, we think that the Brunswick Kingpin is an excellent choice for your oily lane bowling ball, however, don’t expect it to perform as well on a dry lane. 

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