Captain Consistency!

Coming off of the previous day's less-than-stellar ABT effort, I was anxious to get back onto the lanes for a chance to rebuild some shaken confidence and get some feedback on the surface changes I had made to my Brunswich Nirvana and Mastermind Einstein. All in all, I saw encouraging results on both fronts.

Game 1

X X 9/ 7/ 9/ X 9/ X X X9- - 223

This was the first game with my Nirvana at a 4000-grit surface (the box finish is 1500), and I liked what I saw. The smoother surface helped the ball push through the fronts and mids a whole lot easier than it did before, and the backend increased even when feeding it further right than normal. I didn notice the need to come around the side of the ball more to get it to retain, but when I did, the ball gave me all I needed and then some. Aside from the six strikes, I saw a shaker 7-pin in the third, an airball (7-count) in the fourth, and 10-pins in the 5th and 7th.

Game 2

53 X 7/ 9/ X 9/ X X X XX9 - 226

Not wanting to continue chasing the shot way inside, I decided to switch to my Mastermind Einstein, which I was using at 1000 grit for the first time. After fixing the alignment error that led to a Greek church (4-6-7-9-10) in the first, I was in and around the pocket the rest of the way. Other than a poor release in the third, only a 9-pin, 2-pin, and 10-pin kept me from striking the rest of the way, which led to 226.

Game 3

X 7/ X 9/ X X X 9/ 7/ XXX - 226

The Einstein continued to look good, so stuck with it in Game 3. Sadly, my release led to a few lackluster shots along the way. Still, I was able to stay out of trouble and card 8 strikes and four spares to notch another 226 and a solid 675 for the night.

Overall, I was happy with what I saw out of the Nirvana and Einstein at the new surfaces. I think I will add a little bit of polish to the Nirvana just to see if that will keep it usable just a bit longer on this house shot. The Einstein will stay at 1000 because it gave me exactly what I wanted, smooth, strong roll that kept me away from the flippy backend reaction that leads to so many 4-9's in this house. All in all, it wasn't a night to go crazy about, but it was solid enough to be content.