Bowler Ratings

Pattern	St	Tw	Cr
Oily:	9.5	9.5	9
Medium:	8	8	7
Dry:	4	4	3
Sport:	7	7	7

Bowler ratings are from 1 to 10 in order of Stroker (ST), Tweener (TW), Cranker (CR)

General Info

Coverstock Specs
Brand:	Brunswick
Name:	Mastermind
Reviewed:	November 2013
Empty
Name:	Honor Roll Solid
Type:	Reactive Solid
Box Finish:	500 / 1500 SiaAir
Color:	Black / Blue / Orange
Empty
Core Specs
Name:	Mastermind Ultra Low RG
Type:	Asymmetrical
RG:	2.488
Diff:	0.052
Int. Diff:	0.015

For details on our standard test layouts, please click here.

The Mastermind is the latest Pro Performance release from Brunswick. It has a new core design and new coverstock. These two elements come together to give users giant amounts of hook on heavy oil conditions.

It was no shock to any of our testers that a ball this rough and aggressive would be best on our heavy oil test pattern. Stroker and Tweener felt more comfortable on this pattern with the Mastermind than they had with any previous Brunswick release. This ball made up serious ground for them, even on shots leaked right that usually have no chance of striking on this pattern. Cranker liked the ball as well, but it did not take too many shots before he was seeing too much hook.

Tweener and Stroker also liked this ball best on the medium test pattern. They were able to open up the lane because of how aggressive it is. Again, it did not take many shots for Cranker to run into too much friction and he went to the spinner to raise the finish to a 4000 SiaAir. The smoother surface gave him the little extra length he needed for this pattern.

The aggressive nature of this ball gave us a good look on our sport pattern. We were able to start farther right, which allowed us to make small moves left and really break this pattern down nicely. Each tester had the confidence to know the ball was going to get back to the pocket, even on shots missed a little wide. We left it at the box finish for the entire time on this pattern.

The short test pattern was the only one to give this ball trouble. We added compound and polish to all three test balls, but it was still too much hook for any of our test staff.

Performance Ratings

Name	Value	Comments
Torque	7.5	The Mastermind provides a sneaky amount of movement at the breakpoint for a ball at such a rough box finish and a low RG core. Bowlers on heavy volumes who want a ball with some movement down lane will like the reaction the Mastermind provides.
Length	11	The rough box finish is officially 500 followed by 1500 SiaAir pads. This rough finish easily creates friction, even on our slickest test pattern.
Back End	17	This ball can still move when it gets out of the oil pattern toward the end of the lane. This motion will come in very handy on heavier patterns.
Total Hook	55	The Mastermind is right up there with the biggest hooking Brunswick products in recent history. This ball will be the one to go to when nothing else in the bag is creating enough movement.

Strengths

The ability of this ball to create traction is its biggest strength. We have not seen anything close to this much hook from Brunswick besides the Paranormal Aura.

Weaknesses

Dry lanes will have this ball in the bag quickly. There are plenty of weaker options than trying to tame down this hooking monster.

Overall Summary

The Mastermind is the Brunswick ball to own for heavy oil patterns. This ball can hook on anything.

Click below to see a comparison table of each pair of bowling balls shown:

To compare the Brunswick Mastermind to any other bowling ball(s), please use our Bowling Ball Comparison tool.

Brunswick Mastermind Bowling Ball Review