Understanding Brunswick Oil Patterns – Part 2

In the first part of this series, we discussed what a “unit of oil” is and how it is used. This will now allow us to better understand how Brunswick lane machines operate, which is the feature of this article. All of this background information is needed before we eventually move on to discussing Brunswick oil pattern sheets in the final installment of this series.

Introduction

There are many fantastic articles and videos from very credible sources available online that explain how Kegel lane machines operate and how to read their oil pattern sheets, which contain some key information about oil patterns themselves. Other manufacturers that produce lane machines that are used around the world do exist, though, and one of them is Brunswick. In particular, the machines of interest here are those that use Brunswick’s Direct+ Conditioning system, which first appeared on the Authority22 lane machines in the mid-2000s. Since then, machines such as the Envoy and MAX series have continued with this technology. Machines with this system are the choice for many bowling center proprietors, and they have been significantly used on the PBA Tour since 2006.

Compared to Kegel’s Sanction Technology machines, there seem to be significantly fewer resources available that go into detail on how Brunswick Direct+ Conditioning machines work and how to interpret the oil pattern information sheets that they produce. With that, the final two articles in this series hope to address that. Here, we will look at how the lane machine works and some of its quirky features. Next time, we will look at the oil pattern sheets and learn how to decipher the information on them.

We won’t get into a debate about which machine is better. Both have advantages and disadvantages, and both can do certain things that the other can’t. My own home bowling center has operated both systems over the past 20 years, and I’ve enjoyed using them both and bowling on the patterns that ...