The Only Rule is Hook It…

First Impressions
The Roto Grip No Rules is definitely a strong ball but yet still has a good amount of energy retention. It’s like a performance snow tire. It has tons of grip but lots of performance as well.

Our Tester:
Doug Scheidig
RPM: 325 rpm
PAP: 5 & 1 up
Average Speed: 15.75 mph
Axis tilt: medium
Axis rotation: medium

Doug is a member of the PBA, has cashed several times in PBA regionals, and has won several local tournaments. He also has 13 300 games and 3 800 series.

Thanks to Limerick Bowl in Limerick, PA.

“Keep in mind that coverstock accounts for 70% of ball reaction, but the core creates the dynamic shape of the reaction. Your driller will alter the shape to suit your game.”

Test Pattern:
40ft THS, 22ml, 10:1 ratio

Value
7.5/10
As usual these top dollar balls always get more scrutiny from us. They need oil or less hand or more speed. Since they tend to be more specific in use, their value takes a hit for the average bowler competing on house shots.

Specs
The Roto Grip No Rules uses the new Chaotic™ Core weight block along with a new coverstock known as Micro DNA™. Cover is finished with a 2000-grit pad out of box. For a 15lb ball, it has an RG of 2.51, diff of .053 and a high mass bias of .018.

Overall
8/10
The No Rules is the new alpha dog in Roto Grip’s lineup. Plain and simple, this is a strong ball. What ball will work when depends on the bowler’s characteristics like ball speed, tilt, rotation, etc. as well as the conditions faced. So on a typical medium condition, speed dominant bowlers will likely find more use with this ball for fresh shots. So if you have high speed and/or lower rev rate, this will be a better match for typical medium shots. If you a rev matched, like Doug is, this is a lot of ball for a medium condition. It is a ball he would much more likely keep for tight tournament conditions. If you are rev dominant, I’m not certain how you could use this ball at all on medium conditions with the out of box finish. All that being said, you can definitely adjust the coverstock to get more versatility out of it.
Now more specifically to ball reaction… The No Rules has good energy retention through the heads and mids. So unlike some heavy oil balls that hook at your feet, this ball has no issues storing energy. That means that when it hits dry it has lots of energy and lots of reaction. So it’s strong mid and down lane. This seems to be the hallmark of most Storm and Roto Grip pieces, for better or worse. Even the high end oilers have lots of downlane motion and the No Rules is no different. It also doesn’t completely quit when pushed way outside into the dry boards like many heavy oil balls.

Doug progressively moved in to see when the ball would finally lose its energy retention and stop carrying. He could the soft spot approaching the 5th arrow. The ball never thought about not turning over.
Compared to the Storm Hyper Cell, they covered the same amount of boards. In the end, these are actually very similar balls with similar ball reactions. The Hyper Cell was a little cleaner through the mids simply because the coverstock is not fresh like the No Rules. Compared to the Lock, they covered the same boards. The Lock is definitely cleaner and not as much ball. That would be more obvious on a heavier condition. Next to the Eternal Cell, again, same board coverage. However, Eternal Cell was like a dream to throw on this condition next to the No Rules simply because it’s weaker cover allows it to match up much better.

On the shots that didn’t make the cut, you can see more about the ball reaction. Any slight misses to the inside led to high or through the nose shots. Misses to the outside were more forgiving with this ball.  The extra shots give you a visual of this.

Overall, The No Rules is worthy of holding Roto Grip’s top spot. It’s aggressive for sure and has good energy retention characteristics for such a strong piece.

Digitrax

Roto Grip No Rules = Dark Blue
Storm Lock = Red
Roto Grip Eternal Cell = Maroon
Roto Grip Hyper Cell = Light Blue

The Digitrax shows us some subtle differences we might not otherwise pick up just by eye. It also helps confirm our thoughts. The No Rules had a 6.6 degree entry angle which is plenty but then the Digitrax shows us that the Hyper Cell, Storm Lock, and Eternal Cell had 8.5 degrees entry angle. These balls all appeared by eye to have more length than the No Rules, but in fact, the breakpoint distance were all very similar. The difference was how much cleaner they were in the mids which actually had their breakpoints go further outside. That also lead to the higher entry angles. You could also see the higher angularity to the pocket from the Hyper Cell and Lock over the No Rules, mostly due to the fresh coverstock overpowering the core and smoothing it out just a bit.