First Impressions
Ah, from the jump, the motion of the 900 Global Origin Ex is simply lovely. Racing fans will get this. 😉

Tamer Elbaga (Lefty)
Style: Tweener
RPM: 330 rpm
PAP: 5 & 3/8 up
Average Speed: 18.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: low
Axis rotation: medium/high
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 45 x 4.5 x 40

Bryan Hoffman (Righty)
Style: Stroker
RPM: 280 rpm
PAP: 4 1/2 & 1 1/2 up
Average Speed: 18.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: high
Axis rotation: medium
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 55 x 5 x 40

Tyler Church (Righty)
Style: Power Player
RPM: 425 rpm
PAP: 5 1/2 & 1/2 up
Average Speed: 19 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: med
Axis rotation: medium
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 55 x 5.5 x 45

“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.”

Pattern
THS: 44ft, 25.8ml 12:1 ratio

Specs
The 900 Global Origing Ex uses the Ellipse Asymmetric A.I. Core inside the RBB 89 Solid Reactive coverstock.

15 pound = RG of 2.48, diff of .050, mb of .020
14 pound = RG of 2.49, diff of .050, mp of .020
Coverstock finish: 2000 grit abralon

Tweener’s Take
Well I gave away my obvious enjoyment of tossing this ball but let’s get into more objective information on the new 900 Global Origin EX. We’ve seen the core before on the Origin pearl version. The core is a big tumbly rolly core. I didn’t feel like it did anything crazy or spectacular in the pearl cover but I think it can be special in this new solid cover. 900 Global says it’s a clean cover but also not hard off the friction and the early heavy rolling core leans into that concept. What that means is this isn’t necessarily the piece you want to cover a ton of boards. Rather, it’s a ball you can use from more direct trajectories and allow you to get a reasonably heavy arcing roll that doesn’t cut off the friction. This ball fits in the Strong Defined but you might say, hey it doesn’t look “angular”. Remember, defined is typically the core forcing the issue and in this case, the core forces the earlier roll. Now you can probably slot this in Strong Control from a usability standpoint and I’d like to get into that. There are nuances when it comes to strong solid asymetrics. Sometimes you get balls that show off their strength by reading early and making a strong arc. The Onyx Jackal from Motiv is this style. These shapes don’t appear lazy ever. They sometimes simply appear too strong in other words, hard to keep on the right side of the pocket. On the other end of the spectrum, you have strong balls that do it vie a big core but the match up to the cover cause them to read early and burn up or create a smooth arc. For those type of balls, if the pattern doesn’t have enough volume, it’ll actually just go fairly straight, looking weak which is not really the case. The Roto Grip RST Hyperdrive is more like this. The Origin EX from 900 Global fits right in the middle of those 2. Not so hard when it goes and not so lazy when it sees too much friction. It’s kind of a goldilocks and that made it predictable and very easy to strike on this house shot which wasn’t the case with the Hyperdrive for example.

Power Player’s Persective
A lot of what I had to say really applies to what Tyler saw. Pretty much all of it to be honest so no need to repeat it all. Tyler saw the same thing, a ball that wasn’t too difficult to get downlane but seemed to have a predictable strong arc that gave you confidence it was going to roll up. And even while it doesn’t always look like it grabs the lane hard, you felt really good about the light hit energy it was going to put through the pins. Just to validate this thought, I also tested on a 39 ft, 30ml flat Junior Gold pattern and it had more length than I expected but that smooth strong arc that when hitting light scattered the pins really nicely. Tyler has been looking for a replacement for his RST X1 for some time now and he was really excited about hte RST Hyperdrive. However, that was was way more tumbly than expected and he likes to cover some boards. And as I described in the earlier comments, it just wasn’t the shape he was looking for. In comes the 900 Global Origin EX and with no expectations, he immediately thought, huh, this might be the replacement for my RST X1 finally. I think that’s high praise when you feel like a new ball can replace a stalwart. He hasn’t used it in a while as it’s old now, but this may revive that spot in his bag.

Stroker’s Stance
Next we have Bryan and yes, he had the same feeling and reaction Tyler and I had. I have to say I sometimes am surprised by what Bryan sees compared to Tyler and I. There are ball reaction types that I’m surprised don’t work and vice-versa. But I’ve learned to expect the unexpected. Sometimes the smoother arcier shapes for us just don’t have enough oomph for Bryan. But The SuperNova for example, works great for him and was just so arcy and too strong through the fronts for me. But with the Origin EX, the ball just worked. He was able to stay close to the friction line around 10 at the arrows and had a strong arc to the pocket. It looked nice especially as balls that allow him to straddle the friction line, really tend to look good. It demonstrates that the Origin EX does get a reasonable length despite the 2000 abaralon and being a solid. However, the surprise was as he kept moving in, the ball kept going. There tends to be a limit for arcy type balls in terms of how much angle you want but Bryan was able to go all the way to the 3rd arrow on this 44ft pattern and had no issues getting the Origin EX back and through the pins. It just gave him confidence that he had a 5 board window through the fronts to play with.

Bottom Line
This is obviously a first impression overall with less than 10 games but from what we all saw, this looks to be a very nice addition. Not super far from the Reality that was so beloved. And I love the red/yellow swirl that looks more like a solid color going down lane. It kind of reminds me of the Ebonite Mission for those that might remember that gem.

Thanks for watching.