With Style to Spare

Movie critics may sneer at “Kingpin,” but bowlers nationwide revere the 1996 Farrelly brothers comedy for inspiring one of the sport’s more frivolous trends: the stylized ball.

Before that milestone, the “glitter ball” of the late 1960s and 1970s, with its iridescent surface, was as exciting as bowling balls got. But “Kingpin’s” rose ball--a transparent sphere with a bouquet of miniature red roses suspended within--and the similar skull ball from 1999’s “Mystery Men,” generated enough interest among bowlers that manufacturers took notice.

In the years since, designs have grown increasingly playful, from smiley faces to beer bottles. Dragons and tarantulas and such icons usually relegated to the tattoo parlor are showing up too. Some models are performance-driven, but most are just glossed-up collector’s items.

“I went into the store, I said, ‘That’s a cool ball,’ and I bought it,” said Scott Binder, who two weeks ago became the proud owner of a “golf” ball--that is, a bowling ball encasing a giant dimpled golf ball. It was a perfect fit for Binder, who visits Anaheim’s Concourse Bowling Center four times a week and watches golfer Tiger Woods on TV every weekend he’s on.

The question isn’t why anyone would want to bowl with a giant eyeball; the question is are there enough people who want to?

With enough letters, calls and e-mails, a bowling ball company might try anything.

“It’s entirely up to the manufacturers themselves,” said Quin Barron, manager of the Bowlers Depot pro shop at Regal Lanes in Orange County. “If they get enough interest nationally and if it’s feasible for them, they’ll go ahead and do it.” With the exceptions of the rose and skull balls, both of which were sold in limited editions (although the skull ball pops up fairly often on EBay), most designs are mass-produced and sell for $120 to $140.

Ebonite remains the dominant manufacturer of balls of the trapped-in-glass variety, in which a three-dimensional object is sealed in the core and protected by a transparent polyester shell. Ebonite’s OPTYX line boasts the skull ball, a Budweiser ball (a Bud Light version is also on tap) and a stars-and-stripes Yankee Doodle ball, whose sales shot up after Sept. 11. The manufacturer Storm struck upon the popular sports ball-within-a-ball concept. Track took the sports collectible idea to an extreme with the Sugar Ray Leonard ball, which contains a replica of the boxer’s red glove as well as an engraving of his signature.

Brunswick’s Viz-A-Ball line took stylization in a more efficient direction with its laser-imaging machine, which allows designs of boundless intricacy, such as Disney or Looney Tunes characters. Because the images are imprinted directly onto its surface, a Viz-A-Ball is usually available in a far greater selection of weights and sizes than most trapped-in-glass balls, which require a set amount of materials to achieve the right balance. For the same reason, a Viz-A-Ball’s exposed images are also more likely to scratch off over time--assuming you actually bowl with the decorated balls.

Whether a polished collector’s item belongs in the gutter with its more modest brethren is ultimately a question of sport versus style, though the two, like bowling and Budweiser, need not be mutually exclusive. If three tightly coiled, fiercely magnified venomous snakes invigorate your game, knock yourself out.

And a few pins, while you’re at it.