The Hero is one of three releases in the Brunswick Advanced line for the upcoming 2019 league season. It joins the two new Jagged Edges, the Cutting Edges, and the Fearless in this line. The Hero uses the same Activator Plus 2.0 Pearl cover that was used on the Vintage Vapor Zone. The change from that release is that the Hero uses a symmetrical core design. While we saw similar length between the Hero and the Vintage Vapor Zone, we saw more angularity, back end motion, and total hook out of the Vintage. The benefit of the Hero’s smoother motion was versatility, as we could use it across all four of our test oil patterns with the box finish.

We had the best overall reaction from the Hero on our medium oil pattern. Stroker and Tweener liked the Hero just a little more than Cranker on the fresh. They liked being able to play closer to the track, and they experienced better pin carry than Cranker. Stroker’s ball was on the 18 board off his hand, crossing around the third arrow and getting out to eight at the breakpoint. Tweener was only two boards ...