This is a review I’m going to offer a word of caution about up front:

With its new Madcap core, the Roto Grip DARE DEVIL has the lowest RG symmetrical core ever offered in the HP3 line, which also features the HAYWIRE and HY-WIRE. However, the RG is 2.47 for 16-pounders and 2.48 for 15-pounders, but 2.53 for 14-pounders, which is the weight I’ve been throwing for a couple of years now.

Still, I would say the characteristic that stands out the most to me about the DARE DEVIL is that it’s a pearl that doesn’t “squirt” for those 2-8-10 and 5-count washout leaves, which is what you’d figure with low RG.

That also may be impacted by the drilling I chose: pin in the palm, which results in an early and smooth roll.

The numbers with my PAP of 4 inches over and 5/8 up are 4 1/16 pin-PAP, 4 7/8 mb-PAP and 3 15/16 pin buffer.

I historically have had a lot of success with that drilling on short patterns like PBA Cheetah, and didn’t have anything in my arsenal with that since giving my orange HUSTLE to a friend recently.

And the DARE DEVIL has given me exactly what I expected with that drilling: a niche ball that fills a hole in my arsenal nicely.

I’ve used it on a couple of short patterns, including a very tough PWBA Tour one in our local Sport league, and found it to rebound nicely off the dry without flipping uncontrollably. And when I get it in to the short, but heavy concentration of oil seen in many short patterns, it picks up the roll and doesn’t squirt.

The Amped pearl reactive cover comes 1,500-grit polished, but as is my standard procedure with box shiny balls I rubbed the ball with an old 4,000 Abralon pad after drilling to knock the gloss off a little, as that tends to give me too much skid.

My DARE DEVIL also has worked well on some house shots because it tames down the wet-dry — although if the middle oil truly is a puddle, it’s definitely not the right choice for me.

I have seen others hit the cover with rougher pads and the DARE DEVIL rolls fine, but I have not done it myself.

The DARE DEVIL definitely is a ball that keeps the pins low when it goes through them — you might see more flat 10s than some stronger balls, but also less solid 9s.

Again, the DARE DEVIL will make a really strong move when it exits the oil; I just wouldn’t call it flippy.

I think the DARE DEVIL is a fabulous choice for people who want to put a pearl in their arsenal but struggle with skid-flip reactions in pearls. It also would be good for the player who mostly uses strong solids and hybrids, but wants to add a pearl that will get into a roll but still make a strong downlane reaction.

I would say it’s best for medium conditions, could be decent on heavier oil with a rough surface, and would be the best choice on dry conditions only for those with high ball speed.

It also should be a good choice for Sport and Challenge patterns that have transitioned where a pearl would help a ball skid, but too much skid-flip is a negative.

Overall, I would say the DARE DEVIL hooks more than the hybrid HY-WIRE. It somewhat reminds of the Storm OPTIMUS in motion, just not as strong.