Brunswick Hopes New Viz-A-Ball Technology Strikes Bowlers Right Making The Old Game Hipper New printing method can put cartoon characters and logos into bowlers' hands.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: J. BONASIA

Brunswick Corp. has rolled out some new bowling balls which could be one of the sport's biggest breakthroughs since electronic pin-setters.

Thanks to a new, spherical printing process that Brunswick helped develop, the balls come adorned in many designs. Bowlers can choose from dozens of images, including Swiss cheese, leopard skin, a fish in a bowl, sports team logos and cartoon characters such as Tigger, Scooby-Doo and Tweety Bird. Other bowling balls have Coca-Cola and Miller Beer trademarks.

Brunswick hopes to make the staid old game hipper. The company is using a new e-commerce Web site to sell the balls.

In the past, bowling balls often came with engraved words, but not images. That changed with this year's release of the Viz-A-Ball, says Ron Addison, Brunswick's director of consumer marketing.

"We wanted to do something fun and innovative," Addison said. "This is now the standard for the fun ball."

Young folks are just one market for the Viz-A-Ball. Addison says corporate promotions could be big. Brunswick is negotiating with a Japanese firm that might buy 10,000 specially designed balls.