Obviously everyone here who has used their own ball is going to make that choice. Some people just do not understand how much the sport changes when you add in your own equipment. It would be like going for a long bike ride and asked should we just use the one size fits all city bike or your personal custom built carbon fiber bike? Both would be fun but one is obviously a better experience in terms of the sport. The bowling ball is fitted to your grip specifically and house balls are for the most part plastic so hooking the ball is sorta off the table making the whole game rather one dimensional. I generally do not bowl unless it is with my own equipment.

That being said there is such a thing as "reading the room". There can be situations where maybe you dont want to take things seriously and end up all using the same equipment and shoes. This shifts the focus to more of the comradery of the group rather than the sport. I was just thinking the other day that if I took someone on a date and we went to the bowling alley I would prob not bring my own equipment as the focus would be on the conversation... assuming of course that they also don't own their own equipment :)