Craig McCaw and former international Shaun Scott won their five games at Alexandra. The pair won four games comfortably and were pushed only by Southland's Craig Merrilees and Brian Harvey, before winning 20-15.
Dunedin won the six-team contest with 49 points and was followed by Central Otago 34, Southland 33, South Canterbury 22, South Otago 20 and North Otago 10.
The Central Otago team was unbeaten with four wins and a 17-17 draw against North Otago's Hugh Catto, Bill Kingan and Peter Wylie.
World Bowls champion Mike Kernaghan won four of his five singles. His only loss was 24-23 to Howard O'Donnell (Central Otago).
O'Donnell also won four games, losing 25-24 to New Zealand junior representative Sheldon Bagrie-Howley (Southland).
The South Otago four of Brian Dodd, Blair Thomson, John Bisset and Noddy Thomson was unbeaten with three wins and draws against South Canterbury, 17-17, and Dunedin, 19-19.
The South Canterbury triples of Ross Hinton, Riche Kerr and former international Sean O'Neill had three wins, a 17-17 draw with South Otago's Bruce Campbell, Graeme Hill and Sandy McNoe and a 24-5 loss to Dunedin.
The new format with singles, pairs, triples and fours makes the contest more competitive and is a serious workout for all teams before the prestigious national sevens.
The heavy overnight rain did not affect the Alexandra green but it was different at nearby Clyde, where the green flooded and Sunday's play in the development event was cancelled.
Dunedin won with 27 points and was followed by South Canterbury 25, Central Otago 19 (differential plus 73), South Otago 19 (minus 33), North Otago 1.
Four teams won all their games with three wins in the development competition - the Dunedin pair of Brent McEwan and Jonty Horwell and triple of Paul King, Keri Rupene and Alan Augustson; the South Otago triple of Destry Pepper, Glenn Smith and Lindsay West and the South Canterbury pair of Travis Cook and Tom Tairoa.
