Bowling in Asbury Park

Surrounding its 24 oil-slicked lanes with exposed-brick walls, an arcade, and private VIP lounges, Harlem Lanes complements the thrill of striking down pins with the relaxed atmosphere of a swanky nightclub. Anchoring the two-story space, a sports bar serves drinks and food under the glow of flat-screen TVs, and couches throughout the facility allow bowlers to kick up their feet after celebrating strikes with mock tap dances. The ambience gets funky on Friday and Saturday, when live DJs and glow-in-the-dark bowling loosening up straitlaced pins.

This newly renovated, family-friendly pin farm features 42 lanes with automatic scoring and automatic bumpers for those still on their training pins. The original 1960s vintage psychedelic color scheme remains, perfectly framing your quest to become the highest-scoring roller in the whole neon universe. Refurbishments include a brand-new snack bar for refreshments and a freshly shined up cocktail bar for adult fruit juices. The entire facility is non-smoking, preserving precious, performance-enhancing air. See here for lane hours.

Inside Whitestone Lanes, patrons engage in a never-ending pin barrage with bowling accommodations available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Forty-eight lanes span the facility, providing ample room for groups to bowl comfortably while serious strikers concentrate on gutter-hugging curves. Large, flat-screen televisions display scores and endearments for trusty spheres high above each lane, and a full café, bar, and lounge area keeps pin snipers stocked with hearty concessions and fast refreshments.

Partially demolished and built anew to look old, The Gutter couples its eight gleaming wood lanes with a vintage Brunswick scoring system, ensuring that you'll get both a thumb workout and a healthy dose of mathercise. Beyond the nostalgia, there's substance, too: the facilities operate on 100% wind power, which means bowlers are more than welcome to contribute to the lighting bill by making airy boasts after rolling a strike. While you can certainly top off your pitcher with the finest Natural Light, there are plenty of craft beers flowing as well.

Nationwide Bowling Centers orchestrates a cacophonous symphony of clanking pins and cheering bowlers at 11 modern bowling centers located throughout New Jersey. Center size varies from the Hudson-Bayonne location where 60 lanes with automatic scoring, a grill, sports bar, and arcade games accommodate armadas of bowlers to Garden Palace, which houses 16 lanes, a bar, and a snack shop. At all locations, staffers host birthday parties and corporate events and organize leagues for competitive bowlers or people who just like to chuck heavy objects as hard as they can.

Under the umbrella of The Bowling Proprietors' Association of North Jersey, an eclectic group of alleys work together to fill the region with the thunder of scattering pins. At most of Bowling Proprietors' bowling centers, bowlers keep track of pummeled pins with automatic scoring, and bumpers, which arrive at the call of a button, keep balls on course without filling the gutters with retired VCRs. Snack bars at some locations bolster ravenous bowlers, and game rooms in select centers keep hand-eye coordination in peak condition. Free WiFi is available in some centers so that winners can exercise bragging rights.