Things to Do in Berkeley Heights

At Strikeforce Sports' 60,000-square-foot indoor arena, players test their stealth during close-quarters battle. But the competition doesn't end there. The facility also contains a training facility, where players hone their airsoft skills, and the complex features a shop fully stocked with everything from airsoft guns to lasers to tactical gear. Players can rest and refuel between rounds in the lounge, which features a PlayStation, bar, restaurant, and live feeds from the field. Kids can also get in on the fun with Nerf parties that include a dedicated staffer.

Since its beginnings in 1980, Staten Island Fencing Club has developed the skills of collegiate athletes and Olympic hopefuls under the guidance of head coach and founder Steve Khinoy, a Johns Hopkins PhD with more than 30 years of coaching experience. In 2010, the club—once relegated to college cafeterias and church basements—took up permanent residence at Staten Island Fencing Center, a full-time facility as bright and spacious as the Man in the Moon's front yard, complete with fencing strips, an armory, and a pro shop. There, Dr. Khinoy cultivates an atmosphere of camaraderie, teaching both novice and advanced swordsmen to master the Olympic and NCAA sport's triumvirate of blades: foils, sabers, and épées.

Beyond the center's one-hour introductory lessons, regular courses stretch for several weeks, during which competitors learn the strategies and fancy footwork necessary to best opponents on the piste and during freestyle dance contests. Summertime day camps and clinics sharpen slashing technique with five hours of daily instruction that include warm-ups, basic drills, and individual lessons. The staff also hosts parties for birthdays or other celebrations, in which guests practice the art of dueling amid cake, refreshments, and bouquets of colorful balloons shrieking in terror.

Twenty-two years ago, Mark and Lynn Zientek started New Jersey Partyworks as a small, family-run operation whose costumed characters and clowns entertained at parties, barbecues, and gatherings. Today, the business outfits small soirees as well as big-time special events with rental amusement rides, moonbounces, tents, slides, and interactive games and obstacle courses. Staff members oversee all the rides and revelry, backed by weekly trainings from managers certified in nationally recognized safety regulations and equipment maintenance as well as balloon-animal taxonomy. The company's troupe of live entertainers now includes DJs, stilt walkers, magicians, and caricaturists who help ring in special occasions for crowds of laughing kids and grownups alike.