Things to Do in Elgin

Opening weekend is a time for renewed hope, reordered batting lineups, and refreshing scents of glorious gunpowder in the sky. Catch the Flyers on May 28 for post-game fireworks after the hometown bats light up the Gary SouthShore RailCats, or pay homage to babies named Ruth as you run the bases with the kids on Family Day May 30. On May 31, remix Memorial Day grill-outs by downing two dogs off the bat, and score dollar dogs throughout game. Armed with a starter kit of ballpark eats and ballgame spheres, show the youngsters how to properly grip a fastball, a frank, and a cardboard sign that irrefutably proves fanmanship.

Evil Intentions Haunted House evokes the details of its site’s checkered past to conjure the stuff of nightmares. The area the haunted house now occupies has been plagued with creepy occurrences for more than a century. Since the 1890s the expanse has been used as the premises of a coffin company, a stomping ground for escapees from a nearby mental institution, and a gathering place for the occult’s summer softball league.

Starting in 2005, the Evil Intentions Haunted House team slowly transformed this troubled spot into a haunted house that comes alive with shrieks once night falls. Visitors can leave their cars in the free parking lot and gather in the indoor waiting area before exploring more than 20,000 square feet of tortuous halls filled with dark decor and costumed frights. Demonic clowns, faceless butchers, and cleaver-wielding lunatics creep around corners and leap out of hidden alcoves, scaring both passing patrons and the actual ghosts who occupy the building.

If you're all dressed up in chainmail with no place to go, today's deal is an excuse to wear grandma's mail hood and mittens out of the house. Today's side deal to Medieval Times gets you an adult ticket and royalty upgrade to the sensuous four-course feast and live show, featuring horse-mounted combat, falconry, and mace-wielding professionals, for $30, a $65.55 value for adults, including tax. Your royalty upgrade gets you preferred seating in the second and third rows, a banner for cheering on your knight, a behind-the-scenes DVD, and a commemorative program. Though Medieval Times' website offers free royalty upgrades with the purchase of a regular ticket and offers tickets as low as the Groupon price when you purchase multiples, your Groupon combines these deals without requiring you to purchase multiples or limiting the showtimes you can attend.

The Slaughter’s roots are planted firmly in Chicago soil. Since its founding in 2006, the franchise has consistently opened roles for the city’s gridiron stars, both on the field and in the front office. This Windy City loyalty has been apparent before the team even played its first snap; Slaughter is a nod to the city’s working class and to the old Chicago stockyards.

In 2009, the Slaughter rewarded the Second City with a championship during an undefeated season as part of the Continental Indoor Football League. A year later, the team joined the Indoor Football League, where it remains today, playing all of its home games at Sears Centre Arena. There, frequent promotions help create a party-like atmosphere, and spacious concourses let fans spread out and play their own pickup games using wadded-up slices of deep-dish pizza as the ball.

Beneath the night sky's smattering of stars, Keno Drive In projects double features of the latest first-run films. Customers tune car radios to 88.5 FM or attach celebrity impersonators to their car windows to hear audio synchronized to the narratives unfurling onscreen. Throughout the evening, moviegoers can chow down on Keno Drive-in's concessions or dump their own charcoal into the theater's onsite grill to simmer feasts for friends gathered in the picnic area.

World Domination Events boosts adrenaline levels across the country by placing guests behind the wheel of high-end exotic cars. Customers climb into sleek Lamborghinis and Ferraris and send them hurtling down the turns of a racetrack or spinning through a designated autocross course to test horsepower-handling skills. Meanwhile, corporate packages allow companies to boost employee morale or settle conference-room scheduling conflicts with invigorating laps in a luxury ride.