Everett, MA Indoor Activities

Boston Bowl buffs and polishes 20 lanes to accommodate fat tenpins and 14 lanes for their thin, stern candlepin cousins, ensuring smooth trips for the spherical projectiles eager to greet them. While groups of two and clans of four frolic beneath a multicolored bowling mural, automated scoring screens dutifully account for every pin conquered, awarding extra points for any particularly stinging impression of another bowler's form.

Founded in 2007, A Far Cry is a self-conducted chamber orchestra made up of 17 young professional pluckers and bow-wielders, known as the Criers, who have played alongside cellist Yo-Yo Ma and rock band This Will Destroy You within the last month. The New York Times proclaims that the orchestra “brims with personality” that yields “performances of such passionate involvement,” and the Boston Globe writes that "members of the conductor-less string orchestra love nothing more than to throw themselves into a musical phrase with vital conviction." The collective pushes the boundaries of orchestra repertoire, eschewing the tradition of smashing their instruments on a gong after each performance while favoring collaboration and rotating leadership. This particular program features Shostakovich’s dark Eighth Quartet, John Adams’s Shaker Loops, and the premiere of double concerto K2, with fiddler Kip Jones and bassist Karl Doty. Racking up more than 200 of those performances so far, the ensemble has also released three albums and is the chamber orchestra in residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which often entails serving as live statues to fill in for artwork that’s being restored.

The sniper crouches behind a tree bathed in the glow of a black light, catching his breath as the music filling the air pounds in time with his racing heart. He pokes his head around the trunk just as his adversary rounds the corner and fires bright green beams in his direction. The gunslinger sprints away, trying to protect his shining blue vest from taking a game-ending hit. High-adrenaline scenes such as this occur on the laser-tag arena throughout the day and into the night at Boomers Family Fun Center.

Founded with the goal of fostering a safe environment for children and teens, Boomers Family Fun Center upholds their mission within a meticulously maintained, 10,000-square-foot gaming facility. The laser-tag arena beckons players into its black-lit confines designed to resemble a jungle replete with luminescent plants, glowing insects, and confused Tarzans wrapped in Christmas lights. Armed with their high-tech phasers and computerized vests, gamers of all ages take to the playing field, lobbing light beams back and forth as trained staffers referee the action. Along with its signature laser-tag sessions, Boomers grants respite to weary players with arcade games and an onsite concession stand stocked with pizza and soda. The friendly staff also presides over parties that include access to a private room and exclusive rounds of laser tag.

Lucky Strike Lanes' polished, retro-sleek atmosphere and state-of-the-art technology lets sphere-hurlers pitch heavy urethane baseballs down a slick aisle toward precisely placed whitewashed wooden sticks in the high style of a '60s ad executive or a top-hatted cartoon penguin. Each of the alley's colorful, state-of-the-art bowling lanes comes with electronic scoring, customizable presentations, and psychedelic lighting. Diehard sport devotees, meanwhile, can catch up on the day's sporting matches at the bar, where high-definition plasma screens broadcast the heart-pounding action of championship Chinese checkers with flawless clarity. Or retire to one of the 12 pool tables for an evening of hustling and counter-hustling.

If your body needs a guiding hand, let Rock City's certified Pilates instructors introduce you to one of the universe's most popular forms of exercise next to jogging and cow tipping. Through 12 matwork classes ($150 value), you will simultaneously stretch and strengthen your core (abs, back, and obliques) while using small pieces of equipment such as bands and balls to strengthen your arms, shoulders, shouldarms, and legs.

The Brattle Theatre’s screens have been glowing with an eclectic slate of films since 1953, but its cultural legacy stretches back to 1890 when it first opened as a live theater. Its productions seemed destined to eventually intertwine with the burgeoning Hollywood industry, and today, the venue keeps its artistic roots alive by showing a full roster of classic, foreign, and independent movies. The cinema-savvy staff frequently bundles pictures into special repertory series—past programs have centered around a vast array of topics, ranging from tributes to Greta Garbo and Ingmar Bergman to a series of documentaries on Clark Gable's mustache. To bolster the cinematic experience, moviegoers snack on locally-made concessions including traditional box office candy as well as baked goods and beer.