Nightlife in Lone Tree

Since 1981, legendary standup comedians of the likes of Dave Chappelle, Ellen DeGeneres, and Joan Rivers have climbed onto Comedy Works' stages to ignite spirited laughter. The comedy club has also served as a launching pad for the careers of several hometown comedians, including Josh Blue, winner of NBC's Last Comic Standing. Comedy Works' calendar of upcoming shows divvies laughs between its two locations, splitting sides at The Landmark with spot-on celebrity impersonations performed by comedian and actor Kevin Pollak from March 22 to 24 ($20–$25). Before wiping away chuckle-induced tears and uncontrollably slapping strangers' knees, visitors at the downtown location can lap up cocktails from the lobby bar starting 75 minutes before every show.

Celebrity Lanes takes up 50,000 square feet of real estate with 32 lanes, where players fight against pins under the glow of 16 65-inch high-definition televisions. The alley glimmers even more on Fridays and Saturdays, when glow-in-the-dark bowling morphs the entire alley into a refulgent spectacle. Meanwhile, inside Altitude Sports Grill and Taphouse, 40 tap beers fill glasses, and on the grill's outdoor patio, friends face off on bocce-ball courts while trying to spot some of the 400-plus feral snowmen that call the visible Rocky Mountains home.

Lining up his shot, the golfer draws a breath and putts his ball down the last green on the legendary Jubilee Course at St. Andrews in Scotland. He checks the clock—all 18 holes in one hour. This would be impossible at the real St. Andrews between walking from hole to hole or fighting off the rabid venus flytraps that guard the greens, but in the PGA Tour simulator, it's par for the course. Visitors compete on more than 50 other championship courses from around the world with their own clubs or rented TaylorMade clubs, blasting golf balls toward the screens projecting the two simulators' immersive 3-D worlds. Along with 18-hole games, patrons can practice their drive on virtual ranges.

For nongolfers, the lounge stocks foosball and billiards tables, a dartboard, cornhole on the patio, and plenty of high-definition TVs to catch the latest sports. Card sharks can also show off their skills at weekly poker tournaments. Throughout all their events, Swingers Sports Lounge and Grill keeps patrons satiated with upscale bar food, such as burgers topped with sriracha mayo and a pound of wings doused in ghost-pepper sauce, which chefs summon during a séance.

At Legends of Aurora, philly cheesesteak could mean a traditional sandwich, a pizza, or a 24-inch sub food challenge. For more than 20 years, Legends of Aurora‘s hand-tossed pizza dough has formed the foundation for this and other pies, including the supreme and the White pizza, a sauceless number with cheese and tomato slices. And though their patrons order enough pizzas each year to pave a route from Peoria to Buckley, they somehow find time to nosh on pepperoni pizza rolls, Rocky Mountain oysters, calzones, chimichangas, salad, and wings as well.

Tunes pour from the jukebox at The Dirty Duck Bar, where bartenders help customers forget their thirsts and hearty grub slakes hunger. At the bar, frothy beers and mixed drinks command attention, with a selection that includes feel-good spirits in terms of their production: the bar proudly serves Idaho’s American Harvest organic spirit, for one, which is produced using sustainable agricultural methods and wind power. While barkeeps dispense drinks and help guests learn the proper knot for a cherry stem, the kitchen churns out classic pub fare from bacon cheeseburgers to pizza.

More than two dozen flat-screen TVs line the walls of Cleatz Sports Bar & Grille, casting a glow across an arsenal of pool tables, poker games, and decadent fare created by the kitchen’s veteran chef. As the wait staff shuffle around deep-fried mushrooms, catfish poboys, and buffalo wings drenched in a spectrum of sauces—from sweet molasses to XXX hot—a DJ spins live tunes before the munching and swaying crowd. On Friday nights, live jazz music replaces the electronic beats, and musicians welcome locals on stage to jam with the band or turn their middle-school diary into a new song. As for every other night of the week, the bar hosts a range of events, such as pool leagues, poker tournaments, and karaoke.