Bowling in Mount Lebanon

At North Versailles Bowling Center, bowlers hurl spheroids down well-waxed lanes crowned with a stunning diorama of the nighttime Pittsburgh skyline, taking timeouts to enjoy frosty beverages and cheesy pizzas from the nearby snack bar. Saturday nights are celebrated with glowing lights and music played by a live DJ, and ball hurlers attempt to celebrate the memory of Sir Isaac Newton by temporarily suspending the laws of physics with each roll. When they aren’t racking up strikes on the lanes or browsing Columbia, Storm, and Brunswick gear in the pro shop, visitors watch Pittsburgh sports teams on the lounge's five HDTVs or challenge each other to friendly rounds of billiards or trivia.

Originally constructed in the 1940s, Sheffield Lanes has seen its interior evolve as the decades have changed. The original owner's son and his wife now head the bowling alley's staff, overseeing numerous renovations and quelling occasional bowling-pin uprisings. Over the years, the 20 lanes have been outfitted with contemporary accouterments: digital scoring systems and walls swathed in vibrant purples, blues, and pinks. Players have embraced the changes, convening upon the modern digs for cosmic bowling, weekly league matches, and frequent tournaments, and working to hone their skills enough to garner immortality via Sheffield Lanes' Honor Roll of high scores.

Elsewhere in the two-story edifice, chefs at Ricky Dee's Pizza—a Sheffield Lanes mainstay during the '90s that reopened in 2007—refuel bowlers with pies and oven-baked sandwiches cushioned by fresh, daily-made dough. After using their taste buds to decipher the pizzas' secret sauce recipe, guests mosey over to the Sheffield Lounge, where candles embedded into repurposed bowling balls illuminate tabletops, and walls dappled with bowling trinkets and photos provide revelers with a crash course in the bar's 50-plus-year history. Live music from onsite concert venue The Fallout Shelter enhances the cacophony of crashing pins and rowdy coasters.

Though Pines Plaza Lanes has been keeping guests entertained since 1957, the newly renovated space features state-of-the-art technology that ensures carefree rounds of bowling. The BYOB facility houses twenty lanes, which can accommodate league players, friendly outings, or up to 120 guests for an in-house party. On Friday nights from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., the alley turns down the lights for three hours of galactic bowling, allowing players to toss bowling balls under the lights of comets and stars without angering park rangers.