Things to Do in New Castle

In the distance, the thump of discharged weapons can be heard. Spires of a castle loom over the tree tops, and as the platoon approaches, a hail of fire fells three of them. As those hit trudge off the field and wipe the paint from their goggles, the rest of their team makes a hasty retreat only to assault the position from a different angle. These tense moments occur daily at Three Rivers Paintball. More than 70 acres of wooded battlefield sports crashed airplanes, broken down tanks, and large-scale fortresses. The staff also hosts airsoft battles, with scenarios reenacting battles from history such as World War II or Napoleon's thumb wars. A full-service pro shop carries traditional paintball equipment needed to wage nonlethal war.

Your Groupon works toward any of the monthly Lift Your Spirits wine or spirits tasting events. These friendly yet sophisticated shindigs highlight one of Olive Press’s greatest talents: drink and food pairings. The staff displays serious skill in choosing the perfect beverage from the extensive wine list to bring out the flavor of Olive Press's meals. Each Lift Your Spirits event features the unique flavors of a particular libation, paired with a culinary match. Events include free parking. See past offerings here. Upcoming sessions include:

Adrenaline flows freely inside Laser Storm Pittsburgh's laser-tag battleground as teams of players wage infrared war over objectives and bases. In addition to hosting laser battles, Laser Storm offers an arcade filled with skee-ball, virtual games, and other ticket-spewing machines. Any tickets won in the arcade can be used to purchase prizes from a well-stocked booth or attached to a fishing line to lure laser-tag enemies out of their hiding spots.

The New Hazlett Theater, built in 1889 as the Carnegie Musical Hall, pays more of a resemblance to a cathedral than a concert space, from its austere stone walls to its soaring bell tower. In fact, the hall would serve as a religious retreat through the early 1900s. Saved from demolition in 1967 and renamed the Hazlett Theater in 1980, the venue would serve as the home of the Pittsburgh Public Theater for 24 seasons, followed by a brief stint as the summer home of a Pirates-obsessed vampire.

Named for the sunny yellow birdsfoot trefoil flowers strewn throughout the course—sprouted from seeds that fell off hay wagons rumbling through years ago on the fields of the former Buffalo Creek Farms—the championship golf course at Birdsfoot Golf Club enchants golfers with rolling hills and country charm. The links-style front nine give way to a back nine whose fairways open over hills, inviting golfers to pull out their drivers and whack dimpled orbs with the club-swinging gusto usually reserved for cracking eggs into an omelet pan. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette highlights the course’s 465-yard third hole as one of the 18 best public holes in western Pennsylvania, citing its mounded fairway, which doglegs left and challenges putts with a downhill, sloped green. As carts zoom from one hole to the next, they traverse a path where bogeyman faces carved by a local artist peer from tree trunks. When players finish their rounds, they can unwind in a clubhouse where ghosts from its former life as a farmhouse offer advice on covertly changing scorecard results.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course

• Length of 7,034 yards

• Course rating of 74.4

• Slope rating of 137

• See an interactive course tour