Things to Do in New Haven

Competitors and friends converge to fill their spare time with strikes and high-fives, and to scatter pins atop Georgetown Bowl's 40 lanes. Automatic-scoring systems track points as bowlers chase the elusive 300-point gutter ball seven days a week—including on Beer Bash Friday, when all-you-can drink drafts supplement two hours of unlimited bowling. Inside the Sports Gallery Lounge, four big-screen TVs broadcast both professional and college games, and at the snack bar, bites of wings, wraps, and pizza help players refuel between frames. Beyond the lanes and video arcade, the full-service pro shop's industry veteran, Trace Chamberlin, helps upgrade equipment by re-drilling holes to fit their owners' fingers or rolled-up treasure maps pointing to the center pin.

Resplendent with a multitude of American art forms, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art brandishes masterpieces from United States artists from the late 18th century to the modern day. The permanent collection entices meandering visitors with nearly 1,400 American-grown pieces from artists including George Inness, Janet Fish, and William Forsyth, such as paintings, sculptures, photographs, and flags fashioned from apple pie. In addition to a permanent display of 56 Amish quilts, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art touts rotating exhibits such as the current Material World, a collection of textiles hailing from different countries, time periods, and transdimensional planes.

Canlan Ice Sports has three NHL-sized rinks, and all three receive their fair share of carvings during professional skating lessons, open-skate sessions, and high-intensity hockey leagues. Of the many offerings, the center’s weeklong hockey camps develop trainees' agility and shooting skills, just as its three-on-three youth-hockey leagues pit one inadequate barbershop quartet against another. Regardless of the reason for arrival, visitors can always grab food and refreshments at the Thirsty Penguin, a full-service restaurant and bar that overlooks the rinks and doubles as a secret meeting spot for Batman’s roundest nemesis. For off-ice excitement, guests can visit the inflatable playground, freely traversing the double-sided slide and other components comprising the bouncy playland.

The theater is part of the artistic arm of the First Presbyterian Church, and auditions for the troupe's roughly six annual plays are open to anyone. An art gallery doubles as the lobby for this 300-seat auditorium, which regularly hosts well-known ensembles, including past acts The King's Singers and saxophonist Ashu.

Fully focused on recreation—whether it's kicking a soccer ball or launching off a moon bounce—The Plex and The Plex South offer a huge variety of sports and entertainment for all ages. The original location, The Plex, is home to 45,000 square feet of indoor sports-centric facilities, including an inline rink, two soccer XLTurf fields, and a parking lot for competitive four-square matches. In the warmer months, two stadiums and fifteen outdoor fields are available for activities such as flag football, outdoor soccer, and summer youth programs.

The Plex South takes a more casual approach to activities, with offerings such as mini golf, batting cages, and birthday parties, in addition to sports leagues and programs. Batters of all ages can step into the batting cages for both softball and baseball batting practice, with speeds ranging from slow lob to Randy Johnson fireball. Meanwhile, aspiring golfers or Caddyshack III extras putt and swing clubs year-round at either the driving ranges, or 18-hole mini golf.