Waltham, MA Indoor Activities

South Boston Candlepin challenges bowlers to take aim at pintsize pins during rounds of a New England–born variation on the traditional lane-based game. On the alley’s hardwood lanes, bowlers roll 2.5-pound candlepin bowling balls that lack the holes and molten centers of their 10-pin counterparts. Developed in 1880 by a Massachusetts bowling-alley owner, candlepin bowling tasks participants with dispersing crowds of pins that are thinner than standard 10-pin targets and weigh just a little more than the balls that hunt them. While honing curves and picking up spares, bowlers compete in 10-frame games until someone usurps victory or starts cooing to the tiny balls like they're infants.

The instructors at Yoga Studio of Corpus Christi help students focus their minds and calibrate them to their bodies. Thoughtful breathing exercises and strength-building poses are consistently the vehicles toward mental and physical balance, although the studio offers diverse challenges across 14 different class types ranging from 65 to 90 minutes each. Those just starting out can learn the ropes in a beginners session, whereas yogis looking for more intense workouts can attend Hatha flow classes, which build core strength and improve stamina through continuous movement and by teaching pupils how to apply papier mâché to their midsections. During hot-yoga classes, the instructors crank up the thermostat to 97.8 degrees, helping to loosen stiff muscles and joints, encourage detoxification, and increase flexibility during Vinyasa flow movements.

America’s oldest car collection is stowed away inside an exquisite mansion built to resemble the French Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire. A vehicular hot spot for the car-collecting community, the 75-year-old museum showcases dazzling exhibits, such as Britain Can Make It: Postwar Progress through Determination, Innovation & Exportation, conducts educational programs and lectures, and maintains a viewable fleet of carefully maintained machines. Cars on display range from 1920s cruisers to modern Formula One racers. Additionally, museum members have access to all lawn event car shows from May through October.

The museum will be closed from April 15 through mid-May to prepare for a new exhibit.

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.

For more than 70 years, The Original Tremont Tearoom has been an oracle. Since the Great Depression, clients have traveled to the downtown Boston spot to discover their future, fortune, and fate at the hands of a skilled psychic reader. Now under the ownership of seasoned soothsayer Alex Palermo, the Tearoom hosts a team of 13 master psychics who diligently follow the Psychic Code of Ethics as they perform various divination techniques including tea-leaf readings, tarot-card readings, palmistry, and astrological consultations during 15-, 30-, and 60-minute sessions. Along with in-studio and telephone sessions, The Original Tremont Tearoom's brood of oracles can be booked for special events so guests can giggle with delight or fall into awed silence during birthday celebrations, bachelorette parties, or Elvis-themed clock-collector gatherings. For clients looking for energy work or spiritual guidance on an ongoing basis, the center offers psychic development courses, reiki sessions, and a Wicca program.

One Stop Fun grants children and parents alike a lighthearted escape from the rigors of daily tasks and chores with a multicolored jungle gym, kid-sized climbing wall, and entertaining pool area. A three-story indoor playground's plastic tubes fill with toddlers and oversized bank transfers traveling between a collection of ball pits and bouncy bridges. Inside another room, primary-colored handholds protrude from a graphite-hued climbing wall that lets children safely explore its 40-foot surface with a maximum height of 8 feet. The fun center also lends out its facilities for birthday parties and other gatherings. For more organized activity, USAG-certified gymnastics instructors teach tumbling as part of a programs portfolio that also instills coordination and discipline with karate and dance classes. As children play and learn, adult chaperones can lunch at the snack bar or take advantage of conveniences such as complimentary WiFi for staying in touch and a changing area for concealing the secret identities of super children.