Nightlife in Waterford

Stay & Play Social Club reunites adults with their younger selves with recreational sports leagues offered year-round. Players leave the daily grind behind at Stay & Play's summer events, which include volleyball, flag-football, and kickball leagues. Come winter, competitors wander indoors for bowling, euchre, and dodgeball. After each match or game, participants are welcome to migrate to a local pub for drink and pub-fare specials provided by the social club or to train for the future of extreme dodgeball using full pint glasses. Stay & Play's funseekers also foster a healthy community, sponsoring local charities and participating in cancer-awareness races.

The self-proclaimed home of the $1 draft, Dooleys Tavern keeps 20 beers cascading from their taps. Those suds complement the chefs' pub food, which includes American tavern classics such as half-pound burgers and up to 50 chicken wings doused in a choice of four sauces. The draft beer house also concocts American dishes with an Irish twist such as corned-beef sliders and a pizza filled with mashed potatoes and topped with bacon and red onions.

Seven nights a week, Dooleys’ three locations keep guests entertained until 2 a.m. on an outdoor patio, in a room full of classic bar games, and with plenty of HDTVs showing the game. The trio of taverns also accommodates up to 100 guests for private parties. Additionally, the Mount Clemens location pairs feasts with sidesplitting routines from standup comics in Carmen's Showroom.

Named for 2009 World Series of Poker champion Joe Cada, Cada's Poker & Sports Grill fuels patrons with classic pub fare as they face-off in Texas hold'em and Omaha poker tournaments. Servers ferry trays of half-pound burgers and piping-hot pizzas to diners watching pay-per-view UFC fights on more than two dozen high-definition TVs. Six blackjack tables host amiable requests of "hit me," and 10 poker tables facilitate $4,500-pot, no-limit hold'em tournaments on the first Saturday of each month. Joe Cada occasionally stops in to play tournaments, giving poker-playing patrons the chance to put their hands to the test or challenge his geometry skills at the bar's free pool tables.

A hearty appetite is encouraged at Clancy’s Irish Pub, where a champion burger challenge bates mouths to down a 5-pound behemoth burger and a full pound of fries in less than 45 minutes. Only three customers have ever succeeded, and their pictures reside on Clancy’s wall of fame as a testament to their steely reserve and superhuman jaw strength. In addition to holding photos of these championship mugs, Clancy’s butter-hued walls come stippled with golden brown, as if prophesying the deep-fried goodliness of the menu’s jalapeño poppers and cheesy mozzarella sticks. Amid the glow of neon beer signs and flat-screen TVs, tables load up with pints from the bar’s selection of more than 50 brews, as well as pub classics such as fish and chips, shepherd's pie, and the cheese-and- bacon-slathered chicken Dubliner. After two-handing a signature Jack Daniels chicken sandwich, guests can partake of weekly events such as beer-pong competitions, trivia, and DJ dance nights.

Bottle caps and taps unfurl pints of domestic and imported beers alongside hearty burgers and nachos at Library Sports Pub and Grill's locations in Novi and West Bloomfield. Pizzas baked in circles or squares embrace medleys of meats and vegetables, and Saint Louis–style ribs in full and half slabs revel beneath piquant sauces or dry rubs. Southwestern fajitas sizzle beside cool glasses of Rolling Rock, Stella Artois, Guinness, and 40 other beers, as well as martinis from a seasonal menu and a signature frozen drink of the month. After game clocks run out on the bar's big-screen televisions, local bands, karaoke singers, and DJs entertain diners with boisterous beats. The pub takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to its namesake with frequent-diner "library cards" and complimentary due-date face stamps.

Fun and flavor go hand-in-hand at Electric Stick, a bar that’s one part casual pool hall and one part restaurant. A fireplace warms the restaurant section, where servers deliver Italian and American fare such as burgers, pizzas, and pasta. Nearby, six pool tables host games of billiards, 17 televisions broadcast sports, and video games host rounds of virtual golf or darts. In addition, regular charity poker games let patrons showcase their Texas hold'em skills and collection of intimidating sunglasses while raising money for a worthy cause. :m]]