Bowling in Watertown

Boston Bowl buffs and polishes 20 lanes to accommodate fat tenpins and 14 lanes for their thin, stern candlepin cousins, ensuring smooth trips for the spherical projectiles eager to greet them. While groups of two and clans of four frolic beneath a multicolored bowling mural, automated scoring screens dutifully account for every pin conquered, awarding extra points for any particularly stinging impression of another bowler's form.

Lucky Strike Lanes' polished, retro-sleek atmosphere and state-of-the-art technology lets sphere-hurlers pitch heavy urethane baseballs down a slick aisle toward precisely placed whitewashed wooden sticks in the high style of a '60s ad executive or a top-hatted cartoon penguin. Each of the alley's colorful, state-of-the-art bowling lanes comes with electronic scoring, customizable presentations, and psychedelic lighting. Diehard sport devotees, meanwhile, can catch up on the day's sporting matches at the bar, where high-definition plasma screens broadcast the heart-pounding action of championship Chinese checkers with flawless clarity. Or retire to one of the 12 pool tables for an evening of hustling and counter-hustling.

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.

Since taking its current name in 1975, Bayberry Bowling Center has blossomed from a 16-lane candlepin bowling alley to a modern entertainment center. Today, automatic scoring tracks every strike as video cameras record each frame, allowing bowlers to review their technique and rank their post-throw victory dances. Guests itching to improve their game can work with the alley's certified instructor, and those itching to improve their glass-handling skills can choose from 25 varieties of beer and wine as they watch the latest game on two 12-foot televisions. Competition continues in the billiards room, where players sink eight balls on two 8-foot and six 9-foot tables, and in the arcade, where visitors vie for tickets and prizes on a constantly updated array of video games. Bayberry Bowling Center stays open until 11 p.m. seven days a week.

North Bowl Lanes welcomes gamers of all ages daily to enjoy 40 lanes of ten-pin bowling and 35 arcade games with a prize center. Like the timeless Cinderella story, the alley keeps its doors open until midnight Monday through Thursday, whereupon the bowling balls turn back into pumpkins and players must return their rental shoes. On Fridays and Saturdays until 1 a.m., however, guests can pitch neon balls as a light show and music videos play during cosmic bowling. At The All Star Pub Grill, chefs serve up hand-tossed pizzas and burgers, and bartenders tap a rotating selection of eight beers and mix a full spectrum of specialty cocktails.

Legion Bowl & Billiards preserves retro entertainment with 18 duckpin bowling lanes, eight tournament-sized billiards tables, and ticket-spewing arcade games. The alley’s streamlined design hearkens to the tailfins of a 1957 Chevy Bel-Air or the cover art of a mid-century sci-fi novel. Traditional scoring projectors lend to the classic ambiance at the lanes, which fill with the clatter of scattering pins.

Television screens in the pool hall broadcast live coverage of New England sports teams, and the spitfire rasp of electric guitars occasionally cuts through from live musicians at the adjoining Legion Pub. The kitchen staff fires selections from a menu of burgers and grilled pizzas, which pair with draft beers or cocktails. On the alley’s outdoor deck, guests click together glasses or toss rocks at poets attracted by the breezy summer evenings.