If life is just a bowl of cherries, then bowling is a life of launching 12-pound cherry-flavored gum balls. Experience life's sweetest pastime with today's Groupon: for $19, you get two hours of bowling and shoes for up to four people, a bucket of popcorn, and a pitcher of soda at Alley Gatorz in northeast Gainesville (up to a $66.99 value). Boasting 32 synthetic bowling lanes, Alley Gatorz keeps seasoned and novice bowlers in the hunt for good times at all hours of the day. Up to four people may play unlimited games by tossing marble-swirled spheres down various lanes before 6 p.m. (a $15/hour value) or after 6 p.m. (a $22/hour value). Now under new ownership, Alley Gatorz styles itself as a local play place for nights out with friends or slightly awkward double dates. Once players give up exhibiting their penchant for left hooks, they can migrate to the full-service snack bar, peruse the pro shop for a plastic wrist guard, or challenge Uncle Pete to a rousing game of Centipede by the arcade billiard table.
Alley Gatorz
Clattering pins echo off the colorful walls beaming over Alley Gatorz’ synthetic lanes, which host a hurtling horde of orbs until 1 a.m. on the weekends. Multicolored kicks safeguard toes for rounds of celebratory pin punting during cheerful games of knock-the-pins-down.