The expression "behind the 8 ball" can apply to many of life's obstacles, from facing a traffic-court judge to accidentally baking your car keys into a pie. Sink problems into the corner pocket with today's Groupon: for $20, you get a 10-hour punch card for pool for up to six players at Maxamillians Billiards, Sports Bar and Brick Oven Eatery, located in Tyngsborough (up to a $160 value).

Maxamillians Billiards, Sports Bar and Brick Oven Eatery allows cue gurus to battle it out in a 9,000-square-foot colorful-orb haven. With 14 regulation-size Connelly Ultimate tables, Maxamillians invites chalk jockeys to prove their angle-judging prowess or to illustrate the tricky tenets of Newton's 16th Law of Motion. Balls collide in a cavernous brick-lined room, leaving plenty of room between tables. The 10-hour punch card is usable in hourly increments until the Groupon expires, allowing for rematches, rematches of rematches, and truces disguised as matches.

Maxamillians’s happening space brims with favorite bar pastimes, from cheering on sports superstars on the HDTVs to chowing down on super-size pub fare to flinging rockets in the dart lounge. An 80-foot bar keeps throats wet, and eats from the Boston Pizza Company dishes brick-oven pies to pool sharks. After a rousing round of stripes and solids, players can retire to the fireplace to enjoy a drink or knit quilts that commemorate their victories.