bowling!
Last week, to celebrate a friend’s promotion at work, we went to King’s Bowling Alley, which is located at:
10 Scotia Street
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: (617) 266-BOWL
It was a lot of fun — we ate in the De Ville Lounge beforehand (which was priced pretty reasonably and the service was good — our waitress was very friendly and helpful). A dinner reservation equals no waiting for a lane to bowl in. I think the bowling itself came to about ~$15 – 20 per person — we bowled two rounds (sets?) and rented a pair of shoes. I’m not sure of the exact price because it was my friend’s treat. But I think I am probably about right.
In my group of friends, I’m the only one who is from Massachusetts, and I learned recently that candlepin bowling, which is really popular in Mass., exists nowhere else in the country. I had never been bowling the “regular” way that everybody else was used to. Uh… Those balls are huge. I managed to find some smaller ones but internally, I weeped for the little Skee-ball type balls you get in candlepin bowling. I am a weakling, though, so stronger people will probably not have this problem.
Yup, it was a rude awakening when I learned that candlepins were hadn’t swept the nation. Candlepin bowling was not just invented in Worcester (in 1881), but is played almost exclusively in New England and the Canadian maritime provinces. The Candlepin Hall of Fame is at the Cambridgeside Galleria Mall, right across from the food court.
The South has duckpins, though, which are similar – but they’re shorter shaped more like mini-bowling-pins than the straight sticks that candlepins uses. They don’t tend to sweep other pins off the alley like candlepins.
– Jay Levitt