Updated 2008-09-08 22:15
There are other things to do in this town that don’t involve drinking
The club scene ain’t your thing. Or maybe it’s too much your thing and you want a little bit of respite from the pounding bass, and pounding head the next morning. Try these alternatives:
| Games and stuff |
|---|
| F1 Racing You’ll race super fast go-carts, and it’s freakin’ competitive. We raced against people who brought their own helmets. They smoked us by the first lap. 290 Wood Road, Braintree. Mon.-Thu.: Noon-11 p.m.; Fri.: noon-midnight; Sat.: 9 a.m.-midnight; Sun.: 9 a.m.-10 p.m. 781.848.2300. |
| Urban Interactive If you’ve always wanted to participate in a scavenger hunt like “Amazing Race,” but were too intimidated by the whole millions of viewers thing, then UI is 4 U. Sorry. Thought we were texting for a second there. Anyway, you will end up using your cellphone in this hunt. Get a team of up to four, pool $75 together and solve a bunch of riddles while performing stunts, competing for prizes and, oh yeah, learning about the city. See Web site for meet-up location and schedule, 617.417.7557. |
|
5 WĄTS Tomb It’s like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, but you’re partaking because you want to, not because you’re grounded. They give you flashlights and you try to escape from the Tomb. Lest you call this kids’ stuff, remember that Indiana Jones is like 80, and he still does adventures. 186 Brookline Ave., Boston. MBTA: Green Line D to Fenway. Sun. -Tues.: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Wed.-Thu.: 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat.: 10 a.m.-11 p.m. 617-375-9487. |
| Watson Adventures It’s similar to Urban Interactive, but with more concentrated themes and locations. Some of the best ones from last year included walking around the Museum of Fine Arts and looking at all the paintings of naked people. Tee hee. This fall, you can look forward to their new Secrets of the Seven Seas Scavenger Hunt (Sept. 20) and the Secrets of Old Boston Scavenger Hunt (Sept. 27). Cost varies from $20-$30 per person. See Web site for meet-up location and schedule, 866.811.4111. |
| Laser shows |
|---|
|
Museum of Science Laser Shows Longing for the high school haze of Pink Floyd, but are too scared to let your roomies know? The Museum of Science has regular laser light shows (“Dark Side” AND “The Wall”!). They also light up Beatles, Radiohead, Led Zep, Queen and U2, as well as Shania Twain and Enya. Is that Laser Light Lite? Science Park, Boston. Daily at 5:30 p.m. MBTA: Green Line to Science Park. 617.723.2500. |
| Billiards and bowling |
|---|
| There are too many good places to shoot stick and knock down pins to list them all, but here’s our favorite few, to get the ball rolling, as it were. |
| Felt Aside from the 14 premiere tables here, Felt has four floors of hangout/ dancing space. Check out the Back to School Jam (Sept. 20) featuring DJ Spider, who you remember as the official tour DJ for MySpace parties throughout the country. You do remember MySpace, don’t you? ‘533 Washington St., Boston. 617.350.5555. |
| Flat Top Johnnys Flat Tops is a little different than most pool joints. We’re talking red felt on the tables instead of green, and instead of 8-ball, they have 9-ball tournies every Monday, and a women’s night on Tuesday, where you play for half price if you don’t have a penis. One Kendall Square, Cambridge. 617.494.9565. |
| Jillian’s JIllian’s is 70,000 square feet of entertainment, with 30 pool tables, darts, table tennis, foosball, quadruple high definition video wall with 12 plasma screens, not to mention the six lanes of bowling. And that’s just the second floor! There are 16 more lanes on the third floor. We DARE you to get bored. 145 Inswitch St., Boston. 617.437.0300. |
| Milky Way Lounge & Lanes The Milky Way is bowling and indie bands ... for now! They might close soon, so go there soon! 403-405 Centre St., Jamaica Plain. 617.524.3740. |
| Kings Care to have your bowling untainted by indie rock? If so, Kings has 16 pure lanes, with movies and local artists’ work displayed on their big screens. 10 Scotia St., Boston. 617.266.BOWL. |