DAY TRIP: CANDLEPIN VS TEN-PIN BOWLING

Candlepin vs ten-pin…do you even know what I am talking about? I am originally from the Midwest and if you said “lets go bowling” you piled into the car and drove to a bowling alley and went bowling. End of story. However in the northeast they have a thing called candlepin. It is the same principle as ten-pin bowling (or as most of the US refers to it “bowling”) except the ball is smaller, small enough to hold easily in your hand. Because of the ball size it is a little faster. The pins are cylinder-shaped and once struck they are left where they lay and not cleared. This can be used to your advantage by leveraging the fallen pins to push more pins over. You also get not two but three attempts to roll your ball. That is candlepin bowling in a nutshell.

Why New England has this special twist on bowling I do not know but to my Midwest mind it makes candlepin something of a special thing.

And so when the spirt moves us, which oddly happens about once or twice a year, we pile in the car and go to probably one of the best candlepin alleys in the world (or at least my world)…Harvard Lanes located in Harvard MA. It is old school candlepin bowling at its best. I am taking dim lighting, funky music, arcade games in the back and the smell of popcorn and hot dogs wafting through the air. It is a gem of a place. Harvard Lanes are open seven days a week and are reasonably priced. All in all it makes for a great family, friend or date night activity.

Harvard Lanes:
204 Ayer Road, Harvard, MA
978.456.9361