"What the hell are you doing in SOUTHIE?! asked the incredulous locals next to us. I didn 't tell them we 're tourists, but my traveling companion is much more chatty and much less street smart. But these folks seem nice and not like they 're about to mug us, so I let it slide. What are we doing in Southie? Trying out Candlepin bowling of course! Their confusion was not lessened in the slightest, baffled how two tourists ended up in their neighborhood in this locals only kind of spot. While I currently live in San Diego, I grew up in a small Midwest town with a bowling alley. You know the ones with funky lighting that 's dim but too bright at the same time, well worn shoes, balls you 're pretty sure are older than your parents, and the ugliest carpet you 've ever seen? That was one of my favorite places to go. It wasn 't fancy but it was fun. My family looks a bit different these days dead, older, bum backs, and living in different states across the country. But one is never too old to try to crush their mother in whatever slightly sporty competition we can find, hence our evening trying our hand at Candlepin. Even flanked by other businesses, it 's not hard to spot the Southie Bowl mural on the side. It 's slightly worn, like the interior, so you know this spot has been open for decades. Once inside I was surprised to see it wasn 't packed, but maybe the rain kept the crowd away. I 'd made a reservation online ahead of time since it was a Saturday night, but because there was room we got to start our hour of bowling early. Worked out perfectly actually because at 9 the normal lights went out and they turned on the fun lights. Getting to do a little halfsies of that was a fun little perk. But before you get to the bowling you have to pick your shoes and your balls. Unlike traditional bowling with the different ball weights and finger holes of varying sizes that your fat little fingers get stuck in so every time you jam your fingers candlepin balls here appeared to be the same, except the patterns on the outside that I loved. Also unlike traditional electronic scoring, at least at most alleys, here the score is kept with pencil and paper. And the scoring system? Look it up before you start playing because the game is a bit different than the bowling you 're probably most familiar with. For starters you bowl three times, the pins aren 't swept away between rolls, and your score is kept a bit differently. Did we bother to learn how to keep score accurately? We sure didn 't. We were really going by who knocked down the most pins. Because given the sheer amount of gutter balls we rolled we were pretty sure we weren 't going to be rolling a bunch of strikes. It was hard enough to get a single spare! We bowled, we laughed, and we wondered why Candlepin is merely an obscure New England tradition while we languish out west with regular bowling. Our hour flew by. If we hadn 't had such a long day of sightseeing we could have bowled another hour. I won! And by that I mean I knocked over the most pins. Even better was in the morning we didn 't wake up all sore, with aching muscles we often forget we have. No jammed fingers! All we had were fun memories and a new thing to tell everyone about. Are there other candlepin bowling alleys in Boston? Sure, but I loved this one. The seating was comfortable, the shoes weren 't gross, and the vibe was old school but not ratty. If I was local I 'd be a regular. Instead I 'll just have to settle for coming by to bowl whenever I 'm visiting. (See you in 2024 if I 'm lucky! Any top 10 list of things to do in Boston really should include candlepin, maybe even top 5. I 'd also say to make the trip to Southie for your game. If your childhood was anything like mine, oh the nostalgia you 'll feel walking into this place. A time warp of the best kind!"
