Christmas and bowling in New England

During the Urban Docent's recent return visit to Boston, we all stumbled across this funky old Fairway Bowling location west of the city.

As my first impressions of the center were from the corner of my eye as I drove by at night, I originally mistook the place for a furniture store. I was really delighted to discover that this was a place much more exciting and original.

We made a special return trip the next night to what I figured would be an older version of predictable bowling. But this place offered a true New England original -- Candlepin Bowling.

Candlepin offers a much greater challenge than what typically passes for the game of bowling. The pins are smaller and harder to knock down all at once. The pins you do bowl down stay in play until your turn is over; there is no machine sweeping them away between pitches. And the ball is smaller, which makes aim and precision harder to accomplish.

We tried our hand at it, and we really enjoyed the experience. I think I ended up with a 68, which I'm assured is a great start for a beginning Candlepin bowler and non-New Englander.

But an added amazing feature of the Fairway Bowling was the presence of wall-to-wall Christmas animatronic displays. Apparently, the owners started putting up the animal-centric holiday machinery 30 + years ago, and the tradition continues to this day.

Some of them are neat; some are creepy. Here are the videos featuring some of what's available: