There are three things that make me know I'm back where I grew up - seeing Hood ice cream and Prince pasta in the stores, and going candlepin bowling. Acton Bowladrome really makes me feel like I'm home. Having automated scoring was good for our small group, though I miss the days of keeping score by hand. Everything was clean and tidy, and the velcro closures on the shoes made it easy for the member of our group who had a physical disability. We played some pinball after our bowling, and the bright, noisy machines capped off a fun way to spend part of an afternoon. If you've never tried candlepin bowling, I recommend it as a fascinating variant. In theory, a 300 game is perfection, but if you can break 100, you're showing skill. read more

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Came here for a kid's birthday party. Super basic, old fashioned bowling candlepins. Perfect size ball for kids, maybe too light for adults. The kids had a great time especially the arcade section where you can redeem prizes. You can load a card to play at arcade or bring coins (carousel ride is 50 cents). Discount if you pay cash. Service was so-so, as the staff were not found after checking us in. There are tables in the back for birthday celebration where you can bring own food/drinks/cake. Plenty of free parking since they have own lot. read more

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Not real bowling. The balls are so tiny the pins aren't real. No music no refunds not worth the money I spent I could took a quarter and rolled it down the bowling lane to pay for this read more

Acton Bowladrome & Arcade - Tiniest bowling balls - Bowling Near Me - Acton, Massachusetts

Love this place, have been frequenting it since childhood. Good activity, food is good, and owners and staff love returning clients who bring new business to a cherished New England pastime (candlepin bowling, rare in these parts, and even rarer in New England area). read more

Old fashioned, classic bowling alley. As a party of 4, we were able to get a lane for candlepin without a reservation. It's a bit 'divey' but I can see why folks might be regulars. We were able to order drinks from a small bar/food area (to the left of the entrance). We didn't order any food so I cannot rate our experience in that department. We enjoyed ourselves, that's all that was important. The price wasn't too bad, either. read more

Cool place to going small ball bowling. Arcades and average food. My kids really enjoy it read more

Had a blast with friends at a bowling league. First time playing candle stick, different but fun. Overall a nice group.

16 lane Candlepin Alley in Acton, with modern equipment. I'm a bowling geek so most folks won't care about the following information: synthetic lanes, Quibica/AMF computer scoring (so no manual resets of lanes), clean white pins, and unusually high quality rental shoes (Lind's Monarch with Velcro.) These shoes fully made of real leather cost 2x wholesale what ordinary rental shoes cost, and they are not beat up to death either. A sign of an owner who cares. Not sure what I think of the synthetic lanes, they are louder than wooden lanes and the ball keeps more of its energy leading to bigger hits on the pins. There is a bar and arcade/redemption center. Really good burritos can be had next door. Bathrooms are humble but clean, Josh the owner is personable. He likes to play music from the SiriusXM 40's on 4 channel which creates a nice relaxed atmosphere. All around a very nice alley, average pricing ($5/string $3/shoes), which is slightly less than other alleys which also have modern equipment. read more

Great family time!! Easy to make reservations online. Very efficient and easy to get shoes and check in. The people who work there are really nice and good-natured. We had a ton of fun bowling. We went on Saturday evening so it was cosmic bowling. It keeps score for you. Bring cash for the arcade but they had an ATM. We are going to come back again often. Lots of fun. read more

It's just such a fun place for a family Friday night. We got to eat pizza and bowl and laugh. Followed it up with arcade games. They even hosted my daughter's 6th birthday a month back and were able to successfully and smoothly accommodate 34 kids for cosmic bowling, black lights, pizza, and arcade. The kid (Ty) who works there is super thoughtful and wants his guests to have a good time he was beyond sweet and helpful when my daughter pinched her finger in the bathroom. I strongly recommend it for a party or even just a fun evening to throw in a little bit of a good time into a typical week. read more

This is a report from my visit last night This summer, they're running $1/string Wednesday nights after 7:30. At about 8:15, the lanes filled up so that was good to see. The music from the performer taking advantage of open mic night was way too loud, so my wife and I finished our second game and paid. Throughout our time there, generally, you'd go to the counter and wait until someone noticed you and came over. I was told the bowling was $2 but I reminded the guy we bowled 4 games so I'd pay him $4. My wife went to the restaurant and ordered a BLT which was good but she said the fries weren't. I played Ripley's Believe It Or Not pinball. The left slingshot wasn't working and the third flipper was a little weak. Otherwise playing nice. The Star Wars Pinball 2000 machine had the same dead left slingshot issue. They're down to four pins right now. The other two are South Park and Monopoly which was down. It looked like the bank was being fixed. Then I went to the new classic arcade room that they're putting together and talked to Josh who is very excited about it. They have a nice collection, but as of last night, only about half are playable. I have high hopes for this room. Josh also says he's moving the pinball machines into this room. I played Phoenix, Spy Hunter (upright) and Ms. Pac Man. Also working are Missile Command, Donkey Kong, and Centipede. Non-working but there are Pac-Man, Galaxian, Beer Tapper, Krull, and Defender. I think I'm missing one. One piece of great news: The redemption prize counter is in its own room, far away from the main counter. Candlepin bowling is fun, but a little expensive. It's awesome that the Drome offers cheap bowling Wednesday nights. My only complaint is that the open mic performance was way too loud for comfort. read more

Acton Bowladrome & Arcade - Classic arcade room - Bowling Near Me - Acton, Massachusetts

It took 10 minutes just to order our food at the Burgerdrome inside the place, with only one other customer inside. Crazy!! Then it took over 30 minutes for our food to arrive, just burgers and fries, what the heck!! When my bill arrived, the waitress overcharged me everything by 50 cents; when I inquired why, she said it was "meals tax." I gave her a quick lesson on how to calculate meal tax by state law. And, my check came to a lot less. She has also charged me for a soda I didn't order. Now onto the bowling alley: the place was not that busy, yet no one was at the desk to take our request for shoes, and when someone finally showed up, we were told it would be a 30 minute wait. What?! I saw 3 or 4 empty lanes!! Had it not been for a groupon I needed to use, and 3 kids who really wanted to bowl, and the fact that I did not have time to go to another alley, I would have loved to walk out. It was not busy, so it must have been a staffing problem. Never coming back!! read more

Acton Bowladrome & Arcade - Two empty lanes, yet a wait?? - Bowling Near Me - Acton, Massachusetts

This place is OK if you live within 5-10 minutes of it. I think they are very pricey for 2 games. Two games with shoes cost the 4 of us just under $50 - for Acton? It took 5 minutes before any one came to help us when we came in even though they seemed fairly busy with 90% of the lanes occupied. The person at the desk never looked up while dealing with us. Lane15 - the lane must be slanted because no matter how you throw the ball it keeps steering hard to the right. All of the balls were chipped too which made for an uncomfortable throw. This is place is true to what a NE candlepin bowling alley has always looked like. Don't come here looking for a place like Kings or somewhere hip. The arcade is pretty fun - they have a huge variety of games including pinball machines. The machines are pretty fairly priced at 50 cents to $1.50. The prizes are cheap junk but you find that anywhere that gives out tickets. We will definitely be looking else where the next time we want to go bowling. read more

Good, honest people and down to earth fun! It can get pretty crazy on weekends with all the yuppies and snobs from Acton and Concord vying for position for their offspring. So come on a weeknight, watch the game in the bar/restaurant, or bowl some strings, or there's pool, air hockey, DDR, skeeball, pinball, and other video games. No shortage of stuff to do! The owners wife (one of the "young teen girls now with a baby in one arm" to quote another Yelper) is as hardworking as they get and has helped her husband bring this place out of the dumps it used to be and make it into the first place this Yelper thinks of when asked about bowling in the area. I enjoyed their Winter league and will be back for the Summer league(ask about it!), they're fair and run a tight ship for league play and there's tons of fun to be had. I'm horrible at bowling but the atmosphere and geniality of the owners and fellow patrons keep waiting for league night! read more

Acton Bowladrome & Arcade - Thursday night bowling league - Bowling Near Me - Acton, Massachusetts

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Go for the bowling, arcade or pinball, and I guess it's fine. This place has a lot of potential, but appears that ownership is fine with mediocrity. We came (wife and 3 kids under 6) for the bowling, got one lane, and we had a great time bowling. The game (or sting) is setup so each player bowls two frames (or boxes) in a row, which was new to me (usually its one box and then the next player). I asked if we could change it to one, but the lady said no - it just meant a lot of waiting in between turns. Staff (who all wear plain clothes/no way to identify them) was not rude as some folks mentioned in their reviews. They were accommodating, however, they didn't go out of their way to make it an enjoyable experience. Also, they were not very attentive (few occasions people, including us, showed up to wait around a bit). The bathrooms didn't have soap, and it was not addressed despite me notifying two different staff members and they smelled awful. I get that this is a bowling alley, but still, it was rancid. Soda machine half worked and dispensed warm soda (they provided a cup of ice). It looked like they had a few food options (and the pizza I saw come out looked good) but I wouldn't eat here (one of the staff members was eating from local take out - never a good sign when staff doesn't eat the food). It was a wet and rainy Saturday night and they were not busy at all - this is indicative of the overall experience and associated reviews. I gave three stars because we did have fun bowling. read more

We had a birthday party there and they were rushing us and being pretty rude. For a place that has a bar they have no selection. I asked for a drink menu and he pointed to the tap read more

Super fun time Saturday night in Acton bowling and playing games. We all really enjoyed ourselves. read more

Acton Bowladrome & Arcade - This place s****s! So much fun! - Bowling Near Me - Acton, Massachusetts

@Josh S. of Acton Josh, Firstly, I apologize for putting a damper on your day. I would like to emphasize that by no means was my review an attempt to keep patrons from attending your alley. I was simply giving an honest review based on multiple first person experiences. Simply stated, i will not reconsider my position on your staff, as i have seen the malpractice first hand, on multiple occasions. As a 23 year old college graduate, i encourage you, a business owner, to hold your staff accountable. I wish you nothing but prosperity in the future, Goodluck! read more

After a fairly rancorous interchange with the business owner, I've found out a few things. Here's an update. If you come here, bowl your own lane. Apparently they don't charge by the string, it's by the player. Does this make sense? No, it doesn't. Had I known the policy, the four of us would not have shared a lane. We would have bowled separate lanes. We would have taken up 4 lanes, and been charged the same amount for as we were for one lane for a string. It still makes no sense to me; but whatever. The charge is $4/person a game. Since I was accused of being I liar, I will state for the record that shoe rentals are two bucks. I did make a couple of suggestions to the owner, and he did seem to take them to heart. I'll give the place another shot, and review it again. read more

Having bday party, ask to turn party lights on - the answer " it's too expensive ", I pay for the service that I never got. There no info about " lights schedule " when we book the party . Very unpleasant , unhelpful staff. Just let you now that Bday only once a year, not every Friday or Saturday. Too bad that I cannot put negative tip. It's feels like been in nightmare. Very disappointed . read more

The leftmost TV over the bowling lanes is now the property of my company. It's easy to spot. It's the broken one. But we'll let you use it anyway. You see, during our office holiday party, something got out of hand. That something was a bowling ball. The nicest, least degenerate, soberest one of all of us, somehow messed up while experimenting with a new technique and fired an underhand line drive into the bezel of the television, making the programming suddenly quite a bit more abstract and colorful. Sadly, we did not get this on video. To his credit, he 'fessed up immediately; to their credit, we were not immediately thrown out. Despite allowing shenanigans such as ours, it's a perfectly okay (candlepin, that is) bowling alley, with skee-ball machines in the back, four beers on tap (a heavy emphasis on winters and Belgian-y ones meant i was stuck with PBR), and relatively new, unstinky shoes. So, next time you're in Acton... ...don't tell them we sent you. read more

My nieces and nephews like this place. It's a decent candlepin bowling place that has a little diner-style restaurant and a small arcade where kids can get "tickets" and win some junk. - The bowling was fine. It's all automated scoring now with everything tracked on the screens. The kids like watching the goofy animations after each throw. It's a good way to keep kids moving and doing something for a change. - The arcade could use some TLC. You don't use quarters or tokens anymore, and everything is tracked using a little credit card thingy you buy. Most games worked all right, but a few needed help. One of the water-gun ones needed water added. The skeeball had one lane totally overloaded with balls which left the others down some. Few games were busted. - The card tracks how many "tickets" you win. We had a few hundred. Girl behind the counter was, well, inattentive. Looking at her phone, not counting off how many points we had left, or at least doing it wrong. My nephew knows numbers and knew exactly what we had to spend. We got some candy and trinkets and they were happy. - Restrooms stink. Like, in need of a real good cleaning and better lighting stink. And one pathetic air dryer - no towels. Ugh. - I've eaten in that diner-restaurant they have and it's basic stuff. Burgers, chicken fingers. Nothing fancy. Stuff kids will eat. - I'd go again because it's local and the kids love it. The bowling is all right. read more

This place is not inviting. It's dark and most lanes are broken. The staff isn't friendly.

Love the arcade and pinball. They also have poker tournaments regularly. Sometimes the hours are unclear and often change. read more

Admittedly, I only go here to play DDR, though at some point I'll get around to playing a string or two of bowling. It's a decent-sized bowling alley and looks to be very well-kept. The arcade leaves a little be desired. They have some good pinball machines, but other than that, it's mostly ticket games for the kids. DDR Extreme is tucked in the corner by the air hockey and pool table. They even provide a fan and keep the lights off, which makes for a nice gaming experience. The machine is also in good working order - all the arrows on the pad respond as they should (some places do not maintain their DDR machines very well). It's a good deal at a quarter a song ($0.75/3 songs). The arcade machines do not take coins. Instead, you purchase a card that you can refill at a machine with either cash or credit. To play a game, you swipe the card on the machine, and it automatically deducts the required credits. I'm not really a huge fan of this. It's a neat idea, but I'd rather pay with quarters. Of course, that's just me. Also, a nod to the Tomy brand capsule toy machines and the Pokemon figures you can win with tickets. read more

Hectic, confusing, but good place to take kids. I had a day to handle my 5 year old nephew and 4 year old niece. We had a coupon for this place: $40, 4 people bowl 1 string each, 1 large pizza and a pitcher of soda, includes $7 card to use in the arcade. It was a good deal. My problem was with how hectic and confusing it was. We finally got someone at the main desk and they were more than happy to hook us up with the coupon. It was a bit hectic there and we had some confusion, but eventually we got it sorted out. The lady behind the counter said she'd come get us when the pizza was ready and that it would be out on one of the tables there. But you're in a crowded bowling alley and the only tables I saw had like 2 tall stools? We have 2 kids with us, lady, where is everything else? What about all these people milling about? Are they gonna take my pizza or sneeze on it or WHAT? I didn't quite like that but let me continue: We took the kids to the little arcade and they had a blast there. The lady did come get us and there was our pizza on a tiny table. I asked if we could take it into the next room - because THAT'S the diner room - the food area. Why not keep it in there away from the maddening crowd? I took the pizza and the kids in there and it was quieter and nice. I got juice boxes for the kids at the diner as well as cups for everyone. And napkins and knives and forks. It's just a weird setup. I had to drag the kids and food to find a place to actually SIT and then locate all the other crap I needed. Pizza was really good - the kids loved it. We then had more of a wait for our lane - we were told 1/2 hour when we showed up but it was more like 1 hour. The kids were fine sitting and watching people bowl. We bowled a string - which is fine for little kids. You can just keep playing if you want and then pay when you leave. They did mess up before we got to our lane - some other people sat in our lane when it was clearly OUR names up on the display. We had to kick them out. Again, it was a hectic day there. BUT - the kids did really like it: The food was good - they had juice there - they enjoyed the bowling - the arcade and different games were fun. OH - PINBALL - big + with me!!! So - if you got kids, I recommend this place for sure. Easily kill a couple hours here. Just be ready for madness. read more

Acton Bowladrome & Arcade - Bowling Near Me - Acton, Massachusetts

Perfect neighborhood spot for candlepin bowling, a beer, pizza, video arcade and even World Tavern Poker a few nights a week. Great for kids and adults. Prices are very reasonable. My 4 year old's favorite hangout in Acton. Also, much of the staff has loyally worked here for a very long time which in such a fast paced world is very comforting for folks that frequent as much as we do. Lots of free parking. And you can always go next door to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt immediately after your bowling game. read more

It's fun in an abandoned kind of retro way. Automatic bowling let's you choose your screen theme! Yeah - it's a dated place but it's still bowling so hey there's that. read more

I've been to several local bowling establishments throughout Massachusetts. The Acton Bowladrome & Arcade is truly the best there is. Along with Candlepin Bowling, they have great arcade and pinball machines to play and the prizes are great. There are bowling leagues to join throughout the week. It's a great place to take your family, for a fun afternoon or night out. I believe the experience is so fun, because the owners, take pride in ensuring you have a good time, every time! read more

I don't even want to give this place one star. The blonde girl who works here is TERRIBLE. She was so rude to me and my friends from the moment we walked in to the moment we left. read more

This is the WORST establishment ever! Not only are they rarely open during their regular hours but when you call you cant get in touch with a real person. The women that work there are also the grouchiest people in the world. I dont even like candle pin bowling but I have a groupon im trying to use which gets me 60% off for 6 people. At this point im just gonna take the lose and not use it. Also the food is as shitty as youd expect. read more

Will not go back, period. A few of us moms took our kids here on a summer afternoon. The place was empty, and now we know why. They put us in lanes 1, 2 and 3. Immediately we discovered lane 1 big scoring screen didn't work. We asked to move which they finally did only after we pushed the issue. The crabby woman had wanted us to 'just use the small screen at the seats instead'. Really? When many other lanes are available? I don't think so. So, now we are in lanes 2, 3, and 4. And randomly, pins in lane 4 would roll too far forward while playing so they couldn't get scooped. We had to ask for help and the staff(aka crabby woman) did not seem happy even though it wasn't our fault! After the 4th time of this happening, another employee told us they've been having trouble with this lane. So why put us in it when so many others are available?! So frustrating! We were also uncomfortably hot. Perhaps the a/c was broken or off? Even the kids were complaining. And if you are not a dog person, fyi there is one running around loose. Perhaps the owners pet?! Not sure but he/she startled us a few times. I would recommend going elsewhere. This place needs some very big improvements all around, including hiring more friendly employees. Sorry, but we all give this place a big thumbs down.. read more

Always enjoy candlepin bowling when back up in Mass. In terms of pure bowling setup (lanes and scoring), this place is decent. Automatic scoring is relatively accurate (average of 1 error per 10-15 frames) and the lanes didn't break during our two games. Problem with this place is service and price. While we were there, 1 person was working the entire alley and getting things done (like paying for our time there) was a decent wait. Additionally, recommend you stay away from the food/drinks if you can as its ridiculously over-priced. read more

I went bowling with my husband and kids today. We went to the front desk and the first thing the front desk manager said was do you have a groupon? I said, no, but should I go buy one now? He said obnoxiously, "you can't do that!" There was no Groupon available. The obnoxious attitude continued through the rental of shoes and the selection of one game. As they were closing at 6, even though the website states later. Once we got to our lane, we had a fun time. The lane was clean and we had a lot of fun. $28 for 4 players and 4 shoe rentals and one game. It was a bit pricey. read more

I had to plan a company event with 40 work colleagues from all over the world. We had set up a package to have 3 hours of bowling with 30 minutes of gaming, including dinner for 40 guests. Everyone who came loved the bowling and gaming! The food a great for the amount of people we had. Everyone was very respectful and helpful too! I would recommend this establishment to anyone who wants to have some great fun and beers! read more

I went here around 5pm on a Wednesday which might explain some but paying $21 for 3 people to bowl for a game was a pretty high price. I could look past that. Service, as there was only one person working at the time was abysmal. I can get past that given the timing I went. They had the strangest setup for games where each person bowled two frames before the next player bowled. Even this strange format I could get past. But we played two games in two different lanes and the counter miscounted pins dropped BOTH games. One MUCH more than the other but still. It's quite frustrating when trying to play a friendly competitive game. I wouldn't recommend this place to others in all seriousness read more

Wow, was this place bad. My girlfriend and I went there to play some air hockey. First of all, the air hockey table ate our money and didn't let us play. Took us a few minutes to sort that out and get a refund. We didn't bother staying to bowl because the place was dingy and full of teenagers running wild. Not to mention it smelled gross. Don't bother going here. read more

This place was NOT what I remembered. I took my children during December break. We were told a 30 minute wait but lucky for us it was only about 15 minutes. We were first set up by a cranky teenage worker at lane 10. We paid over $50.00 for two games which is almost as much as Jillian's! Lane 10 did not want to clear our pins. The automatic pinsetter was delayed at first. Then it decided to not come down at all. We told the unpleasant older woman who replaced the cranky teenager at the front check in area. She walked down the lane and fixed the issue. It only failed to work 3 more times. Once game 1 was done Miss Cranky pants asked if we could move to lane 13. We had no issues moving. Well... to our surprise Lane 13 had it's own set of technical difficulties. The automatic pinsetter enjoyed dropping the pins on the lane prior to coming down to the optimum placement level. This happened more times than not. I told Miss Cranky pants and she came over and pushed the magic button. After bothering her about 5 more times she was now bright red miss cranky pants. She made lots of huffy puffy noises and was not happy to help. We had fun regardless since we are able to find humor in most situations but we will not return to the Acton Bowl-a-doom. WASTE OF $$ AND TIME. read more

Good for the kids for vacation. Gets crazy during that time but expected. Food is ok. Unfortunately I found the staff a little unfriendly, and while I understand it was hectic, they were disorganized and tried to get me to pay for my lane when I had already given them my daily deals coupon. Luckily I had written my name on the back of it! My 13 year old had a blast but the staff that came to tell him I hadn't paid scared him a bit! read more

This establishment is terrible. The staff is rude and unhelpful. We planned our kid's birthday party there. It was expensive, dirty, and the staff was unresponsive to our needs. Beware, I heard that they may be closing down soon because of their cleanliness and service problems. Avoid! read more