beverly bowl-o-mat

I love the place. It was a great hang-out for me to bowl both as a youth and as an adult. The restaurant next door is great as well. The McPherson Youth Center used to be a rough place and you had to bicycle pass it with the risk of getting beaten up. Fortunately, the Beverly YMCA bought them out and cleaned the "rift-raft." Still, the Beverly Bowl-O-Mat is a great place to spend a Saturday with your family.

Candlepin bowling is unique to New England and the Maritimes. It uses a similar system to regular 10 pin bowling, but the pins are shaped like tall cylinders and are much harder to knock down. The balls are similar to lawn bowling balls in size, and you get three rolls per frame. A perfect game (300 like in regular bowling) has never been officially bowled. We've enjoyed it on our vistits to New England in the past, as the size of the ball evens up the odds between guys and gals quite a bit. The lanes have automatic scoring, a small snack bar, and the usual pinball/video arcade. The location is between the raildroad and the river and is in an industrial part of town. Cost was about $30 for three "strings" or games for two with shoes, though coupons can be found on line. The alley was a bit dark but clean--there was only one other family there on a Friday afternoon--but school was not yet out. We had a fun time, but the location was a bit iffy to me, or I would have rated it higher. But it was a lot of fun.