Reed: Family Bowl has a different league of nightlife

From left, Ed Pasto, Dan Silverburg, Kim Radford-Pasto and Kristine Pasto enjoy a family gathering at Family Bowl.

Family Bowl offers a good spot for Darren Wilbanks, Kristen Bowling and Tom Wellington, from left, to kick back and relax.

From left, Ed Pasto, Dan Silverburg, Kim Radford-Pasto and Kristine Pasto enjoy a family gathering at Family Bowl.

The mix of nightlife and sports brings, from left, Shanna Baty, Noriko Taniguchi, Kali Adams and Masami Yamano out for an evening at Family Bowl.

This week in the world of nightlife I decided to try something a little different. While most weeks see me visiting your regular ol' bar, for better or worse, I took the chance to find something that involved more than just beer and TV. What could this mysterious place be, you ask? The bowling alley.

With a desire to drink some post-Christmas brews and get in a few games of bowling, we set out to the West Knoxville Family Bowl. One of the key requirements for our trip to the alley was that it had to have a bar, which thankfully it does.

Unless you are from another planet, you most likely know what a bowling alley looks like. Aside from bowling, the Family Bowl has a few distractions to keep you entertained. There is a small arcade off to one side, as well as the bar on the other. There are plenty of lanes at the Family Bowl, keeping everyone in the game despite the busier hours. We went on a Friday night and, while the alley was crowded, we were able to instantly get a lane and begin playing.

Sadly, bowling isn't really cheap if you don't have a pair of snazzy shoes. Shoe rentals are $3.50 for the evening, while a game will set you back $4.50 a piece. At $8 it only makes sense to play another game or two, putting the cost of the evening at least to $12.50 a person. However, Family Bowl has specials throughout the week - particularly after 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays and 7:30 p.m. Sundays - when you can bowl for $1 a game, making the evening much more affordable.

The Family Bowl's lounge offers some more mature delights with a full bar for your drinking pleasure. They only have three beers on tap, but for a bowling alley that is more than I could have asked for. Budweiser, Miller Lite and Bud Light are all served on tap and will run you a fairly cheap $3.25 for a 20-ounce cup. They also offer a wide selection of bottled beers as well as a full-service liquor bar.

There are a few smart, but somewhat annoying, limitations to the bar: You aren't allowed to buy more than one drink at a time, in order to curb underage drinking. Similarly, they don't serve pitchers. On the bright side, however, you are allowed to bring your drinks out to the lanes, not limiting your time only to the lounge.

If you just want hang out in the lounge, there are plenty of TVs all tuned to various sporting events. There is plenty of seating available in the lounge as well. Even with the crowd at the bowling lanes, the lounge remained fairly empty throughout the night. There is also a snack bar serving a variety of food items.

We managed to make an evening out of the Family Bowl, playing a couple of games and then heading to the lounge for some conversation. If you are looking for something different to do on an odd night out, the Family Bowl is a great nightlife alternative.

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