Four friends, one Saturday lane in Back Bay: in our arithmetic, $108 before anyone orders a drink. Up the coast in Salem, a dollar buys a game of pinball. Both are "a bar with games," and the gap between them is the whole point of this guide.
A game is the best way to make a bar last. It gives four people something to do with their hands and spares you the debate about where to go next. It is also the line on the bill nobody warns you about, because plenty of rooms that run games never post what they cost. Below is the price where a venue prints one, and a plain note where it does not. Nothing here is an estimate dressed up as a price.
Bowling: Kings prices it per player, per time slot
Kings Back Bay does not rent lanes by the hour, it charges each bowler for a slot. On its Back Bay page, Sunday - Thursday: $19 is the base price, and the price jumps on weekends. After six on Friday and Saturday it lists Friday & Saturday After 6PM: $24.
Shoes are extra, at Shoe Rental: $3 / Bowler. The slot depends on the party, and Kings lists 3-4 Bowlers: 1 Hour 15 Min for a group of four.
In our arithmetic, four people on a Saturday night in Back Bay pay $24 each plus $3 for shoes, so $108 for the lane, before a drink. In our arithmetic the same four on a Tuesday pay $19 each plus shoes, which is $88. That is a night out in itself, and a big one.
The Seaport branch charges more for the same Saturday slot, with its own page listing Friday & Saturday After 6PM: $26. Our opinion: bowl on a weeknight, or pay Saturday prices for the room and not the lane.
Pool: the hourly rate is the rare thing
Kings answers the pool question in its FAQ, saying billiards pricing is ranging from $18-$20 per hour depending on location and time. Its tables are not bookable either, since they are first-come-first serve, so a Friday table is a matter of timing.
The FAQ does not say whether that rate is per table or per player, so ask before you rack. If it is per table, four people splitting an hour is the cheapest game at Kings by a distance. Most other pool rooms on our map post no rate at all, which is the pattern for the rest of this guide.
Arcade and pinball: Bit Bar posts everything
Salem's Bit Bar is the model for how to do this, because its FAQ prices every kind of game in one line. The 1980s upright games are a quarter, the cheapest thing on the floor. Pinball and air hockey cost a dollar, with the air hockey dollar covering two players.
It is also an adults-after-dark room, and says so with We are 21+ after 8pm. Bit Bar Salem is a Salem trip, so plan the train home before you start. Our Salem guide has more.
Our take: set that against the typical beer in our Beer Index and the games are the cheap part of the night. A pocketful of quarters is an evening. The drinks and the train fare are the real spend.
Shuffleboard, pool and pinball at Hopewell
Hopewell Bar + Kitchen in Allston lists its games on its homepage, inviting you to crowd around the shuffleboard table. The same page sends you to the pool room too. It also points you at Sopranos pinball. It posts no price for any of the three that we could find, so ask at the bar before you rack.
Darts, and the dive bar default
For plain darts and pool, the dive bar is still the answer. Time Out describes The Silhouette Lounge in Allston as having the darts and pool among its dive bar staples. We found no posted price for either, so assume you pay in drinks and goodwill. Our dive bar guide lists more of that kind.
Candlepin: the lanes that do not post a price
Candlepin is the New England version, with a small ball and no finger holes. Boston Magazine's guide notes that American Flatbread in Davis Square was originally known as Sacco's Bowl Haven, a name still over the candlepin lanes. We found no current price posted by the venue, so we will not quote one. The same guide sums up Central Park Lanes in East Boston as Cash only. No AC., which is the most useful four words in the piece if you turn up in August with a card.
What a games night adds up to
Set the numbers side by side and the shape is clear. A Bit Bar night is coins, in our reading of its FAQ, with the food and drink as the real spend. A pool night at a room with no posted rate depends on a question at the bar. A Kings night, in our arithmetic, is $88 to $108 for four on a bowling slot alone, before anyone orders a drink.
So mix them. Bowl once, early in the week, for the occasion. Play pool or darts at a dive bar the rest of the month, where the game is a reason to stay and not a bill of its own.
A few habits keep the cost down. Ask for the table rate before you rack, because a posted rate is a rarity. Ask whether the room runs a cheap-pool night, because some do and few advertise it on the door. And keep your tab separate from the game, so a round of pinball does not turn a cheap night into a mystery.
A missing price is not always a bad sign. Some rooms treat the games as part of the furniture. But you should know that going in, and a quick question at the bar costs nothing.
What to do with this
Pick the game by how much you want to spend. Arcade games at Bit Bar cost coins. Pool at a dive bar costs a question. Bowling at Kings costs real money and rewards a weeknight. And a games night works fine without a drink in hand, which our no-alcohol nights guide takes further.
Before a long evening of any of it, check the live last train on the Last Train page. And if the games are only a way to stretch one cheap beer, the cheapest beer guide is the next stop.