Playdium Bowling Center

Oh, Playdium! This dingy, dirty place has quickly become one of my favorite Albany haunts.

Which is surprising, considering how I'm usually a lousy bowler and have a paralyzing fear of used shoes and all things feet. That said, I would consider the Playdium the closest thing Albany has to a dive bar. It's dark, dirty, and totally kitschy, and you'll probably end up with a chipped sparkly ball with some random person's initials engraved into it.

The staff is always courteous, and they're quick to pick up on regulars (or maybe that's just because the boys I go with spend endless amounts of money on their pitchers of beer).

If you go on a Monday through Thursday from 9 p.m. until midnight, you can get shoes and unlimited bowling for $6. Not bad! Otherwise, it's not super-duper cheap, but it won't break the bank, either. Normally, two games and shoes will set you back $10. You'll pretty much always have a good time, so I can't complain too much.

This place is pretty dingy, but that's just how I like my small-city bowling areas. The prices are ridiculously affordable-- I've bowled 3 games w/ shoe rental, all for $10!

These guys saved my ass.

When I thought my kid's birthday party was going to be rained out by a freak tropical storm, I got them on the phone and called the Playdium.

Most kids birthday type places required a minimum number of kids.  Mine is still young, and we like to keep the parties on the smaller, more manageable size.  

No problem at the Playdium.  

They just charged us for the games that we played, the pizza we ate, and the fruit punch we drank.  They let us bring our own ice cream cake, and let us set up our own balloons and stuff in a private room.

On top of all that, the pizza was surprisingly good.  Apparently they stretch their own crust from fresh (never frozen) dough... and they say it makes all the difference.  

Have I mentioned that I love this place?