On a rainy afternoon in Melbourne we somehow ended up in the direction of Crown Casino and had an…read moreinsatiable urge to go bowling. With the weather moody and a desire to roll in the next 20 minutes, we found ourselves at the Kingpin Bowling Lounge for a rather expensive yet enjoyable three games of bowling. Kingpin aims at doing a lot of the things that Strike bowling does (serve drinks, have music, and lights on the lanes) but at the same time it is probably more tailored towards families than Strike. The bowling was fun as I hit a rare 150 (I'm a pretty shitty bowler admittedly). Enjoyable times but the lack of specials they offer means it would be an expensive pastime. I guess it is yet another string in Crown's entertainment bow. If in Crown and you feel like bowling, head to Kingpin. Otherwise, I prefer the Strike experience.

We were wondering where to eat with our 3 kids in tow as we strolled around the crown casino. It…read moreseemed as though all entries to the popular sit down restaurants within, required you to walk through the gaming areas! Sorry NO Kids allowed... To buy us some time to decide we headed around to the arcade area to let the kids have some fun! right next door was Kingpin! I noticed a sign out the front advertising $15 steaks! I thought why not lets give this place a try. Jake at Kingpin gave us a true VIP experience, the meals were a nice size and the bargain steak meal melted in your mouth! we played bowls, and received some game cards on the house and we all had a great time! Highly recommended for families or romantic couples looking for a fun filled night with a nice meal and quiet beverage to wash it down.

Kids birthday party was poorly run and stressful for parents. The party host did not provide any…read moreinstructions or guidance for the bowling. We had to request several times for drinks as the children were thirsty. Ice cream cake was brought out with no plates or spoons. There were not enough plates and children had to eat cake out of cups. There seemed to be very little to no planning as staff were unaware of number of children attended or names that were previously provided. Not what we hoped for when we booked the party and we would not recommend a kids party at strike to other parents.

It's dark. There's laser beams flashing above my head. I'm standing on a train carriage seat and in…read morethe distance I hear someone yell "you bastard, you shot me!". I'm scared. Very scared. I'm scared that I'm not as agile as I was the last time I played laser tag as a teenager. I jump off the chair and run down the hall, my shoulders raised, my hands holding the gun out from my body and my eyebrows firmly saying "don't you mess with me!". My ability to commando roll and shoot someone in the chest has diminished with old age, but I think my enjoyment of running around in the dark with 12 strangers and a couple of friends has increased. I hobble out. I think I've pulled a hammy, but I have a big grin on my face and high-five my mate in satisfaction.

As far as bowling bars go, strike is definitely one of the more popular ones. It has a decent drink…read morelist, and there are bowling lanes (obviously) although the way that the lanes are laid out is a bit weird, with the first four lanes in one part of the space and the rest behind the karaoke and escape rooms. We actually came here because we had a birthday surprise planned for one of our party by doing the escape room, only when we got in on a Thursday night they were running behind by over an hour. We were given a free bowling game while we waited (all the while the birthday girl thought her surprise activity was bowling), although we were easily done with that before it was time to go into the escape room. We were also told that we would be in in 15, 7 and 5 minutes but ended up waiting way more than that. I think we ended up going into a room around 9:45 or so, for an 8:30 booking. The escape room was pretty pricey--about $150 all up for being locked in a dusty room for 50 minutes. I'm not sure that I liked the formats of these rooms; you don't have a good sense of the time and we had barely made it through one room when we had 5 mins left. Overall I wasn't thrilled with the long wait, and the customer service was lacking. We were told to go and bowl while we waited but nobody checked in on us, and when we went to the counter to ask when we'd be going in we were shuffled from table to table by different staff members. Quite disappointing, for the amount we paid for the experience.

After undergoing a renovation, Strike Bowling now has much more than just drinks and bowling to…read moreoffer...they have ESCAPE ROOMS! I was lucky enough to test out one of these escape rooms, the new bar and the food. Next time you are having a party, organise it at Strike and they will take good care of you! The escape rooms have different themes and was mind boggling, the bar served fantastically refreshing drinks and for food I tested out vegetarian nachos, fish & chips (crispy!), and mini chicken parma's. Will have a celebration here soon!

There are really only two options for 10 pin bowling. The first would be described as less…read moreconcerned about the atmosphere and more about the game itself. The second is more about the atmosphere than the game. Strike is the latter. Of course, you're paying a bit of a premium for that atmosphere. It's a fun, vibrant place to punish those funny looking bits of wood at the end of the lanes. And if you want to punish your ears, there's also Karaoke. As I mentioned, it can be a bit on the pricey side, but there are sometimes special deals on offer that make it a much more attractive option for the tight of wallet. For example, there are often school holiday deals that make it cheaper for the under 18s to bowl. There's also a family special where two adults and two kids can get a game up until 6pm for $40, which isn't a bad deal, really. There's also a cocktail bar, and some pool tables, so there's stuff to do if you're not into bowling.

The venue is good for bowling and pool Also the foods are…read morenot too bad try don't have much choice on drinks and some of the staff are good service some are really bad service

It's always good to visit a bar that I haven't visited before, and with Melbourne there are…read morecertainly quite a lot of bars in which this can be done, since they do tend to be literally popping up all over the place. Well, this one is certainly no exceptions, and while it isn't one of the best rooftop bars that I have visit, it is still pretty good. Yeah, in a way there certainly does seem to be pretty nice atmosphere up here, and the staff are pretty cool as well. Oh, and I probably should mention that they have some rather nice beers as well. Yeah, this place certainly is pretty cool.

What a wonderful day to sit outside for lunch on a rooftop cafe. Warm but a bit breezy and…read moreeventually rain chased us off the roof. The food is Fancy Hank's BBQ from downstairs but it was the open fresh air that did it for me.