Bowling in Bamako

I'd heard much talk about our local bowling alley/night club/Lebanese restaurant, but last night I finally made it there! Some new and old friends started the night with some mezze in the fancy sit-down restaurant upstairs. Then we headed downstairs for the bowling.

In addition to the fancy dance floor on the bottom -- with built-on-a-column DJ booth -- there were 10 bowling lanes, a bunch of pool tables, a fancy air hockey table and a few arcade-style sports games. On the right, here's a picture of my espresso with awesome sauce rock-n-bowl stirrer. Like an idiot, I forgot to take it home with me for future glow in the dark usage.

But one of my favorite parts of the night came at the very end. New friend Molly and I tackled the team player option of the basketball arcade game. It had four levels. You had to get a 50 to move past the first level. We did that no problem.


On the second level, and from then on out, the basket moves back and forth. You have to get at least 100 points on each of the second and third levels to advance. By our fifth try, we made it all the way to the end, the 4th level.

And while we didn't set a new record, we came pretty close! 326 isn't far from 369!!! It is possible that our shouting and cheering -- and relatively high scoring -- attracted attention from the waiters, pool players and other assorted party goers. Let's not say that a crowd formed. Let's say there was a body of interest.

So I daresay I'll be back. Awesome food + bowling + silly games + awesome dance floor = good times. And maybe next time we'll get a little closer to setting a new basketball record.