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It seems like bowling accessories – the shirts, the shoes – became cool again before the game itself did. For a while, even before "The Big Lebowski," (www.imdb.com/title/tt0118715/, it was impossible not to know someone who’d turn up for parties in thrift-shop-acquired bowling team garb with someone else’s name embroidered on the chest or who bragged of "accidentally" walking out of an alley with their footwear rentals.

MULTIMEDIA Slideshow:  Cosmic bowling: Cooler than you think

Thankfully, that has mostly passed, but bowling itself just keeps getting hipper. This is old news to city-dwellers, who’ve enjoyed bowling lounges for some time. During that summer I lived in Minneapolis (was it ’98? ’99? Can’t remember …), the Bryant Lake Bowl (www.bryantlakebowl.com) was an epicenter of irony. Vintage-wearing, Camel Light-smoking, pilsner-swilling 20-somethings made bowling cool. Several years later, in New York City, I fell in lust under the black lights at Bowlmor Lanes (www.bowlmor.com) in Greenwich Village. The object of my desire gave me cute nicknames in the computerized scorecard and it was a done deal. And now, a chain called Lucky Strike Lanes (www.bowlluckystrike.com), is bringing bowling lounges to the masses (at least to Detroit and Philly, along with 11 other cities).

Here in Portsmouth, we’re not quite there yet. But our own famed (locally) candlepin establishment, the Bowl-O-Rama (www.bowlorama.com), has lanes for the taking for those who want to be ahead of the curve. On a recent Saturday afternoon visit, the atmosphere could be described as "young and edgy" – by which I mean there were a lot of four-year-olds and there were rubber bumpers on the edges of the lanes, eliminating the possibility of gutter balls. It was "Cosmic Bowling" at this "family fun center." This means a "glow in the dark atmosphere," fog machine, light show and DJ spinning corny dance tunes. While "Pink Cadillac" by Aretha Franklin thumped out, teenagers gathered around the soda and candy machines, kids hopped up and down shrieking, and parents wandered about looking dazed in the semi-darkness. OK, so maybe not quite the "young and edgy" crowd at other bowling alleys around the country.

But that’s just the afternoon – we recommend reserving a lane on a weeknight and gathering up friends for an alternative to the same old bar scene. Bowl-O-Rama is open till 10:30 p.m. Monday – Thursday and to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Or – make the trip to Boston for a real bowling lounge (with drinks!). Lucky Strike Boston (www.luckystrikeboston.com) is located at 145 Ipswich St. Visit the site for directions, or call (617) 437-0300.

Other bowling centers around the area: