This is part of a series of weekly features about fun forays for families.
We'll highlight all-age summer activities that are inexpensive or even free.
Indoors and outdoors, from libraries to parks, we'll explore all sorts of ways to beat the doldrums.
A rolling, rumbling sound suddenly punctuated by a loud, sharp crack doesn't signal the approach of monsoon rains here.
It's the sound of bowling balls spinning down lanes, finding their mark at the always-air-conditioned Bed-roxx Bowlingcenter.
Bedroxx, 4385 W. Ina Road at North Camino Martin, is 44,000 square feet of space filled with 30 bowling lanes, 20 giant video screens, a video arcade and the Leopard Lounge, which includes billiards and foosball tables, said manager Jane Hall.
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Touting Bedroxx as Tucson's largest indoor entertainment center, Hall said it is a great place for family fun.
But even with all the other activities available at the center, bowling remains the main attraction, said Hall, who started working at Bedroxx four months after it opened in 2003.
"It's an old pastime that has been going on for generations," she said.
"It's a good physical activity for the family and it's indoors where it is cool."
During the Arizona baking season there are summer specials, with $1.99 games, only during open bowling, from Monday through Friday until Aug. 31, she said.
Then there's Rock Bottom Bowling on Mondays, Buck Wild Tuesdays and Club Bedroxx Bowl on Fridays and Saturdays, in which bowlers can knock over some pins and watch videos on the large screens while a DJ spins music.
For those whose musical tastes lay elsewhere, there is karaoke night on Thursday, and every other Friday there is an open mic jam in the Leopard Lounge hosted my Mark Lopez and Mark Baker.
Open mic night gives musicians an opportunity to perform with established and unknown musicians, Lopez said.
"We provide the P.A. system and I usually bring my own drums and bongos," he said.
People are welcome to bring their own rhythm equipment or whatever they need, Lopez said.
"If musicians want to do a certain song, we can pretty much accommodate them," he said.
The next jam session is planned for this Friday, Lopez said.
Also in the Leopard Lounge, there is a foosball tournament every Saturday. There's a $10 entry fee and a 6 p.m. sign-in time followed by a 7 p.m. start. Cash prizes are available.
Bedroxx offers birthday packages, corporate events, group rates and coupons, and is available for fundraising events, Hall said.
"It's indoors, and bowling is a good team sport. Groups work together as teams. All skill levels, all ages can do it," Hall said.
"And a lot of fundraisers are family-oriented as well."
Some of the organizations that have used Bedroxx for their fundraising venue are Junior Achievement, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson, the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, the Girl Scouts and the Marana Optimists Club, she said.
Contact photographer A.E. Araiza at 954-3154 or araiza@azstarnet.com
