Before the inclusion of cues and throwing, early bowlers and billiards players had to coerce balls into moving with a combination of tough love and Socratic rhetoric. Save debating energy with today's Groupon: for $15, you get $30 worth of bowling and billiards at Poplar Creek Bowl in Hoffman Estates.

Poplar Creek Bowl procures an abundance of lacquered bowling lanes and cloth-cloaked billiard tables for family-friendly bouts of 10-pin and eight-ball competition. Stone-rollers swagger in for a game on one of 32 lanes, each outfitted with automatic scoring to provide unbiased tallying services ($3.25 weekday afternoons, $4.25 after 5 p.m. and on weekends). After lacing up their kicks ($3.50 shoe rental), bowlers can take turns approaching the foul line to deliver their signature release and enjoy the sweet sound of pins crashing together and then immediately apologizing to one another. The spacious pool hall allows felt-dwelling sharks 18 years or older to rent tables for cue-based dueling with formidable foes and chain-smoking parrots who keep asking if you want to “take things outside” ($8/hour or $12/hour after 5 p.m.).