Best of New York 2010 • Fun

• Full Circle Bar

  318 Grand St., nr. Havemeyer St., Williamsburg; 718-388-7577

  Co-owners Evan Tobias and Eric Harris Pavony opened this Williamsburg bar last fall as a shrine—not to handcrafted bitters or another hot trend in the mixological arts, but to Skee-ball. The diversion defines the bar, from the name (a full circle is when a roller puts all nine balls in the 40-point pocket) to scoreboards repurposed as bathroom mirrors, to the backroom Skee-ball “stadium” with three machines flanked by bleachers and a TV tuned to real-time game broadcasts. The drinks menu—heavy on cheap canned brews like Genesee Cream Ale ($3)—suits the retro-ironic spirit of the place. A semi-competitive Brewskee-Ball league competes Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays, with champions receiving induction into the Full Circle’s hall of fame.

From the 2010 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine