As a wedding gift, we got A Year of Dates set – a box of 52 sealed cards with an idea for a date on each one. The most recent one was all about going bowling, so we decided to give the new Tenpin bowling alley in Milton Keynes a try.

Inside was bright and colourful, full of the lights of arcade games as well as the bowling alleys. The reception desk is on the far side of the room, next to the bar; as we had booked and paid online, check-in was quick and easy, and our lane was ready for us.

We really liked the layout of the lanes – each one had its own booth which, although you could still see the people either side of you when going up to bowl, gave an element of privacy. There was a display on the side wall of the booth which showed the scores (again, this could only be seen by the people in your booth), and an interactive screen where you could enter names and take a selfie. Although it was quite busy, with people playing on either side of us, it wasn’t too noisy due to the walls of the booth.

It was the first time we’d been bowling in ages and we had both great fun, even though I lost both games (one by only 2 points!).

It was still quite early when we finished our two games, so we had a wander around the place to see what else was on offer. As well as a bar and seating area for food and drinks, there were also pool tables, table tennis, air hockey, and a section packed with arcade games. At the back of the room there are other activities, all of which have to be prebooked: laser tag, karaoke, and escape rooms. Although we weren’t able to do any of those that evening, we’ve already booked an adventure in the Escape From Alcatraz room – stay tuned to find out what it’s like!

As we only had £4 on us and all the arcade games only take cash, we had to choose carefully. We decided to go for a game of air hockey first. Unfortunately, the machine ate our coin without giving us the hockey puck, but the staff were very helpful and gave us a pound back to use in a different air hockey machine.

Our final game of the night was an alien shooting game which cost £1 each. It was great fun, but I have no idea what either of our final scores were!

Overall, our date night at Tenpin, Milton Keynes, was really enjoyable and I would thoroughly recommend a visit. You can book all their activities online here; they have some great deals on different days, with and without food and drink included.