New York

In a city where just about every concept for a bar has been exhausted, the owners of Floyd have found something new. Along one wall of this Brooklyn Heights watering hole is a bocce ball court complete with clay surface, a bunch of solid bocce balls, a chalk scoreboard, and posted house rules. For the uninitiated, bocce, a type of lawn bowling, is a simple game in which two teams try to position their balls closest to a smaller neutral ball (called a pallino by Italians). In New York, and pretty much everywhere else, it’s played in parks by old European men with hiked up pants and a mean underhand roll. Obviously on the weekend, your chances of getting on the court at this bar are slim, unless you get there real early. But on the weekdays, when things are quieter in Brooklyn Heights, you’ll probably be able to walk right in and get your bocce on. If not, the rest of the bar is spacious, with plenty of couches and tables, making a trip to Floyd a good time whether you take a roll or not.

Photo:  Krikor Daglian