Start your engines: Slot car racing is underway at the Reef

Apparently no one just goes to bars for drinks and conversation anymore. Between Skee-Ball, ping pong, Wii video game nights and spelling bees, interactive entertainment options at bars keep growing. The result? Your childhood community center, but with booze.

The latest entry to a crowded market is at the Reef, where Monday nights now feature H0 slot cars racing around about 70 feet of track. Tables get moved out of the way to make room for a custom-built 8-by-8-foot box that holds two separate tracks full of straightaways and hairpin turns. (The box has raised sides to keep the cars from flying across the room if they jump the tracks.)

Bring your own cars (1/32 scale) or pick one of the Reef's house cars, and race your friends while sipping $3 Pabst Blue Ribbon or Miller High Life drafts. (You can get an extra 10 percent off if you have a 20008, 20009 or 20010 zip code.) Since only four cars can race at the same time, be courteous and don't hog the controller for too long. The races run from 5 p.m. until last call (1:30 a.m.), so there will be plenty of chances to pretend to be 12 again, racing your buddies on the floor in the your den.

-- Fritz Hahn