There's a new white banner with a gear logo on a wood-paneled, blue-glass building at 3390 Valmont Road. On the patio below it sit orange and blue umbrellas. The building is The Werks, a brewpub, bowling alley and bike shop that started in Wheat Ridge. Its Boulder location in the S'park development was set to open Monday, Oct. 26. Axios Boulder counts it as Boulder's second bowling alley. The only other one inside city limits is The Connection, inside CU Boulder's University Memorial Center.
The two keep very different hours. The Werks keeps a bar's hours, with a hard age line at 9 p.m. The Connection keeps a university's hours, and those shift with CU's semester. So before you pick one, check the time of night, who's coming and what week it is.
Two alleys, two clocks
Here are the two side by side, using what each one publishes.
| The Werks, 3390 Valmont Rd. | The Connection, CU's UMC | |
|---|---|---|
| Lanes | Six "boutique" lanes, per the brand | Not posted |
| Day pricing | $14 per person per hour on the booking page | $5 per game for community members |
| Shoes | Included with the $14 summer special | $3 per pair, plus $3 for socks |
| Late night | Cosmic bowling from 9 p.m. to close, $21 per person, 21+ | Closes at 10 p.m. Sun.–Wed., 11 p.m. Thu.–Sat. |
| Reservations | First-come, first-served; groups over 12 call ahead | Highly encouraged; walk-ins when lanes are free |
| Hours follow | The bar | The University Memorial Center |
Prices for a regular weeknight come out close. Four people bowling two games each at The Connection pay $40 in games and $12 for shoes, so $52. At The Werks, an hour for the same four at the $14 rate is $56. But the brand's bowling page calls that $14 a "Summer Bowling Special," while the booking page lists it with no season attached. Ask about the November rate before you count on it. Either way, the money is similar. The bigger differences are the time of night and who can come along.
The Werks keeps a bar's hours
The Werks comes to Boulder at a time when the city is short on sports bars. As Axios Boulder noted, the Dark Horse closed in March after 51 years. BuffHouse, a CU-themed sports bar going into the former Harpo's on Arapahoe Avenue, pushed its opening to November. Demolition of the old Dark Horse building began Oct. 8, the Daily Camera reported. BuffHouse, at 2860 Arapahoe Ave., is still coming. Co-owner Joe Manzanares told Axios the team expanded the bathrooms and added a pizza oven.
The Werks fills a different need than a sports bar. You can spend a whole evening there. Its own launch post on Instagram, as quoted by BizWest, sums up the idea:
"Burgers? Absolutely. Beer? You know it. Bowling? Obviously. A new bike you didn't know you needed? We won't judge."
The concept comes from Wheat Ridge. Owner Paul Porter opened the first Werks there in January 2025, in the old Paramount Bowl space. The Denver Post's profile of that location described six lanes, house beer, pub food, bike sales and service, and cosmic bowling every night from 9 p.m. The brand's website describes the same mix: scratch-made burgers, shareable appetizers, salads, seasonal dishes and a rotating list of beers brewed on site. The bike shop sells and services Velotric, Tracer and Wildsyde e-bikes.
The 9 p.m. line changes the room. After that, cosmic bowling takes over at $21 per person, and the lanes are 21 and older. If you're bringing kids, go early. A late adult night out fits after nine. Six lanes also fill up fast. Lanes are first-come, first-served, and groups larger than 12 that want lanes side by side are asked to call ahead. Boulder-specific hours weren't posted on the brand's site before opening, so check with the venue before you head to Valmont.
Axios also sees The Werks as part of Boulder Junction's slow shift toward a walkable district around its future train stop.
The Connection keeps CU's hours
The other alley in town is on campus, and it's open to the public. During fall and spring semesters, The Connection is open Sunday through Wednesday from 1 to 10 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday from 1 to 11 p.m. The bar closes 30 minutes before the lanes do. Community members pay $5 a game, a dollar and a half more than CU students and 50 cents more than faculty and staff. Reservations for single lanes are highly encouraged at 303-735-BOWL, which is 303-735-2695, and walk-ins get a lane when one is free.
The weekly events page shows a busy semester: Extreme Bowling, Texas Hold 'Em, live music, trivia, and ping-pong and billiards tournaments. Expect a busier room on event nights.
Parking takes the most planning. The UMC lists the Euclid Parking Garage as the closest public parking. Free parking on the Hill may be available, and on-campus parking is extremely limited.
The Connection also closes whenever the UMC closes, and it may run special hours during school breaks and holidays. That puts the next two months of its schedule in the hands of CU's calendar.
Thanksgiving week is when the two schedules split
Late November is when relatives come to town and someone suggests bowling. That same week, CU's calendar takes the campus alley out of its normal routine:
- Nov. 23–25, Monday through Wednesday: CU's fall break.
- Nov. 26–27, Thursday and Friday: campus closed for Thanksgiving.
- Dec. 24, 2026, through Jan. 1, 2027: CU's winter break, with regular campus operations back on Monday, Jan. 4.
The Connection doesn't publish break hours ahead of time, so call 303-735-2695 before taking out-of-town guests to campus in those weeks. The Werks doesn't follow the academic calendar, which makes Valmont Road the more likely choice for an in-town game over the holidays. That holds as long as your group is ready for six lanes on first-come terms and is either done or all 21 and older by 9 p.m.
When the group is bigger than six lanes
A league night, a big birthday or a family reunion with twenty people needs more lanes than either Boulder alley has posted. The closest larger options are short drives away:
- Centennial Lanes, Longmont: 110 E. 9th Ave., 32 lanes, open seven days a week.
- Chipper's Lanes Broomfield: 100 Nickel St., 18 lanes, open 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, per its location page.
Chipper's opens at 10 in the morning, three hours before The Connection, which makes it the choice for bowling before lunch. Centennial's 32 lanes can take a group that would fill The Werks several times over.
For a regular weeknight inside Boulder, the choice is simple. Go to The Connection for $5 games on campus, as long as you've checked whether CU is in session. Go to The Werks for burgers, house beer and a later night, and keep the 9 p.m. age line in mind.
Boulder Junction is changing fast, and new spots like The Werks are part of what neighbors talk about first. If you'd like to talk about how places like this are shaping the blocks around Valmont Road and the future rail stop, Rachel Weinberg is happy to share what she's seeing on the ground. Schedule a Free Consultation.
