84 FUN & GAMES BEST ASU FOOTBALL TAILGATE PARTY DOS EQUIS PITCHFORK PREGAME 1151 S. FOREST AVE., TEMPE SUNDEVILS.COM/FANS-COMMUNITY/ GAME-DAY/TAILGATES Less family-friendly than Sparky’s Touch- down Tailgate (but still fun for the kiddos), the Dos Equis Pitchfork Pregame tailgate is free to attend. Located on the north side of Desert Financial Arena, it offers the game- day essentials: giant screens showing college football from around the country, lawn games, inflatables like mini golf and football toss, cheap hot dogs, cheap slices of Vene- zia’s Pizza, $4 Dos Equis beers and air- conditioning and bathrooms just inside the basketball arena. Grab a cold one, catch an East Coast game, challenge your friends and soak up some pre-kickoff buzz before making the hop and skip to Mountain America Stadium. i i i BEST STADIUM SPORTSBOOK CAESARS SPORTSBOOK AT CHASE FIELD 201 S. FOURTH ST. 602-462-3800 MLB.COM/DBACKS/BALLPARK/CAESARS- SPORTSBOOK Hard to believe, but it’s been five years since Arizona joined the sports betting fray. Back when COVID-19 vaccines and Dogecoin were the rage, the ceremonial first bets in state history were conducted outside of what would become the Caesars Sportsbook at Chase Field facility. Inside you’ll find 22,300 square feet spread across two floors and Guy Fieri’s maximalist menu at the Guy Fieri’s DTPHX Kitchen + Bar on the bottom floor. While the restaurant itself sports a … mixed bag, review-wise, the overall game-day expe- rience is fantastic for enjoying an ice-cold Peroni on tap and watching sports across 1,500 square feet of LED screenage. Plus, unlike futzing on the apps, there’s a joy to literally cashing your bet at the window when your +650 longshot hits. i i i BEST PHOENIX SPORTS TRADITION ‘THE TRAIN’ Have you ever wanted to do a conga line with a fun dozen of your closest friends across the floor of a professional basketball game? Get off your asses and watch a Phoenix Mercury home game from the comfort of Mortgage Matchup Center. While the Mercury don’t do the dance at each of their home games (unfortunately), the WNBA stalwarts do invite their fans out onto the court (usually during the fourth quarter) from time to time. The tradition, lovingly referred to around town as “The Train,” may be the greatest mid-game fan activation event in all of professional sports, though we’ll simply winnow our focus here and say that catching it as Alyssa Thomas and company hand down a can of whoop- assery is as close to a can’t-miss event as you’ll find in and around Phoenix. i i i BEST MASCOT SCORCH The ideal sports mascots, like elite Muppets, blend adorable animals with a touch of the absurd. The Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA nailed that mission back in 2002, when the club introduced their purple-and-orange mascot Scorch, whose birthplace is literally the planet Mercury. While Scorch’s genetic makeup remains a mystery — the team’s website describes the lovably scraggly crea- ture as “an extraterrestrial visitor” — the one thing we know for sure is that Scorch is one hell of a hang. Between the gameday antics, such as playing multiple rounds of rock, paper, scissors and riding an oversized moped onto the floor of a playoff game as it was taking place, the Mercury’s mascot is up for pretty much anything. i i i BEST $1 BEER NIGHT PHOENIX RISING STADIUM 3801 E. WASHINGTON ST. 623-594-9606 PHXRISINGFC.COM If you’re a beer drinker choosing among summer sporting events, you do have choices. You can watch a game from an air- conditioned arena while paying $14 for a 12-ounce Budweiser. Or you can brave a seat outside in the 102-degrees-at-sunset bleacher seats and mainline ice-cold Modelos for $1 each. Plenty of fans choose the latter, chugging beers by the thousands on $1 Beer Nights at Phoenix Rising Soccer Stadium. Watery Mexican pilsners take the edge off the summer heat and fuel a stirring atmosphere where supporters pound drums, wave flags and fog the stadium with red smoke after every Rising goal.