Well nightlife in Guyana really depends on where you live and gender as well. Along the coast there is more to do in terms of nightclubs, but even a small village will have rum shops. There is a gender imbalance though in these places - a woman usually can't go out for a drink in most of these places on her own, but a guy can. Again, around Georgetown this isn't the case.
Georgetown has the most nightlife, the most thriving area being based around Sherriff Street. Linden has a thriving scene as well, with hundreds of bars but no lavatories.
By far the most popular place for people to hang out is the rum shop. I have four within 20 yards of my house, which is great for the pub crawl. These are open at varying hours on varying days and close when the shopkeeper feels like it. A big plus is the lack of adherence to any closing time restrictions (if indeed there are any such restrictions to be made).
Life in Guyana is simpler than in England. In most places the choice of alcohol is restricted to three types:
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It is very important that rum is drunk properly. The basic stuff is drunk with ice, coke and a good dollop of water. This helps rehydration so the drinking can go on for longer. A cheap night out is at a place where they let you order rum by the bottle, together with coke and a bottle of water. Ice is provided as well You can be less certain about its source than the bottled water so you should make sure your drink is strong enough to kill any bacteria that may be floating around in it.
Common rum comes in two main forms - Eldorado 5 Year and XM. The Eldorado 15 year has consistently been rated as the best in the world - bottles available from the airport departure lounge. The 25 year-old is exquisite, but pricey. This should be tasted in its unadulterated glory - do not mix with Coke!
Also, some posh places still charge by the shot when you order a bottle. Make sure you find out about this before buying. These posh places have a bigger range of drinks including whiskeys.
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The strong stuff comes in many forms - High Wine and Bush Rum are best left for paintstripping purposes.
By far the biggest pub/rum shop/bar game here is Dominoes. As a game, it should be even less physical than darts (you can sit down to play it). However, the good domino player will slam down their dominoes enthusiastically, perhaps in a bid to unnerve the opposition aka screaming in Karate.
Many places have pools (yes there is the s on the end) halls. Georgetowns biggest nightclub (from what I can see) is Buddy's on Sherriff Street - a big pools hall. Many rum shops double up as a place to play pools as well as take in a beer.
The rules for pools are somewhat different to the UK ones. The main difference is that foul shots don't give the opponent free or extra shots. Which seems strange. I do seem to play better pool here than I did in the UK - but I suspect the pockets are bigger on these tables.
Table Tennis tables seem to be popular in some bars as well.
Well dotted around Georgetown. Sherriff Street contains loads of these (Tennessee, Buddy's...) and Main Street has a few, more upmarket/ripoff ones, as well. The music tends to be a mxture of Soca, Reggae, 80s pop music and Indian film music. Different places do different things on different nights.
This is written in 2002 and so may well be out of date if you do make it out there. In particular there has been a lot of violence starting from when I left the country causing some owners to just pack up and head away from the country.