2023 Review – The Arcade Blogger

I’ll start with an apology – I’m rather ashamed that its taken me this long to post my review of last year’s event! It completely passed me by, and its only the recent announcement of the 2024 dates, that reminded me I didn’t share this write up. So let’s put that right!

I’ve been flying stateside for a few years now to attend Florida’s premier arcade gaming event, Free Play Florida. Check out some previous recaps here. After missing a couple of years due to Covid and illness, I was excited to get back in November last year to catch up with everyone and soak up a bit of winter sunshine.

Free Play Florida is a three-day event that celebrates the history, artistry, competition, and creation of electronic gaming of all kinds. It is driven by the enthusiastic gamers of the southeast. The event features hundreds of arcades, pinball games, consoles, and countless things to learn, play, and see.

FPF’s mission statement

What appeals particularly about the event, is that Free Play Florida is a 501c3 accredited organization, Byte Amusement Group, Inc. and everyone involved in putting this show on, gives their time for free. In other words, it has no commercial arm – all the profits from ticket sales, go back into making the event as good as it can be.

2023 Review – The Arcade Blogger
Free Play Florida 2023!

2023’s event was hosted at a new venue, the RP Funding Center at Lakeland, providing even more space to fill, meaning everything was bigger, better and more enjoyable for visitors. I was asked to attend as a guest and to help out with hosting duties.

So here’s something of a picture tour/diary showing you what went down:

Here’s a good place to start. The backbone of the event are the hundreds of classic arcade cabinets available to play – all for free of course!
This Smash TV from Williams saw a lot of play. It was interesting to see how many strangers rocked up to the cab to play with people they’d never met before
This was definitely a highlight. All four iterations of Midway’s classic Mortal Kombat series
A great variety of games and manufacturers were represented this year
And of course, some more obscure titles. Plenty of cabarets on the floor too!
I really enjoyed this cabinet – a Let’s Go Bowling multicab. It plays Centipede, Missile Command & Millipede. Playing Missile Command on a vertical screen was a new experience on me
This was a highlight – a twin screen Taito Darius
Definitely a contender for most beautiful cabinet of the classic era, this Omega Race by Midway was stunning in the flesh

One of the things that Free Play does well is representing all eras of arcade gaming. This year was no exception, with local collectors coming together to share their love of Japanese candy arcade cabinets. This was the place to be to see and play many of these rare cabinets:

A row of Konami Windy cabinets
Sega Astro City cabs and a very rare Irem Madonna – lovely stuff!
More Astro City cabinets
Taito Egret 29 and an Egret II
A pair of Namco Blanc cabinets, hooked up for two player head to head gaming
Let’s not forget pinball of course. All the latest Stern titles were on display and available to play, as well as an impressively curated collection of classic pins
Plenty of EMs were playable too

As well as video game classics, some new arcade games were on display. Throwback: Jai Alai Heroes was created and built by indie developer Astro Crow. Check out an interview with the creator here. It’s great to be reminded that these smaller devs are still releasing cool stuff like this:

Throwback Jai-Alai Heroes was great fun to play

Free Play Florida is a great chance to socialise too. I was able to catch up with familiar faces involved with the event:

Here’s my buddy Marcel – a local collector who works heard each year and brings some of his cabinets along to the show for the public to play
One of the hardest working people involved with FPF is Brandon here on the right. He runs on little to no sleep, making sure the logistics of the show are on point!

Probably the highlight of the show this year, was the gameshow I was asked to host. This was a series of mini games for the public to play in a daft gameshow format, with the ultimate aim of winning a Multicade arcade cabinet. Although I was well outside my usual comfort zone, The Temple of Mayhem was a great success!

The team behind The Temple of Mayhem. L-R: Matt, Ryan, Jenn, Brandon and myself
The physical challenges were based around classic arcade games. Thankfully, no one was injured in the process!
After two hours of madness, the guy holding the sign was the eventual winner! I’m pictured here in my Pac-Man suit with co-host Jenn May

Feedback from the gameshow was very positive – expect something bigger and better for this year’s event!

As well as hosting the gameshow and a panel or two, I was given the opportunity to offer signed copies of my book. I sold out within a couple of hours – wish I’d taken more!
It still amazes me that someone would ask me to sign their Missile Command cabinet. Happy to oblige!

The educational side of Free Play was evident across the weekend. There’s lots to see and learn – and of course you can get hands on with it all. I didn’t get a decent picture, but the history of pinball is told in an extensive installation. And this was a new one on me – a great piece of Americana:

An original Mold-A-Matic machine. This incredible device literally molds a variety of cool plastic souvenirs as you wait. Here’s one in action

Check out a couple of video walkthroughs of Free Play Florida 2023, to see everything on display:

Freeplay Florida 2023 walkthrough

In summary? Free Play Florida is highly recommended – whether you’re a Floridian resident, or fancy a break from elsewhere, the show caters for all tastes – with videos, pinballs and arcade history, aftershow parties, talks, vendors and gameshows!

Do check out the 2024 dates and get your tickets here – look forward to seeing you in November!

Thanks for reading this week!

Tony

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