Free Play Florida: 2023 Review
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’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:
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:
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:
Free Play Florida is a great chance to socialise too. I was able to catch up with familiar faces involved with the event:
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!
Feedback from the gameshow was very positive – expect something bigger and better for this year’s event!
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:
Check out a couple of video walkthroughs of Free Play Florida 2023, to see everything on display:
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
