FREE PLAY ARLINGTON

We’re here in Texas for the annual Texas Pinball Festival, but before that we found time to visit a couple of prime pinball locations in the area, which meant a trip to see Free Play in Arlington was a must.

Free Play is a chain of five arcades located around the Dallas area, with the first being set up in Richardson in 2015. This Arlington location at 400 E. South Street was their second, opening in 2017. There is plenty of parking right outside, or you can use one of the nearby parking lots.

The pricing structure is a simple pay-on-entry one. It costs $12+tax ($12.99 inc. tax) per person to get your wristband and enter, after which all games are set on free play.

The arcade is split into two areas. The ‘lobby’ for want of a better word is where you enter, while a larger side room contains the majority of the arcade games.

The Lobby has multiple video games up against the walls, as well as a full-service bar and a seating area.

The range of drinks available at the bar is pretty comprehensive, including eight draft taps, a good selection of cans and bottles, plus numerous spirits.

There is a food menu available too, selling items such as sandwiches, hot dogs, pizzas and other hot snacks. Orders are taken at the bar and delivered through a separate serving hatch.

If the weather allows, there are also outside covered tables where you can eat, drink or just take a break from all the gaming action.

Nice as this all is though, we’re here for the pinball.

All the machines are in the second area – let’s call it the Games Room – where the pinballs make up two rows at the back.

We were pleased to see the latest game from Stern Pinball, Jaws, was available to play. Jaws, like several of the recent Stern titles in the line-up, was the Pro version. They weren’t all Pros though. The adjacent The Munsters, for example, was a Premium model.

There is a good mix of the newest and older classic titles available, with Firepower being the oldest.

The second row of pinballs faces the first and includes the Firepower and Cyclone games.

Here’s the full list of the 28 pinballs available at Free Play Arlington:

Row 1	Row 2
Monster Bash The Munsters Jaws The Mandalorian Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Rollergames Iron Man Medieval Madness Black Knight: Sword of Rage Pirates of the Caribbean (JJP) Dialed In! Creature from the Black Lagoon	Deadpool Guardians of the Galaxy Star Wars (Stern) Tron Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends AC/DC Attack from Mars Godzilla Cactus Canyon Rush Family Guy Firepower Checkpoint The Avengers: Infinity Quest Whirlwind Cyclone

All the pinballs we played worked well and without any faults. The only annoyance was a familiar one, where a previous player had started a multiplayer game and then walked away. Not all the machines were configured to let you to press and hold the start button to restart a game, meaning – since we wouldn’t normally switch off and on a location machine – we had to plunge and drain multiple balls from the previous game just to be able to play our game.

Of course, there are far more than just pinballs in the Games Room. There are numerous stand-up and sit-down arcade video games, basketball games and Skee-Ball lanes.

The $12 (+tax) entry fee is certainly good value if you have a couple of hours or more to spend at Free Play. The selection of well-maintained new and classic games provides plenty of entertainment, while the food and drinks options mean you can happily sail through lunch or dinner without having to leave. If you do choose to step away for a break though, there are plenty of assorted dining and drinking options just a short walk away on E. Abram St.