Free Play Lanaken

Here are some pictures of our visit to Free Play in Lanaken, Belgium.
This is the largest retro arcade in Belgium. It's the collection pinball machines and arcades games that one collector opened up to the public. As the name indicates, all machines are on free play, you pay an entrance fee.

What's different from other pinball musea I've visited, is that there is a lot of space. The arcade is in an industrial area, occupying two very large rooms. It's very spacious, there's room to add more machines, but the hallways are also wide enough so that it never feels small or crowded.
The pinball machines are set against the outer walls, arcade machines in rows in the center. At the entrance there are some booths, and spread around are enough chairs to sit down and relax. The overall look is nice, this is not just an empty hall where a lot of machines are dumped, attention has been paid to the look and feel of the environment.

Free Play has a nice collection, it's a mix of different types machines. Both popular titles (like Addams Family) as a lot of lesser known or more rare games. All played well (and technical problems are solved quickly), most machines were in excellent condition.

Pinball machines are since a few years increasing in popularity. Barcades are getting really popular in the USA, it's nice to see that in Belgium similar initiatives are starting and that there's also a lot of interest of the public.