Your childhood may be officially over, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop playing video games. In fact, gaming is so popular among adults now that a recent Pew Research Center study found that 53% of adults between 30 and 49 report regularly gaming. For those of us who grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s and refuse to completely grow up, sometimes the only games that will do are the games of our childhoods. To help scratch that retro itch, Free Play Arcade is opening a new location in Fort Worth offering the best vintage games playing on original hardware. Best of all? All games are free with admission.
Free Play Arcade offers Fort Worth-area games the opportunity to relive the classic coin-op arcades of our youth. Games like Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, and even Mortal Kombat can be played alongside a wide-ranging collection of original pinball machines. In between gaming sessions, visitors to Free Play Arcade can down a few craft beers or pound a street taco or pressed sandwich.
Free Play president Corey Hyden says that while the DFW area already has a few retro arcades, this new location will stand out thanks to its size. “It is one of the best properties we’ve ever seen,” says Hyden, who searched Fort Worth for the perfect location for two years before discovering this building in the Near Southside district. “With our business model, putting more than 100 games in a location, no matter what we have to be in a pretty big spot. Big enough to support everything we wanted.”
One of the most unique features of the new Fort Worth Free Play Arcade will be a game-less 3,000-square-foot rooftop bar for those who just want a place to grab a brew with friends. Free Play Arcade hopes the new location will open to the public this fall.
Free Play Arcade will open in the former home of the Fairmount Music Hall near Magnolia Avenue at 1311 Lipscomb St.
