Arcade review #4: Free Play Lanaken

Here we are again for a new arcade review that was in demand. The Free Play arcade in Lanaken by Schlager singer Fabrizio. (no, I’m serious)

This arcade has been around for several years and I think it is also one of the better known ones, here in Flanders and on the Dutch border as they are only 10 minutes away from Maastricht. So you can make a day of it with a day of shopping and an evening of gaming.

I went to Lanaken with 2 other friends on a Friday evening. Coincidentally, it was also karaoke that evening, something they organize every month. We didn’t spend a minute on this since we were there for the arcade, but there was a group that was having a good time there.

To start at the beginning, you pay €17.50 for an evening of Free Play 7pm-11pm (so all machines can be played without paying extra). You can get a kind of savings card where you can collect stamps and which gives you free entry if you have been there 10 times, definitely worth it!

Pinball en retro cabinets

After entering the entrance you are greeted by a life-size Deadpool with a row of pinball machines in the middle of the room and a lot of old school arcades on the sides. Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, The Simpsons, Street Fighter, Golden Ax etc. I have some doubts whether they are not repro cabinets, but in the end it doesn’t matter that much as long as they play well. The pinball machines here are also definitely worth a visit! Right behind Deadpool is… Deadpool from Stern with insider connect so you can keep track of your score! Right next to it is a very nice Stranger Things from Stern with the special UV lighting kit. This activates when you have to fight the Demogorgon, be careful because it is quite difficult to see your ball with all that flickering, shoot the ball straight into its mouth in one shot for a nice bonus btw. There are 2 other Stern cabinets with insider connect in the other room (Godzilla and Iron Maiden), to be honest I had put them together but oh well. They did have 2 older Stern cabinets next to it without insider connect. On the other hand you can find Indiana Jones and Attack from Mars (2017 remake). The rest of the pinball machines can be found in the other room. Here you can find Star Trek and Shrek, but also Jurassic Park and the classic Playboy. (Depending on how well you can play, there is still something to see 👀) Unfortunately I have to say that I noticed that the pinball machines needed some maintenance here and there. Some shots were impossible to make (flippers not adjusted properly), some lights were broken and the triggers were not set strong enough. As a casual person you won’t notice much of this, but if you are a real player you may be annoyed by it.

Racing & Shooting

But there is much more to see than just pinball games and retro arcade games. So you still have 2 air hockey tables, a pool table, 2 basketball machines and a gempusher filled with candy (5 scoops for 1 €). My buddy had tried it once and we agreed that it could use a little more candy. Sometimes you scooped, but there was not enough candy to pick up anything. (Just buy something at the cash register, there is plenty of choice in terms of drinks and food at reasonable prices. You are not allowed to take it into the arcade.) They also have a nice collection of racing games such as Daytona USA 2, D1GP and my personal favorite from the past, Crazy Taxi. Please note that the seat part is a bit loose, so I would not immediately lean your full weight against it. Furthermore, very cool racing games. There is also a Terminator Salvation near the racing machines (man, that gun wears out after a while) and a Transformers cabinet where you can sit and shoot some Decepticons. In the left room you will find an original Terminator 2, Operation Wolf, Area 51 and also a Time Crisis 2! I would come here for this cupboard alone. The only other location with this cabinet in Belgium is the Activ in Tongeren. However… here too there are some flaws, the screen of the left Time Crisis is not properly adjusted, causing it to be zoomed in too much, making it sometimes very difficult to hit certain enemies. Furthermore, the recoil on that gun is also broken. This was already the case when I was there a few months ago. The right side works well (although I have the feeling that the screen is too dark) and I have set my previous high score a little higher. (For those who want to show me that they are better, go ahead) I would also like to mention the Star Wars Battle Pod. DEFINITELY PLAY! Very chic cabinet, just a shame about the pink glow on the screen due to the neon lighting behind it.

Rhythm games

Something that is unique about this arcade is the amount of classic rhythm games. Really great, Guitar Hero, Dancing Stage Euromix (kind of GDR), Taiko, MaiMai, PopnMusic and Groove Coaster (unfortunately the one on the left didn’t work, I couldn’t get it to work). Even though half of these games are Japanese versions, you shouldn’t think too much about it and just choose something fun. I was lucky enough to happen to see a pro playing on the MaiMai, I think I should have filmed it to slow down the footage to see what he was just doing, very impressive. I also think the Taiko has had a new skin put on it as I remember it being in worse condition, it now plays perfectly. Try playing Ievan Polkka on the highest difficulty for a challenge. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the Groove Coaster on the left to work so I couldn’t play it against each other. Don’t know if it was just me or if something was wrong. The coin door was certainly open. By the way, you can connect earphones to some of these machines, which can be useful because if everyone is playing these games, it becomes a cacophony of sounds. Which brings me back to something that can be a minor drawback for some, it can get a bit loud with all those sounds mixed together.

Old consoles & Varia

As I mentioned earlier there is also a Karaoke room in the back, I seem to remember that you could also play here on a Switch. However, there is another room on the left of this room that I had completely overlooked. here you can play on original consoles such as the NES, PS1 and the Sega Master System. If there wasn’t karaoke, I might have found it. It certainly looks cool with original CRT screens so you can play light gun games like Duck Hunt. I have honorable mentions for the Doodle Jump (unfortunately the start button has been broken for about a year or more, but it still works!) and the arm wrestling machine. Very nostalgic thing, fun to try with sizes.

Conclusion

This is a good arcade for a casual player who doesn’t care too much about bugs here and there. There is a very good mix of pinball games (some of which are quite expensive collector’s items), shooters, racers, casual games and rhythm games. It’s also nice that they are open 4 hours so you can hang out a little longer. Mind you, when the time is up, the time is really up and everything is simply ended with a thud. So if you are just playing a good game, you are out of luck. If my photos seem a bit underexposed, it is due to the lighting there, it was also quite dark in the room on the left. What struck me now was that it was not that warm. I saw that the fairly large room was heated with a few small electric fires. I don’t get cold easily and since there are some games that make you feel warm it wasn’t much of a problem, but if you only come to play pinball or if you have a friend who gets cold easily, it can be a bit of a disadvantage. In the summer it is a bit too hot, a disadvantage of such a factory building I assume.

Final Score

For me they get an 8/10 for the pinball machines (if they would get a little more maintenance it would be a 9 for me as they really do have a good selection, but for a real pinball player it can be a bit frustrating sometimes. For the arcade games themselves they get a deserved 9/10. Even though they are not all in tip-top condition, I can forgive it more here because there is such a wide variety of machines and usually there are not such major problems that spoil the entire game Overall this is an 8.5/10.

If you want to visit yourself, they are open on Fri (7pm-11pm), Sat (1pm-5pm & 7pm-11pm) and Sun (1pm-5pm). During the Christmas holidays they will also open specially during the afternoon, so if you want to do something different with the kids, this might not be a bad trip. I know that The Zone in Paal will also be open during the afternoon during the Christmas holidays. Just check out their Facebook pages or check out their respective sites for more info. https://www.freeplaylanaken.com/ & https://www.thezonepaal.be/

Maybe it would also be nice to buy an entrance ticket to one of these places and put it under the Christmas tree for those who are still looking for something?

Next reviews:

I still have a few places in mind. Activ in Tongeren, Atom City in Lille, Game-inn in Waregem, The Gaming Factory in Tilburg, Reflex in Ostend, Sportland in Blankenberge… I’ll see what I end up with next year. Hopefully my reviews have been useful to you and I will continue next year!

Previous reviews:

Gamestate Antwerp: 3/10 https://www.reddit.com/r/belgium/comments/1o3vu9r/arcade_review_gamestate_antwerpen/

The Zone (Pole): 8.5/10 https://www.reddit.com/r/belgium/comments/1oi6dvp/arcade_review_the_zone_paal/

National Video Game Museum (Zoetermeer NL): 9.9/10 https://www.reddit.com/r/belgium/comments/1owte4l/arcade_review_on_tour_nationaal_videogame_museum/