2025 special guests

  • Ellen McLain

    Ellen Mclain

    The one and only voice of GLaDOS from the Portal gaming series made famous in 2007 selling 30 million copies on Steam alone. The song from the Portal finale, Still Alive is a core memory for gamers.

    Read Bio
  • JOHN PATRICK LOWRIE

    JOHN PATRICK LOWRIE

    the voice of the Sniper in TF2 as well as DOTA2, Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Halo:Reach, Halo:ODST, Infamous, F.E.A.R.2: Project Origin, Half-Life 2 and as characters in many other video games.

    Read Bio
  • BRIAN F COLIN

    BRIAN F COLIN

    The creator of many classic arcade hits including Rampage, Xenophobe, Pigskin 621, Arch Rivals and Zwackery as well as many more at both Bally/Midway and his gaming studio, Game Refuge.

    Read Bio
  • Stern Pro Circuit

    STERN PRO CIRCUIT

    FPF proudly hosts the annual Stern Pro circuit pinball tournament as one of the best silverball events showcasing some of the best players in the world and the unstoppable Florida crew.

    Stern Pro Circuit

2025 Panel Schedule

This year at Free Play Florida, we opened up our panel and workshop programming to the community. We are thrilled to have both experts and passionate fans bringing you great discussions, tutorials, contests and other fun along with panel sessions with our special guests.

Friday

  • 4:30pm to 5:30pm - Closing the Gender Gap in Video Games
    Hosted by Elizabeth Serowka, Cody Clement, Conor Fratus


    Did you know that 50% of modern gamers are women? However, many of us girlies haven't been playing games for all that long. Let's discuss the history of video games and what led to such a great number of women & girls playing today!


  • 5:45pm to 6:45pm - Indie Video Game Design & Community Impact With Montana's Team KAIZEN
    Hosted by Joshua Hughes


    Members of Team KAIZEN, Montana's 1st PlayStation and Xbox certified game development team, will talk about what it's like being an indie studio, demonstrate the 2 games they're currently developing and speak on the importance of doing educational outreach programs as a studio.

  • 7:00pm to 8:00pm - Video Game Voice Acting with Ellen McLain and John Patrick Lowrie


    Ellen and John have lent their voices to video games for over 20 years, with hits such as Half Life 2, Halo Reach, Cyberpunk 2077, Left 4 Dead, Portal, Dota 2, and many more between them. Hear their stories in the world of video games and how to find success as a voice actor.


    8:15pm to 9:15pm - Video Game Name That Tune, presented by Ongaku Overdrive


  • Love video game music? Test your knowledge with     Ongaku Overdrive's Name That Tune to win prizes and bragging rights. There will be five rapid-fire rounds with categories ranging from NES to the games of today.


    9:30pm to 10:30pm - So you want to Twitch?

  • Hosted by HammysHangout


  • Learn more about Twitch, what it is, and how you can be a part of this great platform and start streaming from some of Free Play Florida’s most dedicated streamers!

SATURDAY

  • 10:30am to 11:30am - How to Repair: Pinball Flippers
    Hosted by Leon Essex

  • Learn about the history of the pinball flipper, parts break down, tips/tricks, full repair/replacement examples with actual mechanisms.

    11:45am to 12:45pm - Play Our Games! Indie Game Dev Rapid Fire
    Hosted by Kent Ward

  • Every year, Free Play Florida has an exciting area featuring games from independent developers. Now you get to meet all of them as they pitch their games to you! See what this year’s FPF indie devs have to offer.

    1:00pm to 2:00pm - Brian F. Colin’s ARCADE HISTORY TOUR

    Ever wonder what its video game design & development was like back in the day? International Video Game Hall of Fame game designer Brian F Colin gives a multi-media presentation about over forty years of Video Game Design & Development. His game credits include over 90+ titles, including RAMPAGE, GENERAL CHAOS, XENOPHOBE, ARCH RIVALS, RAMPAGE WORLD TOUR,  STAR TREK VOYAGE,  SPY HUNTER, DISCS OF TRON and dozens more! 


    2:15pm to 3:15pm - Still Alive: Behind the Scenes at Valve with Ellen McLain and John Patrick Lowrie

  • Portal. Half Life. Team Fortress. Left 4 Dead. Valve has created some of the most iconic video games and Ellen and John got to be a part of many of them. From GLaDOS to the Sniper in Team Fortress 2, hear many stories from what it was like behind the scenes at Valve.

    3:30pm to 4:30pm - Video Game Preservation Hosted by Daniel Fandino, PhD.

  • Video game preservation efforts are seeking to maintain games as historical artifacts and as part of a collective cultural heritage for future generations. However, this process is not as straightforward as it would seem. This panel discusses the current state of video game preservation and the challenges preservationists face.


  • 4:45pm to 5:45pm - 40th Anniversary Retrospective on the NES and Super Mario Bros Hosted by Kent Ward and Brotha Kyo


  • Four decades ago, Nintendo saved the home videogame market with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System in America. We look back on the critical moments, favorite games, and controversies of the NES era and how video games became a major part of pop culture.

    6:00pm to 7:00 pm - Mama Mia! A Nintendo-Themed Game of Jeopardy!
    Hosted by Elizabeth Serowka, Cody Clement, Conor Fratus


  • Three Lucky Audience Members have a chance to flex their questions and compete to become the champion of "Mama Mia!", a Nintendo-Themed game of Jeopardy!

    7:15pm to 8:15pm - A Short History of Video Game Moral Panics
    Hosted by Daniel Fandino, PhD.

    This panel provides an overview of video game moral panics, including the furor over Exidy's Death Race in the 1970s, the early image of the arcade as dens of iniquity, the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in the 1990s, and the lingering concern over first person shooters.


    8:30pm to 9:30pm - Game Collecting for fun and (probably not) Profit
    Hosted by Free Play Florida Console Group

  • A discussion on game collecting. From Atari to Modern Consoles, Pinballs and everything in between. We cover how the hobby started, how it's going and how to survive its highs and lows. Covering Console Gaming as well as Arcade and Pinball Collecting!

SUNDAY

  • 10:30am to 11:30am - Keeping EM Pinball Machines Alive
    Hosted by Douglas Gates


    A discussion of Electromechanical machines: how they work, how to troubleshoot and repair.  It will include common terms and techniques and will focus on the schematic, how to read it and how to understand the logic paths.  Douglas will be using videos and his personal machines to demonstrate.


    11:45am to 12:45pm - Let's Design an Arcade Cabinet!
    Hosted by Adrian Munoz, Neil Hernandez, and Brian F. Colin


    Arcade cabinet makers and the legendary Brian F. Colin (Rampage, Spy Hunter, Discs of Tron) about their personal tools and processes and treating cabs like a canvas, with the goal of designing an arcade cabinet together with the audience.


    1:00pm to 2:00pm - The Story of Hazard: Making a Game in NESmaker
    Hosted by GV Gaming


  • Gilbert Vera made his game Hazard using NESmaker. He will discuss how that happened, working with NESmaker for development, and what it took to get the game completed and published.


    2:15pm to 3:15pm - Who's that Pokémon? Trivia Battle!

    Hosted by Elizabeth Serowka, Cody Clement, Conor Fratus


  • Are you a Pokémon Master? Flex your Pokémon knowledge and tell us... Who's That Pokemon! (And remember, no Pokédexes allowed)