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Screen Play Arcade: My Childhood in Pixels.

Updated: Oct 11, 2022

UPDATE: Wow, my very first article! Mad props if you scrolled down to here. Retro Injection has come a long way since this entry, and the former Screen Play Arcade has been moved across the country! (And back again.)

 

Having a home arcade had been a dream of mine since I was six, circa 1987. I was living in Tarentum, PA, and my dad had purchased a Cinematronics Solar Quest machine. Despite being too small to play it, I thought it was the coolest thing ever:

Cinenatronics Solar Quest machine.

Our old house has since been torn down. In 2016, I took my wife to visit the former location, and she snapped the following picture:

Corbet St., Tarentum, PA.

Screen Play Arcade isn't a thing anymore. Here's my current setup, Ghosts of the '80s. (The original blog post continues below the video.)


 

The desire for a home arcade was the driving force behind my purchase of a house in 2008. When I entered the room in the video for the first time, I said to myself, "This is the arcade." Upon purchase, the foreclosed house was a disaster. It took about a year before the arcade started coming together. It went through many iterations and name changes before arriving at the product you see today. I hope this video inspires others who are dreaming of the seemingly impossible:


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Dave Fife is the driving force behind retroinjection.com, a nostalgia blog focusing on the pop culture of the '80s and '90s. Retro Injection places an emphasis on movie reviews, classic video games and vintage toys. 

An authority on the 1980s and a member of the Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, Dave is the creator of the acclaimed documentary, Time-Out: History of a Small-Town Arcade. He wrote the forward to the breakdance movie book, There's No Stopping Us: Untold Story of Breakin' from Australia to Venice Beach by Tony and Doug Pichaloff. Mr. Fife has appeared in several low-budget horror flicks

 

The New York Times revised an article pertaining to the Super Mario character after Dave sent them a correction. At that point, he was just showing off.

Contact Dave through the site's chat button!

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Retro Injection showcases the pop culture of the '80s and '90s. This era's movies, music, technology and toys will never stop being awesome, so join us for a trip back in time!

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