Video: This Retro Home Arcade Used to be My Grandmother's Porch.

Welcome to Ghosts of the '80s, my home arcade. It's a tribute to the Time-Out where I grew up and later worked, so its name really refers to the '90s. (Makes sense to me, anyway!) The color scheme and the carpet are exact to my Time-Out in the '90s. The '80s "school hours" sign is from that Time-Out, as are the Vapor Trail cabinet, complete with Time-Out token purse. Other items sourced from my childhood arcade include high score cards; promo items; attendant vest; "for sale" signage; plush toys and redemption tickets. The RoadBlasters is the same cabinet I played at Cyberlink Cafe, a long-gone coffeehouse with an arcade, circa 1995.

(Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed my Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors shirt in the above photo. Here's our review of the film.)

The gameroom involved two cross-country trips: We sold the house in 2019 and painstakingly moved all these machines from New York to Arizona, only to return with the event of inheriting my grandmother's place in 2021. It beat the RV we were living in.

This arcade started off as grandma's porch!

My friends in Arizona help load up the Penske truck.

Two years of Phoenix storage payments were finally over.

Please enjoy the little walk-through, completely free of rambling chit-chat. I'm more of a writer than a narrator. With the exception of the AtGames Legends virtual pinball, all the cabinets are legit vintage pieces. The payphone is fully functional.

Here are some wider shots for detail:

The magnetized photo is of this exact location back in the '70s. Dig that 1981 phone book!

Genuine industrial carpet. In the immortal words of John Hammond, "Spared no expense."

A lot of heavy lifting, patience and insanity went into creating Ghosts of the '80s. Thanks for checking out my home arcade. What's your favorite arcade game? Tell the world in the comment box below!

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