Imagine a small, stuffy, dimly lit cavern filled with kids huddled around monstrous machines, frantically stabbing at buttons and wrestling with sweaty joysticks while the technicolor reflects off of their bloodshot eyes.

This is the arcade-a geek haven. In its heyday, kids would be lined up down the block, eager to try their luck against Donkey Kong or Pac Man.

These days the arcade just seems like a distant memory. The hosts of Play Value at onnetworks.com agree.

“Looking at arcades now is like looking at a malt shop in the 50s,” the website states. “It’s just not a thing we have anymore.”

Robert Altgilbers, a UNA student, had to think hard about the last time he went to an arcade.

“The last time I went to an arcade was … maybe two years ago?” Altgilbers said. “Two of my favorite games would definitely be ‘House of the Dead’ and air hockey.”

Finding an arcade can be like trying to track down an endangered species; some malls don’t even have them anymore. Luckily the local Regency Square Mall doesn’t fall into that category.

The manager of PowerPlay at the Regency Square Mall, Darrell Shelton, said the arcade is still pretty popular.

“The weekends are very busy, definitely,” he said. “We see a lot of people on the holidays, we get field trips; most people come in one or two at a time, but we stay pretty busy.”

While that may be true, the arcade is still a mere shadow of its former glory. Arcade-history.com shows that in 1979, 339 arcade games were manufactured. In 1982 it spiked by more than 100 with production increased to 481. Production was never as high again, at least until the Internet came on to the scene. Only 44 arcade games have been produced so far in 2011.

The host of PlayValue stated, “By the early 80s, there were about 1.5 million arcade machines in the country, with people playing over two million hours a year. The video game industry, from the late ’70s to the early ’80s pulled in $20 million a year, which was more than football, major-league baseball, and basketball combined.

They went on to say that the 1985 release of Nintendo revitalized the entire gaming industry, putting an emphasis on playing video games in the home.

So will video games replace the arcade? Altgilbers believes that while video games can’t replace the classic arcade games, they will eventually replace the arcade.

“Who wants to pay for something just to play it once?” Altgilbers said. “Why go outside when you have everything at home?”

However, Shelton still believes that the arcade has a lot of life left to go.

“I think arcades have evolved,” said Shelton. “Most places have redemption, where you can exchange tickets for prizes.”

He went onto say the quarter-pinching habits of people trying to redeem the high score on a video game may die.

“People come for the social aspect of it,” Shelton said. “There’s a lot of energy in here. I see kids make beelines for the arcade, so the parents will always bring them.”

Although the arcade is still enjoyed by people of all ages, there may be a time in the near future where it will be up to the nostalgic old schoolers to keep the memory alive.