Still irate because the video arcade era went out of style like playing Parcheesi on Friday nights?

Do you need something to fill the void in your life after losing an integral part of your childhood?

Well, one remedy all you old-school video arcade fans might want to try is to frequent a nearby cyber cafe.

Justin Kim, owner of Cybertron Internet Plaza, 901 Lucinda Ave. says Internet cafes are “totally different” than arcades.

Kim said people go to arcades only for entertainment purposes. When they go to an Internet cafe, they also have a wide variety of information on the Internet and can check e-mail.

Many people agree that a cyber cafe’s abilities for resources and entertainment don’t compare to the arcades of late.

“You can do much more with a computer,” said senior finance major James O’Keefe.

“[Computers are] more involved. In arcades, you beat it, it’s over. These games you can play forever because there’s no limit to how good you can get,” O’Keefe said.

When asked about the old video arcades, O’Keefe said, “I’ll play ‘Pac-Man’,” proof that old arcades are still sunken into the psyche of many.

Did cyber cafes move into the territory the old video arcades left open?

Rushdi Shakeel, a sophomore electrical engineering major, said that although cyber cafes are technologically superior, they are not the same.

“I don’t think they’ve replaced

. It’s a different type of game that you play here,” Shakeel said. “[It is] better because more people can play.”

At least it’s agreed that today’s style of gaming is superior.

But what is the mythical phenomenon surrounding old video arcades?

Was it the feel of an untouched joystick on the newest “Mortal Kombat” machine?

Or, was it the gratification of racking up more points than your friends on old table top “Pac-Man” games?

No, it was the first thing you could do that many parents “just didn’t understand.”

It was the first act of individualism that was fun, that you couldn’t be punished for.

The dark rooms of people pounding on buttons and ear-piercing sound effects still draw the ideas and dreams of gamers, nerds and anyone that wants to chomp little white pills and munch ghosts.