Opened in 2012, Arkadia Retrocade is a video arcade located in Fayetteville’s Evelyn Hills Shopping Center. Customers are welcome to play arcade games varying from Pacman to Street Fighter, for however long as they desire after paying the 5 dollar cash only fee.

Owner Shea Mathis said he started the arcade business because of unemployment. He had never owned a business before, and when he was out of a job, Mathis said he decided to “not go back doing the same work.”

“I grew up with arcades, but they died out probably in the early 2000s or so,” Mathis said. “Nobody in this state had done anything like this back, so I opened this place and people have been showing up ever since.”

Mathis collected arcade games from sales and auctions. After retrieving them, he and his coworkers hotwired them for customers to freely play. People around the community even donated posters, old toys and arcade games.

“When I was a little dude, the movie theaters used to have a little arcade in front of a few games,” Mathis said. “They don’t even do that anymore these days, and it’s harder to find the older games.”

The layout of the games is “a bit of feng shui” according to Mathis. He organized the most popular games towards the front of the store, so they are the first opportunities customers see when they walk in. He has games ranging from the early 80s to the late 90s.

“There’s a bit of a timeline in the way everything’s laid out,” Mathis said.

Mathis named the arcade after the realm Arcadia in Greek mythology. He said he was also inspired by an old French Japanese collaborative anime in the 80s called Les Mondes Engloutis, which was Americanized in Nickelodeon as Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea. He spelled his project with a “k” in reference to Arkansas and for phonetic purposes.

“The world they lived in under the ocean was called Arcadia,” Mathis said. “I would wake up early in the mornings to watch that cartoon and always remembered that magical land.”

Mathis said he thinks people are paying for “nostalgia for the old days” when they come to his arcade. He said as a small business owner who struggles, it is the community support that keeps it alive.

“They kept me alive for 10 years, and I appreciate that,” Mathis said. “A small business like mine relies on the community here for support, and I hope that I can be supportive of the community in return.”