“There’s always that place and time where it takes you back to when you were a kid. In a bigger sense, I would say that retro gaming in general has gotten a lot bigger.”

That’s the opinion of David Kaelin CEO and president of Game Over, a new and rapidly expanding chain of nostalgic video game stores opening up across Texas. I hadn’t heard of Game Over until I read this great retro-gaming feature in the Houston Chronicle last week. But there is an unmistakable swell of affection out there among 30 and 40-somethings for the video games of our youth. Disenfranchised techies like us who have seen our games consoles replaced by business machines are rediscovering an urge to meet like-minded souls and talk and trade affectionately over a mutual love of memories such as Donkey Kong, the Super NES, Megaman, Atari and the microcomputer titles of our youth.

The good news is that unlike many other nostalgia addictions, retro-gaming remains inexpensive and accessible for us all. You can track down your regional equivalent of Game On or scour eBay for titles you craved for as a youth but can now pick up for just a few pounds. Or even more conveniently, why not install a console emulator on your laptop, or better still just tap the mobile app market, notably Apple’s AppStore, for seamless ports of classic thumb-numbing fun?

As Bill Loguidice, managing director of the superb video game history site Armchair Arcade told the Houston Chronicle: “Every time there’s a new platform, you inevitably see versions of these games on it. There’s just something timeless about these games.”

We couldn’t agree more. And we’re keen to hear your own take on retro games, especially if you’re an iPhone or iPod Touch gamer. When do you play? What games do you long for? Please complete our survey here.