In a shopping mall in Edinburgh, a corner of nostalgia has appeared as if by magic, points to be won and scores to be settled

The fantastical worlds of Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man and Mortal Kombat are hidden behind glass screens in a row of boxy arcade machines.

A line of televisions are hooked to consoles long forgotten or consigned to attics, 8-bit characters hopping cheerfully waiting to be played.

The nostalgia of these games, sourced from collectors across the UK, has been bringing gamers from all generations to The History of Video Games, an interactive event filled with classic and modern consoles.

Arcade games, usually housed in tall machines or sometimes in tabletop format, became popular in the 1970s, the coin operated amusements a way for children and adults alike to while away an afternoon with as much of their pocket money or hard earned cash they could part with.

As technology advanced, gathering at a local arcade was swapped for home machines in the 90s, with the rise of affordable home consoles which ran at a lower cost with games offering more complex graphics.

While today's machines such as the XBox or Playstation play beautifully rendered games taking players to worlds full of endless adventure, Mark Ashmore who organises The History of Video Games explains that the nostalgic element of old-fashioned gaming is bringing gamers to his travelling events.

"We get a lot of people coming in trying to beat their high scores which they made as a teenager," the 37-year-old explains.

"We get groups of friends coming down who are maybe in their 40s who are reliving their teenage years but also we have mums and dads bringing their children in and showing them what they used to play as a kid."

The event is a trip down memory lane for gamers who emerged in the 1970s to 1980s and for those who recall their first home gaming system.

It all began in 2016 when Mark, a video games producer, was discussing how video games had changed over the years with friends, looking at how the games they coveted as youngers have evolved into modern day consoles.

"We thought wouldn't it be great to get all the games together in one place and have a real cool kind of history lesson that wasn't boring," he explains.

"If it was all hands on you could play an Atari from 1977 all the way up to PS4, you could get a history lesson."

Starting off small with space for just 30 people, two years on the team have held six events and entertained hundreds of gamers across generations with their mix of nostalgic and modern day gaming experiences.

Arriving in Edinburgh Ocean Terminal over the Easter holidays, The History of Video Games will aim to show Scots how video games have evolved over the decades.

Mark adds that the event, from March 24 to April 15, a mixture of exhibition and interaction, is cultivated by its fans, who chose over social media which games they want added to the event from a library of 400.

The oldest game in the exhibit is Asteroids, an arcade game from 1976, alongside other classics such as Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Galaga, Street Fighter 2 and Track and Field.

Mark says that a Star Wars vector graphics video game from the 80s is a "cool" addition to the collection, as well as beloved classics like Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog.

Consoles that bring back memories for those excitedly unwrapping large boxes on Christmas and birthdays include SEGA Megadrive, Nintendo 64, SEGA Saturn, Playstations in all guises and handheld devices.

"Over our two-year journey of doing this, we've got to know some amazing collectors and there for the arcade machines because they are so rare," Mark says.

"They loan them to us for the event and we've got to know about 20 different collectors around the UK and we get to pick and choose and curate the machines from them.

"In terms of the consoles, we've been acquiring them from all sorts of places, from Japan and things from America."

For Mark, his own love of games has made it into The History of Video Games event, his 25-year-old SEGA Master System ready to be played by others ready to relive their youth.

"I used to play Enduro Racer on that quite a lot and it was the first game that I ever completed," he says.

"We've got that game and that console, which is my own console, that I've kept all these years."

"For me it all started with the Sega Master System."