History Analysis / Polybius

* There was a German company which did make a recall of video arcade machines. In 1985, VEB Polytechnik, owned by the [[UsefulNotes/EastGermany East German]] government, produced a video arcade machine called ''Poly Play'', which was based on pirated Russian [=CPUs=] and contained clones of popular Western videogames such as ''VideoGame/PacMan''. 1000 of these were distributed throughout Eastern Europe. Not being wonders of engineering (thus they were often in need of repairing and the cost of operating them was too high), and also there being license and copyright questions after the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall fell (not to mention that the games weren't all that good to begin with, and since the [[TheMoralSubstitute whole reason for the console was to keep DDR youth from "decadent capitalist" video games]] any reason for the consoles to exist ''at all'' evaporated with reunification), these were recalled and destroyed, with only a few surviving. The logo of ''Poly Play'', the name and even the fact that it was German (particularly, Sinneschlösen) serve as inspiration to the legend.

* There was a German company which did make a recall of video arcade machines. In 1985, VEB Polytechnik, owned by the [[UsefulNotes/EastGermany East German]] government, produced a video arcade machine called ''Poly Play'', which was based on pirated Russian [=CPUs=] and contained clones of popular Western videogames such as ''VideoGame/PacMan''. 1000 of these were distributed throughout Eastern Europe. Not being wonders of engineering (thus they were often in need of repairing and the cost of operating them was too high), and also there being license and copyright questions after the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall fell (not to mention that the games weren't all that good to begin with, and since the [[TheMoralSubstitute whole reason for the console was to keep DDR youth from "decadent capitalist" video games]] any reason for the consoles to exist ''at all'' evaporated with reunification), these were recalled and destroyed, with only a few surviving.

* Arcades had become dens of crime, especially for the sale of stolen goods and drugs, and truancy. The UsefulNotes/{{FBI}} started taking photos of criminals who went to arcades and even set up at least one fake arcade in Portland to catch criminals on the act.

* There was a German company which did make a recall of video arcade machines. In 1985, VEB Polytechnik, owned by the [[UsefulNotes/EastGermany East German]] government, produced a video arcade machine called ''Poly Play'', which was based on pirated Russian [=CPUs=] and contained clones of popular Western videogames such as ''VideoGame/PacMan''. 1000 of these were distributed throughout Eastern Europe. Not being wonders of engineering (thus they were often in need of repairing and the cost of operating them was too high), and also there being license and copyright questions after the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall fell (not to mention that the games weren't all that good to begin with, and since the [[TheMoralSubstitute whole reason for the console was to keep DDR youth from "decadent capitalist" video games]] any reason for the consoles to exist ''at all'' evaporated with reunification), these were recalled and destroyed, with only a few surviving.

* On November 29, 1981, 12-year-old Brian Mauro had a case of stomach discomfort, which he attributed to anxiety and all the Coke he drank, while being recorded by a TV crew trying to beat the record on playing the videogame ''VideoGame/{{Asteroids}}'' (he made it to 28 hours) in a UsefulNotes/{{Portland}}, Oregon video arcade. Another boy, Michael Lopez, had migraine while playing ''Tempest'' on the same day, in the same arcade. There were also 8 reported cases of videogame-related epilectic seizures reported throughout the 1980s. There were even a few reported deaths attributed to arcade games, usually from people with pre-existing heart conditions playing the games for far longer than they should have been and keeling over when they circulatory systems couldn't take the stress.[[note]]At least three of these incidents led to another urban legend, the supposed "Evil Otto Curse", as they occurred after the victims had played the video game ''VideoGame/{{Berzerk}}'', which featured a main villain called "Evil Otto." One of these deaths was a heart attack, one was a murder that happened shortly after the victim had finished playing, and a third was fabricated and didn't actually happen.[[/note]]

* On November 29, 1981, 12-year-old Brian Mauro had a case of stomach discomfort, which he attributed to anxiety and all the Coke he drank, while being recorded by a TV crew trying to beat the record on playing the videogame ''VideoGame/{{Asteroids}}'' (he made it to 28 hours) in a UsefulNotes/{{Portland}}, Oregon video arcade. Another boy, Michael Lopez, had migraine while playing ''Tempest'' on the same day, in the same arcade. There were also 8 reported cases of videogame-related epilectic seizures reported throughout the 1980s. There were even a few reported deaths attributed to arcade games, usually from people with pre-existing heart conditions playing the games for far longer than they should have been and keeling over when they circulatory systems couldn't take the stress.[[note]]At least two of these deaths led to another urban legend, the supposed "Evil Otto Curse", as they occurred after the victims had played the video game ''Berserk'', which featured a main villain called "Evil Otto."[[/note]]

* On November 29, 1981, 12-year-old Brian Mauro had a case of stomach discomfort, which he attributed to anxiety and all the Coke he drank, while being recorded by a TV crew trying to beat the record on playing the videogame ''VideoGame/{{Asteroids}}'' (he made it to 28 hours) in a UsefulNotes/{{Portland}}, Oregon video arcade. Another boy, Michael Lopez, had migraine while playing ''Tempest'' on the same day, in the same arcade. There were also 8 reported cases of videogame-related epilectic seizures reported throughout the 1980s. There were even a few reported deaths attributed to arcade games, usually from people with pre-existing heart conditions playing the games for far longer than they should have been and keeling over when they circulatory systems couldn't take the stress.[[note]]At least two of these deaths led to another urban legend, the supposed "Evil Otto Curse", as they occurred after the victims had played the video game ''VideoGame/{{Berserk}}'', which featured a main villain called "Evil Otto."[[/note]]

* On November 29, 1981, 12-year-old Brian Mauro had a case of stomach discomfort, which he attributed to anxiety and all the Coke he drank, while being recorded by a TV crew trying to beat the record on playing the videogame ''VideoGame/{{Asteroids}}'' (he made it to 28 hours) in a UsefulNotes/{{Portland}}, Oregon video arcade. Another boy, Michael Lopez, had migraine while playing ''Tempest'' on the same day, in the same arcade. There were also 8 reported cases of videogame-related epilectic seizures reported throughout the 1980s.

* There was a German company which did make a recall of video arcade machines. In 1985, VEB Polytechnik, owned by the [[UsefulNotes/EastGermany East German]] government, produced a video arcade machine called ''Poly Play'', which was based on pirated Russian [=CPUs=] and contained clones of popular Western videogames such as ''VideoGame/PacMan''. 1000 of these were distributed throughout Eastern Europe. Not being wonders of engineering (thus they were often in need of repairing and the cost of operating them was too high), and also there being license and copyright questions after the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall fell(it helped that the games weren't all that good to begin with, and since the [[TheMoralSubstitute whole reason for the console was to keep DDR youth from "decadent capitalist" video games]] any reason for the consoles to exist ''at all'' evaporated with reunification), these were recalled and destroyed, with only a few surviving.

* There was a German company which did make a recall of video arcade machines. In 1985, VEB Polytechnik, owned by the [[UsefulNotes/EastGermany East German]] government, produced a video arcade machine called ''Poly Play'', which was based on pirated Russian [=CPUs=] and contained clones of popular Western videogames such as ''VideoGame/PacMan''. 1000 of these were distributed throughout Eastern Europe. Not being wonders of engineering (thus they were often in need of repairing and the cost of operating them was too high), and also there being license and copyright questions after the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall fell, these were recalled and destroyed, with only a few surviving.

* On November 29, 1981, 12-year-old Brian Mauro had a case of stomach discomfort, which he attributed to anxiety and all the Coke he drank, while being recorded by a TV crew trying to beat the record on playing the videogame ''Asteroids'' (he made it to 28 hours) in a Portland, Oregon video arcade. Another boy, Michael Lopez, had migraine while playing ''Tempest'' on the same day, in the same arcade. There were also 8 reported cases of videogame-related epilectic seizures reported throughout the 1980s.

* Arcades had become dens of crime, especially for the sale of stolen goods and drugs, and truancy. The {{FBI}} started taking photos of criminals who went to arcades and even set up at least one fake arcade in Portland to catch criminals on the act.

* On November 29, 1981, 12-year-old Brian Mauro had a case of stomach discomfort, which he attributed to anxiety and all the Coke he drank, while being recorded by a TV crew trying to beat the record on playing the videogame ''Asteroids'' (he made it to 28 hours) in a Portland, Oregon video arcade. Another boy, Michael Lopez, had migraine while playing ''Tempest'' on the same day, in the same arcade. There were also 8 reported cases of videogame-related epilectic seasures reported throughout the 1980s.

* The military has used, in the past and the present, videogames to train its recruits, so that the frontier between commercial and military videogames has blurred.

* Arcades had become dens of crime, especially for the sale of stolen goods and drugs, and truancy. The {{FBI}} started taking photos of criminals who went to arcades and even set up at least a fake arcade in Portland to catch criminals on the act.

* There was a German company which did make a recall of video arcade machines. In 1985, VEB Polytechnik, owned by the [[UsefulNotes/EastGermany East German]] government, produced a video arcade machine called ''Poly Play'', which was based on pirated Russian CPUs and contained clones of popular Western videogames such as ''VideoGame/PacMan''. 1000 of these were distributed throughout Eastern Europe. Not being wonders of engineering (thus they were often in need of repairing and the cost of operating them was too high), and also there were license and copyright questions after the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall fell, these were recalled and destroyed, with only a few surviving.