History Myth / Polybius

''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' explores this legend in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4hktqhBpzY 150th episode]] (also doubling as the series' HalloweenEpisode of 2017). UK Website/YouTube personality WebVideo/StuartAshen crowdfunded a film on Website/IndieGoGo called ''[[https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ashens-and-the-polybius-heist-youtube#/ Ashens and the Polybius Heist]]'' about the game. In September 2017, {{WebVideo/Ahoy}} released an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7X6Yeydgyg hour-long documentary]] on the Polybius myth, serving as probably the most comprehensive account of the subject, even coming to a conclusion on the legend's origin[[note]]An intentional hoax created by Kurt Koller, proprietor of retro gaming website [=coinop.org=], to drive up site traffic[[/note]]. It was also given a short film treatment by [[https://youtu.be/vFi6Nqo93e0 Daywalt Horror.]]

* GratuitousGerman: A commonality to the myth is the game's alleged developer, ''Sinneslöschen,'' which is inaccurate German for "Sense-Deletion"
* JustOneMoreLevel: While some of the implementations may have had these addictive properties incidentally, the Angry Video Game Nerd's version of the story (which does not use any real implementation) suggested the original game had [[SerialEscalation escalated this]].
--> It won't let me go.. IT WON'T LET ME GO!...

* NewMediaAreEvil: Has shades of this, as video games were [[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/children-80s-never-fear-video-games-did-not-ruin-your-life-180963452/ a major source of moral panic]] in the 1980's. It's entirely possible that this could have inspired the Polybius UrbanLegend.

''Polybius'' is a fictitious 1981 arcade game, allegedly published by the shadowy Sinneslöschen[[note]]''very'' bad German for "Sense-Deletion" or "Sensory-Extinguishing," or alternatively, "senseless", a correct German would probably be "sinnlos"[[/note]] corporation and given a limited release in the suburbs of [[UsefulNotes/{{Portland}} Portland, Oregon]]. It originated as an {{urban legend|s}}, first documented in February 2000.

''Polybius'' is a fictitious 1981 arcade game, allegedly published by the shadowy Sinneslöschen [[note]]''very'' bad German for "Sense-Deletion" or "Sensory-Extinguishing," or alternatively, "senseless", a correct German would probably be "sinnlos"[[/note]] corporation and given a limited release in the suburbs of [[UsefulNotes/{{Portland}} Portland, Oregon]]. It originated as an {{urban legend|s}}, first documented in February 2000.

->WARNING. This game contains INTENSE colour combinations, geometric patterns, and animated shapes that some users could find disturbing. This game contains STROBING visuals and flashing colour patterns at various frequencies that some users could find disturbing. If you or any of your relatives have a history of seizures or epilepsy or you ''suspect'' you may have, consult a doctor before playing.
-->-- ''Health warning from the Llamasoft implementation of Polybius''

Soon, the players started to experience disturbing symptoms — nausea, migraines, memory loss, nightmares, and in some retellings even "an inability to become sad". Many players swore off games altogether, with one even becoming "a big anti-video game crusader or something".

''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' explores this legend in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4hktqhBpzY 150th episode]] (also doubling as the series' HalloweenEpisode of 2017). UK Website/YouTube personality WebVideo/StuartAshen crowdfunded a film on Website/IndieGoGo called ''[[https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ashens-and-the-polybius-heist-youtube#/ Ashens and the Polybius Heist]]'' about the game. In September 2017, {{WebVideo/Ahoy}} released an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7X6Yeydgyg hour-long documentary]] on the Polybius myth, serving as probably the most comprehensive account of the subject, even coming to a conclusion on the legend's origin[[note]]An intentional hoax created by retro gaming website [=coinop.org=], to drive up site traffic[[/note]]. It was also given a short film treatment by [[https://youtu.be/vFi6Nqo93e0 Daywalt Horror.]]

Early versions depict ''Polybius'' as a vague [[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories government experiment]] (presumably related to mind control, in the same vein as MKULTRA and similar experiments) and/or an extraterrestrial artifact (compare the plot of ''Film/TheLastStarfighter''). Kids lined up to play the strange game, with [[TheMenInBlack mysterious men in black suits]] either standing by and taking notes on clipboards, or coming by after hours to collect the data direct from the console.

** The idea of TheMenInBlack hanging around arcades and closely monitoring the gamers' actions also has a kernel of mundane truth to it: arcades in the 1980s were commonly subject to police raids due to truancy, illegal gambling, and the sale of drugs and stolen goods.

Some Polybius researchers think that Cube Quest, a rare arcade game from 1983 that used 3D animated polygon-style graphics over the top of an image played back from a Laserdisc may be the source of the Polybius legend. Its gameplay is VERY similar to the descriptions of Polybius, leaving the possibility of faulty memories matching Cube Quest gameplay with the Polybius myth decades later. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsfq2PXTxSA Seen here.]]

''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' explores this legend in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4hktqhBpzY 150th episode]] (also doubling as the series' HalloweenEpisode of 2017). UK Website/YouTube personality WebVideo/StuartAshen crowdfunded a film on Website/IndieGoGo called ''[[https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ashens-and-the-polybius-heist-youtube#/ Ashens and the Polybius Heist]]'' about the game. In September 2017, {{WebVideo/Ahoy}} released an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7X6Yeydgyg hour-long documentary]] on the Polybius myth, serving as probably the most comprehensive account of the subject, even coming to a conclusion on the legend's origin[[note]]An intentional hoax created by retro gaming website [=coinop.org=], to drive up site traffic[[/note]]. It was also given a short film treatment by [[https://youtu.be/vFi6Nqo93e0 Daywalt Horror]].

''Polybius'' is a fictitious 1981 arcade game, allegedly published by the shadowy Sinneslöschen [[note]]very bad German for "Sense-Deletion" or "Sensory-Extinguishing," or alternatively, "senseless"[[/note]] corporation and given a limited release in the suburbs of [[UsefulNotes/{{Portland}} Portland, Oregon]]. It originated as an {{urban legend|s}}, first documented in February 2000.

Also, in 2000 many arcade fans would have been familiar with the Virtual Boy, a 1990s Nintendo VR console that was greatly enjoyed except by those who it gave painful headaches. Unfortunately for its many fans, this was so many of the few people who played this expensive device that it ended up costing less money to recall it and cancel the project. The Virtual Boy was otherwise remembered as a fad or gimmick despite its high-quality and innovative games. Arcade fans could be counted on to remember that ''some'' device had made gamers sick (so it was plausible), and maybe that it was shaped somewhat like an arcade cabinet if you propped it up on a table as most players did, and that it quickly disappeared, and operating it seemed like a bizarre process; but not always that it was a mundane Nintendo console bought at Sears and rented from Blockbuster, nor which precise decade it was from. The 1983 video game crash being caused partially by unlicensed products with disturbing imagery and unreliable, intimidating hardware probably helped plant a seed for these elements to be believable or scary.

*** Now that lootboxes and other luck-based mechanisms are in fashion, some arcade cabinets genuinely run afoul of the strict distinctions in video gambling law and covert police activity is once again a believable element of an arcade story. Bringing reality even closer to the story, these modernized gambling laws and police actions use real-life harm caused by the machines in question in gamblers' lives as a justification for their activity. In either time period, the quiet disappearance of an offending game could plausibly be the result of an informal face-saving conversation with TMIB.

*** Now that lootboxes and other luck-based mechanisms are in fashion, some arcade cabinets genuinely run afoul of the strict distinctions in video gambling law and covert police activity is once again a believable element of an arcade story.

* JustOneMoreLevel: While some of the implementations may have had these addictive properties incidentally, the Angry Video Game Nerd's version of the story (which does not use any real implementation) suggested the original game had this (and TheTetrisEffect) dialed UpToEleven.

* [[TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday The Little Arcade Cabinet That Wasn't There Yesterday]]: In most versions, the game suddenly appears in small, suburban arcades, only to quietly disappear after a short period of time.