polybius

[Alucard90]

its supposivly an old arcade game that had many psychological effects. and it seems to be popular on the gamewinner.com forums

article:
http://www.gooddealgames.com/articles/Videogame%20Urban%20Legend%20-%20Polybius.html

forum thread
http://forums.gamewinners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290165

supposivly this has been hanging around for a couple years. Is this real or truly just an urban legend? I'm so confused  

EDIT: annother link http://www.geocities.com/prg017/index.html

[Generic Eric]

Before I read the links, I was reminded of a football game ad campaign, were supposedly, the game caused the player to black out, harm himself and others.  There were several websites and forums about this.

[danny_galaga]

http://www.geocities.com/prg017/index.html

this one is obviously written by a kid. and so he couldn't have even been alive during the time mentioned. that doesn't discount the whole story of course. i won't give it any more thought until i see the ROM  
until then it will remain as elusive as Jesus' second coming...

[maraxle]

I played it, but I don't remember it at all.  Well, actually I don't remember playing it, so I assume I played it and it erased my memory.

[danny_galaga]

hehe

[menace]

I could tell you , but then i would have to kill you to preserve the secret...  One clue though...only the illuminati can shed the light...  

[danny_galaga]

cool. do you have a secret hand-shake? i always wanted one. my dad was invited to join the 'masons once but he declined. pointless being a mason if youre an atheist. still, woulda loved to learn that handshake...

[Floyd10]

Sounds creepy! lol

[hyiu]

well... its a known fact that certain flashes light / color combination on the screen can cause kids to faint... (or ceasures black out ??) whatever that is called.... that has happened in some cartoon show before.... (and IS boardcasted....) and later on... its covered in the news also....

can a video game cause such an effect ??... I think so too...

but I doubt about the story on polybius..... mind altering ??... brain washing ??....

u know what ??... if you turn on doom or some other 1st person shooter of some sort... and then hook it up to 2 monitor... now... you start playing (by RUNNING REALLY FAST... KEEP TURNING... RUNNING INTO WALLS AND TURN AND JUMP AND SO ON.... just keep moving VERY FAST....) and you ask another guy to stare at the other same screen and ask him to sit like 8 inches in front of the screen....

after 10 min or so.... I think out of 10 ppl.... at least 5 will feel dizzy.... 2 might even throw up !!!..... at that time....
ask him his name.... address... ask him to do math calculations... complicated logical questions....
I think you'll find out that you just "temporary made him stupid" !!!! haaa haaaa..... or maybe he's too busy throwing up and you "temporary impeared his speech"... haaa haaa haa....

so... that is also an evil game !?!?!... haa haa haaa....

now... the ultimate test.... you keep on playing that thing 10 hrs straight... and ask him to sit there and stare at it with an 8 inch distance.... I can almost guarantee you that guy will have nightmare about it... haaa haa haaa haa.....

[Generic Eric]

i read that the game bezerrker killed somone.   At least the guy had a heartattack while playing it.

[Apollo]

I had nightmares for a couple of weeks the first time a played NARC ( and I wasn't a little kid I think I was about 17 ). So yes games can certainly affect you psycologically. It's also possible to be hypnotised by a machine so it doesn't take a hell of a lot of conspiracy theorists to figure out that a government might experiment with this sought of thing. Most likely urban legend but within the realms of the possible I guess.
Personally I thinks it's a bunch of horse ****.

[Thenasty]

there is a such a game that gives a Warning message before playing. Specially if you are pregant. That game is Irritating Maze.

[PacManFan]

This reminds me of a movie I saw about ~8 years ago, I don't remember the title, but there was a kid (15-ish) and his buddy who played all these computer games on his home PC. He got a new video game that was supposed to be a "total immersion experience" of putting you into a killer's body, The object of the game was to go and kill people and get away with it.

The first time he played it, he had fun, but then he didn't know if he was still in the game or not. Then, there was this weird tall leprecan-like dude who was egging him on to kill. The kid ended up killing his friend and girlfriend I think.

Then he woke up an realized it was all the video game. This was years before the Matrix.

Does anyone remember the title of that movie? This has a lot of parallels between Polybius.
-PMF

[NoBonus]

So, is Polibus a real game or no? It may not have magical mind controlling powers, but where did the screenshot come from?

[NoBonus]

sorry, Polybius.... I must obey the Polybius...

[NoBonus]

So, I found the game Polybius... and I see why this could have created an urban legend provided the game I found is similar to the original... it sucks... big time... bad graphics, bad gameplay... I can see why those who played it would lose their love for arcade games...

[NoBonus]

Here's the link to the game.  It's an .exe file so just unzip and play... if you dare!

http://modernprimitiveradio.com/files/misc/Polybius.zip

[Floyd10]

nope, still intact. Things sometimes lose quality when copied, so this doesn't explain whether or not polibius is real. Like if you copy a dollar bill, there's no watermark. No watermark on this game.

[albrigsr]

Urban Legend according to www.snopes.com :

Polybius

This game had a very limited release, one or two backwater arcades in a suburb of Portland. The history of this game is cloudy, there were all kinds of strange stories about how kids who played it got amnesia afterwards, couldn't remember their name or where they lived, etc. The bizarre rumors about this game are that it was supposedly developed by some kind of weird military tech offshoot group, used some kind of proprietary behavior modification algorithms developed for the CIA or something, kids who played it woke up at night screaming, having horrible nightmares.

http://coinop.org/g.aspx/103223/Polybius.html

No arcade game called Polybius induced amnesia, caused gamers to wake up screaming in the middle of the night, or attracted the attention of mysterious "men in black" who periodically came to "collect records" from Portland-area machines. This one is just a gag someone invented several years ago which has now become enshrined on the web, another version of the conspiracy rumors involving military intelligence agents visiting arcades to collect stored information from game consoles which date to at least the early 1980s. (Back then we were supposed to watch out for men in black who came around to take down the initials of high scorers at Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Defender.)
Last updated:   9 October 2003

[DarkKobold]

Strange... after playing that game all I remember is walking into the middle of the street and shooting myself in the head. Which is strange, since I don't own a gun, and I am still alive.

Now, my ! key has been replaced by a % on my keyboard, my mouse has switched axis, and a window pops up every ten minutes asking me to contribute to the Burt Reynolds campaign for literate elephants.

10 men in black suits knocked on my door this afternoon and asked me if I had any sugar, luckily I keep it in my tree house. We went to my tree house, and had tea time. They kept asking me questions, such as "What time is it in the southern half of New Orleans, Africa?" "If a train leaves brundi at 6 pm, where is the pancake?" "How much is a pound of duct tape worth in the province of Qubecenstan?" "Do I look fat in this?"


Clearly this proves that Polybius does exist, Men in black suits do care what I am doing playing arcade games, red is just green with a little dose of love, Santa Claus does exist, and is living in Denver with Elvis.


...pfffft. Denever. Who would ever believe that denver exists?

[JoyMonkey]

All this reminds me of Lucky Wander Boy.

Anyone else read it? I thought it was pretty damn good.

[Floyd10]

I dont know... It may be a silly UL, but I choose to believe. Some facts I have found:

Snopes usually has information regarding why somethings a hoax and such. This strangely didn't It didn't even say that these weren't reported.

The Meat-like enemy sprites are from a modern-art painting. I don't know the name or any info about the art, but I did see it in the window of a store in the city near where I live.

ALSO: I have found those same sprites used in WarioWare: mega microgame$ for GBA. It is used in the one game where you have to dodge food that is moving towards you.
Ive attatched a pic... creepy, no?

[Setabs]

This reminds me of a movie I saw about ~8 years ago, I don't remember the title, but there was a kid (15-ish) and his buddy who played all these computer games on his home PC. He got a new video game that was supposed to be a "total immersion experience" of putting you into a killer's body, The object of the game was to go and kill people and get away with it.

The first time he played it, he had fun, but then he didn't know if he was still in the game or not. Then, there was this weird tall leprecan-like dude who was egging him on to kill. The kid ended up killing his friend and girlfriend I think.

Then he woke up an realized it was all the video game. This was years before the Matrix.

Does anyone remember the title of that movie? This has a lot of parallels between Polybius.
-PMF

Brainscan I believe is the name,  It had edward furlong from T2

[DaveMMR]

I dont know... It may be a silly UL, but I choose to believe. Some facts I have found:

Snopes usually has information regarding why somethings a hoax and such. This strangely didn't It didn't even say that these weren't reported.

The Meat-like enemy sprites are from a modern-art painting. I don't know the name or any info about the art, but I did see it in the window of a store in the city near where I live.

ALSO: I have found those same sprites used in WarioWare: mega microgame$ for GBA. It is used in the one game where you have to dodge food that is moving towards you.
Ive attatched a pic... creepy, no?

Snopes does have a small entry.  It's under the "Stuff they haven't gotten around to yet" section.  

Secondly I think it's just an urban legend because I refuse to believe that top-secret government 'what-have-you's' would be 'inconspicuous' by wearing sunglasses and black suits.  I mean, seriously-- I would hope my tax dollars would buy better 'blend-in' disguises than that.  

But even if it is true I'm sure most people would have been bored to death by the game long before it could take effect on the mind (based on what I played).

[Floyd10]

ok. ^^^

[NoBonus]

I dont know... It may be a silly UL, but I choose to believe. Some facts I have found:

Snopes usually has information regarding why somethings a hoax and such. This strangely didn't It didn't even say that these weren't reported.

The Meat-like enemy sprites are from a modern-art painting. I don't know the name or any info about the art, but I did see it in the window of a store in the city near where I live.

ALSO: I have found those same sprites used in WarioWare: mega microgame$ for GBA. It is used in the one game where you have to dodge food that is moving towards you.
Ive attatched a pic... creepy, no?

Snopes does have a small entry.  It's under the "Stuff they haven't gotten around to yet" section.  

Secondly I think it's just an urban legend because I refuse to believe that top-secret government 'what-have-you's' would be 'inconspicuous' by wearing sunglasses and black suits.  I mean, seriously-- I would hope my tax dollars would buy better 'blend-in' disguises than that.  

But even if it is true I'm sure most people would have been bored to death by the game long before it could take effect on the mind (based on what I played).

I have a sneaky hunch it started as either a joke or a clever marketing ploy to make this TERRIBLE game earn more quarters.

[Floyd10]

I dont know... It may be a silly UL, but I choose to believe. Some facts I have found:

Snopes usually has information regarding why somethings a hoax and such. This strangely didn't It didn't even say that these weren't reported.

The Meat-like enemy sprites are from a modern-art painting. I don't know the name or any info about the art, but I did see it in the window of a store in the city near where I live.

ALSO: I have found those same sprites used in WarioWare: mega microgame$ for GBA. It is used in the one game where you have to dodge food that is moving towards you.
Ive attatched a pic... creepy, no?

Snopes does have a small entry.  It's under the "Stuff they haven't gotten around to yet" section.  

Secondly I think it's just an urban legend because I refuse to believe that top-secret government 'what-have-you's' would be 'inconspicuous' by wearing sunglasses and black suits.  I mean, seriously-- I would hope my tax dollars would buy better 'blend-in' disguises than that.  

But even if it is true I'm sure most people would have been bored to death by the game long before it could take effect on the mind (based on what I played).

I have a sneaky hunch it started as either a joke or a clever marketing ploy to make this TERRIBLE game earn more quarters.

well, according to the legend, it had limited release. such as only in kansas...

[NoBonus]

I can see why, no one would ever consider this to be worthy of it's own cab.. It is just terrible.