The Greatest Gaming Myth Ever.

Now I don't know how many of you have heard about Polybius, but Polybius is what I think of as the greatest gaming urban legend ever. Those of you who haven't heard of Polybius hear is a short version of the legend.

Polybius is a gaming urban legend in which a mysterious arcade cabinet showed up in a few small arcades in a suburb of Portland. The cabinet is said to be simple, with no artwork on it apart from a small logo on the side. The game was a hit, kids would line-up to play it, even getting addicted. Then strange things would happen to anyone who played it, symptoms include amnesia, insomnia and some cases, even suicide. Occasionally "Men in Black" would come and collect data from the machines, not high scores, but some form of data. After a few weeks the machines disappeared off the face of the earth.

Well, that's the legend. I'm now going to look at a few aspects of the legend.

Men In Black

Kind Of Like That

Many arcades around the world claim that official looking people would go up to machines and collect quarters and high scores from the machine. Polybius though, Men In Black would occasionally show up to take data from the machines, never quarters, but some form of data. Nobody knew what they took, but it wasn't high scores.

Sense Deletion

Something Here Is Not Right

Many if the reported symptoms include: insomnia, amnesia and even suicide, but did you look at who made it? The company name on the title screen, Sinnesloschen, is a German word, but what for? You guessed it! Sense-Deletion, and that certainly seems to fit a lot of symptoms, seeing as some people even weren't able to feel sadness after playing the game. Another theory on the name is that Sinnesloschen was a code-name on the  project. 

Gameplay

One of the biggest mysteries surrounding Polybius is the gameplay, some think that Polybius played similar to Tempest, while others say that the gameplay was a top-down maze game with puzzle elements. The Tempest theory would certainly fit in seeing as there was a reported buggy prototype of Tempest that was recalled. If it did play like Tempest, then another possibility is that the story of Polybius was exaggerated and in fact it merely caused epilepsy due to flashing lights.

Supernatural 

In some cases the cabinet was reported to have supernatural qualities such as letting people play without them putting coins or playing while not being plugged in. This  part of the legend is of course, almost certainly not true. However, you never know.

There are a few more pieces of information such as one player becoming a big anti-gaming crusader. And ROM's being on the internet, most sources though say there is no chance of their being a ROM.

Please leave any comments or thoughts. And sorry if the last few paragraphs are bold, something is wrong with my computer.