00:00Ever heard of a video game so addictive, so strange, it could literally mess with your mind?
00:05Let's travel back to 1981, to the suburbs of Portland, Oregon.
00:09In a handful of arcades, a new, mysterious game cabinet suddenly appears.
00:14It has no branding, no manufacturer name, just a single, stark word, Polybius.
00:20The game itself was supposedly a revolutionary space shooter, almost hypnotic, with its swirling vector graphics and dazzling colors.
00:28Kids lined up for hours, desperate to get their hands on it.
00:31But this game was different.
00:33Players started reporting bizarre and disturbing side effects.
00:36They experienced intense amnesia, forgetting their own names or where they lived.
00:40They were plagued by horrific nightmares and debilitating headaches.
00:44Some even suffered from seizures and hallucinations.
00:47It was as if the game was actively attacking their minds.
00:50But the story gets even weirder.
00:52Witnesses claimed to see shadowy figures, men dressed in all black,
00:56visiting the arcades late at night.
00:58They weren't there to play.
01:00Instead, they would open up the Polybius machines, collect some kind of data,
01:04and then vanish as quickly as they appeared.
01:06Who were these men in black?
01:08What data were they collecting?
01:09The whispers began to spread like wildfire.
01:12Was this some kind of government experiment?
01:14The theories that emerged were straight out of a Cold War thriller.
01:18The most popular one connected Polybius to a very real, and very sinister, CIA program known as M-Culture.
01:24For decades, the CIA had been conducting top secret, often illegal, experiments on human subjects to explore the possibilities of
01:32mind control.
01:33They used drugs, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, and psychological abuse.
01:38The idea was to create the perfect sleeper agent, or to develop interrogation techniques that could break anyone's will.
01:44So, was Polybius the next phase of M-C Ultra, a way to test psychosensory manipulation on an unsuspecting public,
01:52using an arcade game, as the delivery system?
01:54It's a terrifying thought.
01:56The game could have been designed to test how flashing lights and subliminal messages could induce specific psychological states.
02:02The data collected by the men in black, would then be analyzed to perfect these mind control techniques.
02:08The players, those kids in the Portland arcades, were nothing more than unwitting lab rats, in a massive, secret experiment.
02:16The story of Polybius fits perfectly into the paranoia of the era.
02:19The Cold War was still raging, and trust in the government was at an all-time low.
02:23After scandals like Watergate, and the public exposure of programs like M-C Ultra, the idea that a mysterious cabinet
02:30could be a tool for government surveillance and manipulation, was unjust a fantasy.
02:35It felt chillingly plausible.
02:36The legend paints a picture of a government so powerful and secretive, that it would turn a beloved pastime into
02:42a weapon against its own citizens.
02:44For years, the legend of Polybius circulated in whispers and rumors.
02:48Gamers and conspiracy theorists tried to piece together the puzzle, searching for anyone who had actually played the game or
02:55seen the cabinet.
02:56They scoured old arcade flyers, yearbooks, and local newspapers from Portland in 1981.
03:02They interviewed people who claimed to have been there, who swore they remembered the long lines and the strange side
03:07effects.
03:08But every lead turned into a dead end.
03:10Every memory was fuzzy and uncorroborated.
03:13And that brings us to the truth.
03:14As compelling and terrifying as a story is, there is absolutely no physical evidence that the Polybius arcade game ever
03:21existed.
03:22Not a single cabinet, not a circuit board, not even a photograph, has ever been found.
03:27No newspaper articles from 1981 mention a mysterious game causing seizures in Portland.
03:32There are no hospital records.
03:34No police reports.
03:35Nothing.
03:36So where did this incredible story come from?
03:38It all started in the year 2000, not 1981.
03:41A person using the name Stephen Roach posted the story on an online coin-up gaming forum.
03:47He claimed to have been involved in the original project and shared the haunting details of the game and its
03:52effects.
03:52His post went viral, tapping into a nostalgic vein for classic arcade games and a modern fascination with conspiracy theories.
04:00The internet did the rest.
04:01People added their own details, fabricated memories, and created evidence, like doctored images and mock-up screenshots.
04:08The story of Polybius is a modern-day urban legend, a digital campfire tale.
04:14It wasn't born in a dusty arcade, but in the nascent days of the online world.
04:18It's as a perfect example of how a well-told story can take on a life of its own, blurring
04:23the lines between fact and fiction.
04:25The name itself, Polybius, is a clever choice.
04:28Polybius was a real Greek historian, known for his belief that historians should only report what they can verify through
04:34first-hand accounts and interviews.
04:36It's a wonderful piece of irony for a story that is entirely unverified.
04:40Even though the game isn't real, its legend has had a huge impact.
04:44It has inspired countless fan-made versions of the game, short films, music, and has even been referenced in popular
04:50shows like The Simpsons.
04:52The myth of Polybius speaks to a deep-seated fear about technology and control.
04:56It raises questions about how the things we interact with for fun could potentially be used against us.
05:02In a way, the legend of Polybius is more powerful than the game ever could have been.
05:06It's a ghost in the machine, a cautionary tale that reminds us to question the reality presented to us.
05:12Especially when it seems a little too good, or a little too strange, to be true.
05:17Thank you so much for joining me on this deep dive into one of gaming's greatest mysteries.
05:21What do you think?
05:22Did the game ever exist in some form?
05:24Let me know your theories down in the comments.
05:26And if you enjoyed this journey into the world of urban legends, be sure to hit that like button and
05:32subscribe for more content just like this.
05:34See you in the next one.
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