“Polybius”: The cursed game that causes nightmares and depression in its players | News from Mexico

The world of video game is recognized by the crowd urban legends that surround him; However, the one that stands out the most is the supposed existence of a arcade machine of video games known as “Polybius” and that it could supposedly control the minds of the players who decided to start a game in it.

Legend claims that around 1981 An abstract graphics arcade mysteriously began to appear in multiple arcades of Portland, Oregon; allegedly installed by elements of the United States Government as part of an experiment.

“Polybius” was a simple shooting game; however, it was highly addictive due to its colorful graphics and mesmerizing moments, to the point of causing dizziness and headache on the players.

In more severe cases, people experienced hallucinations, night nightmares, amnesia, and even suicidal thoughts.

Supposed witnesses affirmed that after a few weeks, all the young people who decided to play Polybius had mysteriously disappeared or committed suicide for no reason

According to the story, “Polybius” would have been a government experiment to test the psychological resistance of people through subliminal messages that appeared throughout the game: “give up”, “keep sleeping”, or “settle down”.

After the data was collected, a group of men dressed in black they would have entered the arcades to take away all the gaming machines never to be seen anywhere else since.

Polybius was the subject of much speculation over the years, not only by fans but also by popular culture, eventually being referenced in “The Simpsons” or the Marvel series “Lokie”. In this way, pseudoscience experts began to seriously investigate the story.

His research work revealed that there really is no hard evidence about the existence of an arcade machine named “Polybius” in the halls of Portand, Oregon, in 1981.

Despite this, there are many who are still debating the veracity of the story and those who are still fascinated by the mysterious aura that surrounds it, to the point of trying to honor that history.

In 2017, PlayStation released a game titled by the same name for its virtual reality headset. The video game’s producer claimed that he was inspired by the urban legend, but that he did not try to replicate the game perfectly.