Old arcade game, anyone remember Polybius?

[digitalwanderer]

I'd never heard the rumor/legend/story, so I thought I'd post up my ignorance and ask if anyone knew of how it got started/any good insights in to it.

Here's the Wiki, and a quick quote:

Polybius is a fictitious arcade game, the subject of an urban legend that emerged in early 2000.[1][2] It has served as inspiration for several free and commercial games by the same name.

The legend describes the game as part of a government-run crowdsourced psychology experiment based in Portland, Oregon, during 1981. Gameplay supposedly produced intense psychoactive and addictive effects in the player. These few publicly staged arcade machines were said to have been visited periodically by men in black for the purpose of data-mining the machines and analyzing these effects. Eventually, all of these Polybius arcade machines allegedly disappeared from the arcade market.

Polybius is also the name of the Greek historian born in Arcadia,[2] who was ironically known for his assertion that historians should never report what they cannot verify through interviews with witnesses.

I found it terribly intriguing for some reason, I was an old arcade head but had long since stopped going by the 90s since there were decent consoles and when I finally got in to PC gaming I remember thinking of how bad the resolutions at the arcade were. That was the end for me.

Interesting legend though, I'd be interested to know more or any other bits of fun from the late 80s early 90s when I was drunk for about a decade.

 

[Nesh]

Heh I knew you were talking about this when I read the title.
I ve read a lot about it but it is still shrouded in mystery. So far it seems like a mix of unrelated events that created this story than a real game.
But who knows?

 

[Nesh]

I ve never got the chance to listen to it
https://www.radiotopia.fm/showcase/the-polybius-conspiracy/

 

[Nesh]

 

[Sigfried1977]

Jeff Minter's Polybius is pretty cool with PS VR. Cheap as chips too.

 

[manux]

Jeff Minter's Polybius is pretty cool with PS VR. Cheap as chips too.

It's awesome also on rift. I like polybius a lot.