Polybius (1981)

The legend of Polybius is, as legends tend to be, rather amorphous, and there are many different versions of the tale. The main ingredient is the game itself, a seemingly innocent cabinet that popped up and hides sinister motives, from subliminal messages to more supernatural activities. Often, the game is described as playing like the 1980 classic Tempest, but sometimes the gameplay itself isn't actually described.

Early versions depict Polybius as a vague government experiment, presumably related to mind control in the same vein as MKULTRA and similar experiments. Kids lined up to play the strange game, with mysterious men in black suits either standing by and taking notes on clipboards, or coming by after hours to collect the data direct from the console.

Soon, the players started to experience disturbing symptoms — nausea, migraines, memory loss, nightmares, and in some retellings even "an inability to become sad". Many players swore off games altogether,... развернуть