The Video Game That Vanished Without a Trace

One day, in 1981, a new and mysterious video game appeared seemingly out of thin air in several arcades across Portland, Oregon. For both hard core and casual gamers, the game was an instant hit.

Soon, it became more than just the usual thrill of experiencing a new video game. Long lines formed from people eager to play the game for themselves. The lucky ones who did find an opportunity to play the new and mysterious game spent ridiculously long hours playing.

In no time, people became addicted. The addiction for the game was so great, people fought over it.

The game was called Polybius and then one day it just vanished!

Polybius

It is one of the most well known internet mysteries out there. And yet, it is buried deep in the just far enough reaches of the internet along with other internet lore.

Hundreds of this game called Polybius, an 80’s arcade style game no one had ever heard of just appeared in various arcades in Portland, Oregon, and soon across the U.S.

It was created by Sinneslöschen, a company that no one has also ever heard of. The name, German, very roughly translates to “sense delete” or “sensory deprivation”. And that translation will soon make sense and become especially disturbing the further we get into the legend!

Some people became so obsessed with the game that they fought over a chance to play it. Sometimes to the point where it became physical.

If you found the opportunity to play (if such a game did exist), then you were incredibly lucky! Or maybe not so much …

The obsession of the game led to severe side effects that went well beyond headaches and nausea experienced playing video games for a long duration.

Those who played the game reported such side effects from insomnia and amnesia to nightmares and night terrors. Some even hallucinated. In the most severe cases, even incidents of suicide were allegedly reported.

The side effects of the game were so bad, that some gamers, even the hard core ones, swore off playing not just Polybius but all video games for good!

And then there was the bizarre things gamers experienced while playing. Some reported seeing deformed faces on the screen out of their peripheral. Some claimed to have heard the startling sound of a woman crying. These experiences, not too surprisingly, led to nightmares and night terrors.

But what made Polybius so addicting?

Polybius was a puzzle or “shoot em up” style game and was similar to an arcade game that did exist. Tempest.

The game play featured strange abstract shapes and patterns and other psychedelic images that were hypnotic to players. This led to the severe and even disturbing addictive nature of the game.

Men in black

If the game itself wasn’t mysterious enough, not long after it appeared, there was also the mysterious appearance of men in black who visited arcades.

The men in black, allegedly part of a secret government experiment, would collect data that went beyond any normal collection of marketing data. What they were after was much darker.

The urban legend of Polybius claims that the game was created as part of a secret psychological experiment. The mysterious men in black would come into arcades and blend in as discretely as possible to collect data of the psychoactive effects experienced by gamers.

Some would even go as far as claiming that the game was created as a form of mind control.

The End of Polybius

One day, Polybius disappeared from all arcades. It didn’t just gradually fade out as a fad that’s run its course. Suddenly, after only a month of its mysterious appearance, it vanished!

There was no such existence of a game called Polybius. It was as if all existence of the game was intentionally erased.

Like many urban legends, there are alternate versions of the urban legend of Polybius. Depending on where you hear it from, some state that such a game only appeared in a select few arcades in Portland Oregon. Other versions state that Polybius appeared all across the U.S.

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There is no proof that Polybius or a company called Sinneslöschen ever existed. Is it nothing more than a myth? An internet urban legend? Most likely. But some swear they’ve seen the game for themselves in arcades. Some even swore they’ve played it.

If this urban legend intrigued you (I know I was!), then I recommend this video for an even further look!

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