The Creeps! || Book of Spooky Stories (COMPLETED ✔️)

19 ~ Polybius

(FROM URBAN LEGENDS AND SCARY STORIES!)
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Back in the golden 1980s, whenever somebody wanted to play a computer game, they went over to a local arcade to play on the stand-alone machines. Supposedly, Polybius was another computer game released in 1981 to arcades in Portland, Oregon.

The machines were completely black, the only decoration being the title in bright letters at the top. There was just a single button and a joystick for gameplay. Reports say it was a puzzle/shoot-em-up game, sort of like Tempest, where you move a little, rotating ship around the screen and shoot to destroy the enemies.

Polybius was said to have become very popular. The game was extremely addictive, with long lines of people just waiting to try the new game. However, there was something sinister about it. Players are said to have experienced strange things when playing the game, such as hearing a woman crying and seeing gorey, disgusting faces out of the corner of their eyes. Some saw disturbing subliminal messages flash up on the screen, saying things like, "Kill Yourself."

After playing the game, many of the players would have horrible nightmares and wake up in a panic. Others experienced nausea, convulsion, and vomiting. Sometimes players experienced headaches, blackouts, hallucinations, or even developed amnesia. There were even a few unlucky people who committed suicide.

According to the owner of an arcade, ominous men in black suits would often come and collect records from the game. They didn't collect any money, just data on gameplay and, in some cases, change the settings. Because of this, a leading theory was Polybius was some sort of government experiment using subliminal messages to brainwash people and control their minds.

The game remains in obscurity because about a month after its release, all the cabinets suddenly disappeared. One cabinet reappeared in 1998, but its surfacing was brief. It was quickly taken down. While others have tried to create the game, no one has been able to find the original ROM. It was supposedly created by a mysterious company called Sinnesloschen (which is German for "Sense Deletion").

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A/N: The video above is supposedly a Polybius sighting.