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The discovery of the Stuxnet worm is making it less and less crazy to think that a computer program can bring about real harm in the physical world. With this in mind, travel back with me to the golden age of the arcade where legend has it that one mysterious game caused insanity, amnesia and even suicide. This is the tale of Polybius, the haunted videogame.

The Tale

Polybius, as it is told, was a limited-run game that began mysteriously appearing in arcades throughout Portland, Oregon in the early 1980’s. It was said to have been a 3-D vector-based shooting game, similar to Atari’s arcade hit, Tempest. No one knows where it came from – It simply appeared one day. The few gamers who got to play it supposedly became addicted, exhibiting strange behaviors and conditions as a result of playing.

Some say they experienced an extreme form of vertigo and vivid hallucinations long after they had finished playing while others claim they suffered amnesia, in some cases forgetting their own name. And most horrifying of all, it’s said that some players were haunted by horrific nightmares and eventually driven to insanity and suicide after coming under the game’s influence.

Then, one day, it simply disappeared. The game’s “creator,” Ed Rotberg, and the name of the publisher that appeared on the title screen, Sinneslöschen (which in English translates roughly to “loss of senses”), were the only hints of _Polybius_’ possible origins. Unsurprisingly, attempts to find either entity came up with very little success, but some claim that the publisher was a front for some sort of government experiment. Some even go on to say that the arcade machines, in the few places they were found, were always accompanied by “men in black.”

Haunt or Hoax?

There is reason to believe that the story of Polybius might have stemmed from an actual game. Some believe that the tale originates from an arcade game published in limited quantities by Atari or another company which was quickly recalled when it was discovered that the game’s graphics triggered nausea and photosensitive epilepsy. The more fantastical version of the story purportedly started circulating on Usenet boards and soon grew out of control, adding more strange details each time it was told.

At one point, a man named Steve Roach came out of the woodwork, claiming to have worked for a South American company that was involved in the making of Polybius. His story seemed to match up with the theory of an epilepsy-inducing game that was quickly taken off the market, but many inconsistencies were found upon examining his background. So far, there have been no other links proving the existence of Rotberg or Sinneslöschen.

The Legend Today

But that doesn’t mean that everyone has given up on the tale. Some Polybius fans have even gone as far as recreating their own Polybius cabinets (and posting weird Blair Witch-style videos on YouTube, seen above). Others have put up a faux-Sinneslöschen website and recreated what the game might have been like in a downloadable version that can be run on a PC. A recent project from artist Racquel Meyers also uses the legend of Polybius to reconstruct the sense-altering psychosis the game supposedly projected onto those who dared to play it.

Whether or not it has any basis in truth, the legend of Polybius is one of the most fascinating urban legends in videogame history. Since the story was popularized, the fictional game has become a legitimate part of videogame iconography. It’s even made a cameo appearance in one episode of The Simpsons. But whatever the real story is behind this mysterious game, it sure makes for a good story.

Happy Halloween!

Read about more creepy urban legends like the haunted Pokemon game that steals your soul, and check out Motherboard’s newest video feature on Technophobes, the frightened luddites who think technology is trying to kill them.