It's the arcade game that spawned an urban legend. It's a game that never was, but for a game that never was it sure has caused a lot of commotion. A game rumored to be so addictive it caused severe side effects in those who played it.
There was a game that you could play that would come into your head, that would affect your mind. It's said players were unwittingly part of a secret government experiment to try and control their minds. It goes back, I think, to MKULTRA and the Americans in the 1970s when they were using hallucinogenics to try and control the populace. Shady men in black were reportedly spotted monitoring the machines before removing them, and then nothing. Until 20 years later, when the police bias legend re-emerged. Planting the seed and allowing people to have their own monster is much better than me creating one. The Polybius story starts in Portland, Oregon, in November 1981. Video arcades were all the rage. Gangs of American teens descended, desperate to test themselves on the latest releases. It was loud. It was loud. It was gregarious. It was exciting. You'd be jostled just to get in the door. This is Cat DeSpira, a journalist who grew up in the Portland gaming scene.
What Polybius was, was allegedly a game dropped on the streets of Portland, basically in the arcades, in a black cabinet, unmarked. It had a rambling series of numbers and letters that moved around the screen. That movement, it was reported, led to some horrific side effects. It's alleged that it caused catatonia, nausea, vomiting, suicidal thoughts. However, during the video craze, these things are not unusual. 1981 was the year in America where the great Asteroids marathon craze was going on, where guys were trying to hit 60 hours. That sort of marathon playing is dangerous. People after 24 hours start hallucinating. They start having convulsions sometimes. And supposedly lurking in the shadows, keeping a close eye on all of this were undercover government agents. That part's true.
There was a lot of illegal activity in arcades that was being monitored by not only government and federal agencies, but by local police. And how does Cat know this? Well, she was there, playing games at the arcade central to the Polybius legend. But she says she didn't hear about the myth until much later. My boyfriend had told me about Polybius, saying: "Haven't you heard about this? You grew up in Portland. You went to the Lloyd Center arcade." I'm like, what? I'd never heard of it. And then I discovered, Oh, wow! People are saying this happened. Lloyd Center arcade was my arcade. There was no men in black. There is no way anything could happen there that nobody didn't see. Dr. Ken Drinkwater is a Manchester academic who specialises in conspiracy theories. It goes back, I think, to MKULTRA and the Americans in the 1970s when they were using hallucinogenics to try and control the populace. I think it links to that because people claim they saw it, And then when they went to look for it, they said it was taken away by men in black. So I think that there's a lot of it that becomes like an urban legend and a myth and which is all wrapped up in it. During times of uncertainty, people tend to look at conspiracy theories as an answer to lots of things that have gone on.
So as people become more invested in finding out about it, it might gain more, sort of, kudos. And that creates the the rolling forward and the spread and the tentacles. Phi Dinh designs computer games and has been heavily influenced by the Polybius myth. I think that the myth of Polybius is really fascinating. I think like a lot of urban legends, a lot of it's untrue, but it had some elements of truth. A lot of contemporary game designers really focus on this element called 'flow', which is getting the player to to play the game and then go in a kind of trance like state. Everything else is kind of silent, you know, shut out, you can't hear anything, you can't see anything. It's just you and the game. And that's it. And I think that's very similar to how Polybius has been described. The origins of the Polybius myth have always been a mystery. In 2006, a man called Steven Roach claimed to be one of the designers of the game, but offered no definitive proof. As we were researching this film, Cat contacted me to say she had a strong lead on the possible originator. The person who first said it had to have lived in Portland. There's too much in that legend that is true. It details something happened in an arcade, that kids got sick. We know that that happened.
Games were popping up around Portland that were in black boxes. That too happen. Portland was a test site for lots of game companies, and test games came in black boxes. Then there's the instance of the police raids. That's true. That happened. That tells me, almost definitively, That somebody witnessed that and passed that on, and it got embellished over time. What I found out was this guy Kevin Mannis in 2001 created an urban legend online about a box that he bought at a garage sale. I immediately thought of Polybius. I went: "Kevin Mannis. Wait, Kevin Mannis is just from Portland". And I went: "Aha." I think we're looking at the guy. And do you think he'll do an interview with us about this film we're making? You'll have to speak to Kevin Mannis. I think he has the answers. Many urban legends simmered for, you know, for quite a long time before creatives like me came along and said, well let's see how we can push it a little bit more. This is Kevin Mannis, a former actor, now writer and self-styled interactive storyteller.
With any of these stories, you have a seed of truth. But it has to then, you know, grow and develop. The emergence of the internet created the perfect platform for Kevin and storytellers like him to hone their craft. When you reach a certain critical mass, you start to get not just the people are interacting, but the story is actually, not just taking life, but taking form or giving form. That's a magical thing that I have no explanation for, but I've seen it happen over and over again. You seem like the perfect kind of person, then that would create the Polybius myth. I think that it sounds like something that would be right up my wheelhouse. Yeah, quite a bit. Is that a yes? I would. I would definitely do that kind of a writer, yeah. Is Kevin telling the truth? It's impossible to be certain. His claims could merely be another arm to the Polybius myth that has continue to spawn over the last two decades. One thing we do know is the Polybius tale has inspired many other creatives. It did influence art in a way that I didn't think that it ever would. It's creatively allowed people to explore a different side of video gaming. I've heard it in music, I've seen it on TV and TV programs. It's romantic. It's a legend that comes from a dark and rainy town where nothing really happens. It's often said everything happens for a reason.
But when an event takes place that we can't explain, conspiracy theories emerge to fill the void. The Polybius tale is a classic example of that. A story with a kernel of truth that becomes more embellished each time it's told, leaving the truth in its wake. There's nothing more scary than the things that lurk in the shadows of my readers mind. Planting the seed and allowing people to have their own monster is much better than me, creating one.
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