Sunday, 16 June 2013

Polybius (1981) - Urban Myth

Image of Polybius in The Simpsons, seemingly a one-switch game.

"According to legend, an unheard-of new arcade game appeared in several suburbs of Portland, Oregon in 1981, something of a rarity at the time. The game proved to be incredibly popular, to the point of addiction, and lines formed around the machines, often resulting in fighting over who played next.

This was followed by clusters of visits from men in black. Rather than the usual marketing data collected by company visitors to arcade machines, they collected some unknown data, allegedly testing responses to the psychoactive machines. The players themselves suffered from a series of unpleasant side effects, including amnesia, insomnia, nightmares, night terrors, and even suicide in some versions of the legend."

That game's name was said to be Polybius. Looks like a one-switch game too, if the Simpsons' take is to be believed.

Via Wikipedia and WikiSimpsons.

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