Polybius: The Truth Behind the Legend

I've heard of this off and on over recent years, my thought on it was that it was a pilot game to see if it would get any audience and/or kept breaking down from poor electronics. This video I think is worth a look, at the very least for The Last Starfighter nostalgia.



Dots are connected here in the video include Mk Ultra, Tuskegee Experiment, FBI / Men In Black, government surveillance, paranoia, medical issues with video gaming, to name a few.

The Cloak & Dagger movie had a video game with secret plans for an SR-71 spy plane component after unlocking the last level.

Wargames before that activated real nuclear weapons when the player thought it was just a game.

Anyone have more credible information on Polybius than presented here?

a reply to: saint4God

Get ya some humor with this legend. Explicit language warning.


Enjoy

a reply to: saint4God

It's one of the better wrap ups of this story, and such a good example of how urban myths are created. I think that's the biggest take away in this video...

originally posted by: Tundra
a reply to: saint4God

Get ya some humor with this legend. Explicit language warning.

Enjoy

This hits close to home as I’ve been as a kid to that Malibu Grand Prix in Beaverton many times. And the other arcades posted. Mu time there was more in the late 90’s. Definitely, shady characters. I had no idea this transpired there years before.

I appreciate the content contribution. However, that entire video was painful to watch. An internet troll at it’s finest. 🍻

I have to tell you... this is one my new favorite explorations in conspiracy theory.

It has numerous lessons for many people who are interested enough to want to know more about conspiracy theory in general.

For the skeptics it can lead to understanding that not all conspiracy theory is as the traditional media characterize it. It is often just theories which are extension of known elements that must each be understood before the theory is maligned for entertainment value. This video successfully exposes the idea that just because you were told something is a conspiracy theory, doesn't mean it is a bunch of lies.

For the conspiracy theory buff it is a stark reminder that even when the elements of a theory stand firm, not every conclusion can be accepted without healthy skepticism. And there might be a different conclusion to be drawn... or a conclusion might be premature, or we really aren't at a point where a conclusion is forthcoming at all.

a reply to: saint4God

Lol, I binge watched all of his videos. This one was weird as I had never heard of it. Strange or coincidence? Not real sure what to think on this one. Doesn't make me want to buy a game the government monitors or created, do they monitor more than what we think? I'm pretty sure they would.

I don't mind heckle-fish, let's me know this guy does not trust the government in any way, shape or form. good vid!

a reply to: saint4God

Polybius may be an urban legend but given that (Certain elements within) the CIA tested variants on hallucinogenic and mind control substances including tailored versions of L S D on unsuspecting and completely innocent members of the public the truth is that the story that it is urban legend could also be the lie and it could be based on something that really took place.

Subliminal messaging is an old advertising trick that was banned eventually but continued to be used in country's were it was not banned, the idea was to hypnotize the viewers of a tv program for example into going out and buying a product but of course if advertising agency's cottoned onto this idea how much earlier did intelligence and would be mind control agents.

It is easy to dismiss it as just an urban legend because that is what we are told that it is but there is a feint possibility that it is based on a real experiment though it may have been exaggerated to make it more sensational once it spread as an urban legend.

I do however believe that it IS just an urban legend albeit one with probably a very strong nugget of truth somewhere in there.

If you clock the Search button the one that looks like a magnifying glass at the top of the page and do a search for Polybius, scroll down past the non ATS results and look you will find many previous threads on the subject some with some excellent information and debate on the matter.

Almost everyone regards it as a hoax and they are probably right BUT as with the experiments on the public it would actually be very mild compared to some of the things country's (intelligence agency's such as the KGB etc) have done to there own and other nations people.

originally posted by: KKLOCO

originally posted by: Tundra
a reply to: saint4God

Get ya some humor with this legend. Explicit language warning.

Enjoy

This hits close to home as I’ve been as a kid to that Malibu Grand Prix in Beaverton many times. And the other arcades posted. Mu time there was more in the late 90’s. Definitely, shady characters. I had no idea this transpired there years before.

I appreciate the content contribution. However, that entire video was painful to watch. An internet troll at it’s finest. 🍻

Sorry to say.... AVGN ain't no troll. There is a massive amount of truth in that dudes videos. Ehh, maybe I am wrong.

I didn't check out the video, but read Wiki on it. They give a nice overview of the subject.

A very cool urban legend, thanks for the reminder.

en.wikipedia.org

Nexpo on YouTube has a great vid on it. I think he has the best videos on YouTube especially his most disturbing from around the net series which is creepy and not gory or tasteless like that topic sometimes leads.

originally posted by: saint4God

Anyone have more credible information on Polybius than presented here?

“Marek Vachousek was the programmer who came up with the name Polybius — he had studied Greek Mythology at Masaryk University and came up with the name because it sounded quite bold and mysterious, which is what we wanted quite simply. The inspiried (sic) graphics combined with the puzzle elements and scintilating (sic) gameplay was something to behold — we playtested it for hours and hours and it certainly was an addictive game that was well-loved professionally and recreationally by all that played it.”

“We then received a phone call stating that there were concerns within the company that the basic graphics which featured prominently in so many other games of the time were fine for the average gamer to spend hours at a time without any noticable (sic) physical or mental detriments but the intense and engrossing gameplay of this new step was very much an unknown quantity so the game was put back several months due to divided opinion within their board of directors, much to our consternation for breaking our backs to finish it on time.”

www.inputmag.com...

Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed constitution or the separation of powers in government, his in-depth discussion of checks and balances to limit power, and his introduction of "the people", which influenced Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws, John Locke's Two Treatises of Government, and the framers of the United States Constitution.

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: saint4God

This story, for some reason, got lost in translation some years ago.

This is KIND of a true story but the information presented here in the OP is incorrect. The game in question was actually BERZERK.

2 things about this game.

1) This story is as old as I am, nearly half a century. Likely closer to 40 years.

2) I discovered I had palpitations young because of this game. I nearly fainted and passed out off of the chair, by literally ALMOST getting a high score.

When I read this story the many years later, I thought this was quite weird and perhaps just a coincidence. Perhaps but I still had that episode while playing this game as a kid. Granted, I think this was more of a situation where I was probably very excited playing this game. It was brand new and nothing like anything I had experienced as a child. Video games were something unfamiliar to this country boy back in those days so maybe it was just a matter of getting TOO excited that caused this for others as well, also perhaps with pre-existing heart conditions.

For those of you who are curious to know more, here is a link on the story someone was digging in to. I don't know if this is the same or related to the one I read nearly 20 years ago, likely not but the information is the same so I guess like a lot of things, it's been passed around with the OP claiming the original author of the story but I doubt it.

Berzerk Story


besides... Wasn't the name Jeff Daily related to Metroid? Wasn't this a code? I remember this name well because I was in the military with a guy named Jeff Daily (also a boss by the same I worked for years later)

Has anyone here played the "original" Polybius? I still see that the link is still working, but hesitant to download it again...lest I get visited by the men in black 😋😋😋

SINNESLOSCHEN.COM

a reply to: TzarChasm

I like that one link you provided . . .

In a way, the story of Polybius is entirely true. People were dying while playing addictive video games. Men in black were using arcade machines in secret operations. The government was, and probably still is, pursuing mind control. The Portland area witnessed all of these things. It just wasn't called Polybius.

www.inverse.com

It shows you how a number of true stories can become combined into a popular account of something that never happened. I've looking into a number of local tales that were on the fringe of history and have found many have underlying true stories that got lumped together and morphed into something more of a myth. When you find how a legend or myth evolved, it collapses the legend, but does add a lot of interesting information that is related. This story is like that, I love those kind of stories, thanks for the links.

Polybius

He put more effort into it than you did.

originally posted by: TzarChasm

www.inputmag.com...

en.wikipedia.org...

Thank you for the excerpts and links, pretty cool stuff. The biggest problem is that if it were true that there was a game so addictive people couldn't stop playing it, Microsoft/EA/Sony/Nintendo would have the rights and have been released by now. Yeah, the court system might bring it down, but the financial risk-reward would be there until then.

originally posted by: Timber13
y but the information presented here in the OP is incorrect. The game in question was actually BERZERK.

Great game, translated VERY well to Atari 2600 too.

2) I discovered I had palpitations young because of this game. I nearly fainted and passed out off of the chair, by literally ALMOST getting a high score.

Not to mention the screen flashes back then. Rainbow colour flickers, it was the Wild West of the electronic age:

a reply to: TheToastmanCometh

I didn't trust the unsecure website, so I went to YouTube instead. Fun Orwellian subliminal flashes like "Submit" and "Do Not Question Authority". Otherwise, this is Gyruss, yes?