Polybius: The Arcade Game that Kills | 54
Hysteria 51
ForthHand Media
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 October 2017
⏱️ 55 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Ever played a video game and felt almost addicted? We’ve all been there. Then you get nauseous, have horrible nightmares, suffer from convulsions, and maybe even die? Oh wait, the Street Fighter 2 marathon didn’t do that? Well, a mysterious arcade game in the outskirts of Portland, Oregon did in the early 80’s. Polybius, allegedly only in a few arcades, was under constant surveillance by (you guessed it) men IN BLACK SUITS. Soon after it appeared, the mysterious arcade game vanished without warning—leaving no record of its existence. Did the game really exist? If so was it some sort of mind control experiment by the government, or something even more far fetched? Could it have been a testing ground to find the best and the brightest future stars of the US military? The H 51 I-Team investigates (but mostly just plays video games). Plus, is C Bot’s favorite game Global Thermonuclear War or Tic-Tac-Toe (hint: is isn’t Tic Tac Toe)? Who’s the best at Dig Dug (hint: it isn’t Brent). And is the Power Glove just…so bad (yes, of course it is). All of that and more on the podcast that’s never had our mind controlled by a video game, but HAS controlled a video game with our minds…and forearms…and fists – Hysteria 51.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following is the fourth hand production. |
| 0:04.0 | Who doesn't love a good video game? |
| 0:06.0 | Scapism at its finest. |
| 0:07.0 | Get lost in a world that isn't your own. |
| 0:09.0 | Control a character that isn't you. |
| 0:11.0 | Restore order into a world of chaos. |
| 0:13.0 | What if the roles were reversed? |
| 0:15.0 | What if the game became the controller? |
| 0:17.0 | What if you became the pond? |
| 0:19.0 | In a suburban arcade near Portland, Oregon in 1981, that very thing might have taken place. |
| 0:23.8 | Local players noticed that one game cabinet, Polybius, drew the longest lines. |
| 0:28.5 | Gamers who tried it couldn't stop playing and began acting oddly. |
| 0:31.4 | They were nauseous, stressed, and had horrific nightmares. |
| 0:34.0 | Others had seizures or attempted suicide. Many felt unable to control their own thoughts. Some allegedly even died. |
| 0:40.0 | It was only later that they were called how Polybius it was serviced more often than other games. |
| 0:44.6 | Men in Black suits opened the machine every week, recorded its data, and left with no interest in the coins. |
| 0:51.2 | Soon after it appeared, the mysterious arcade game vanished without warning, leaving no record of its existence. |
| 0:57.0 | It's one of the biggest legends in the gaming world, and though most believed the game never existed, that's exactly what the men in black suits would watch to think. |
| 1:04.5 | It's a story that just will not die, but we'll do our best to kill it next on Hysteria 51. |
| 1:09.5 | They say, I'm disturbed. |
| 1:11.5 | From city to city an incredible hysterical panic spread. |
| 1:14.8 | I think we're getting into a weird area here. |
... |
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