I grew up in Portland, OR in the 90's and never heard anything about a mysterious arcade game that gave kids nightmares, caused seizures or anything like that. While Polybius is a fun myth, I've always known it to be BS created within the last 10 years or so. So when a few days ago a prankster posted a craigslist ad for a Polybius machine in PA, I had had enough. I decided to find the first mention of the Polybius myth on the internet, and hopefully the origin of the hoax.
Luckily a user at the MAMEWorld forums named Stiletto had the info I was looking for. The first ever mention of an arcade game called Polybius was on 2/27/00:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/rec.games.video.arcade.collecting/AZGVIvoYwCA
"No, not the Greek historian. An arcade game.
I am skeptical of the claims made on the following page, but they certainly
make for interesting reading."
(Archive of the first website containing the Polybius myth)
http://web.archive.org/web/20000303224844/http://www.clickto.com/coinop/GamePage/Polybius.html
I contacted this guy to find out if he put the info up. It turns out he was just the first person to stumble upon it. Himself being a video game historian, he referred to such myths as a "menace" saying, "I don't think anything good comes from trying to pass off false information as true". I went on to the next lead.
One year later, a guy named Al accused a user named Cyberyogi of the hoax:
"Would someone please shoot this story in the head? It was put there by net kook 'CYBERYOGI' who was also responsible for an annoying April Fools prank last year."
It turns out Cyberyogi came up with an elaborate April Fools prank also in 2000 saying that, " SENSATION:"Phoenix" arcade game version from GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC found!!! [ROMs are intact!]".
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/rec.games.video.arcade.collecting/NBRiwPOjjzQ
I contacted Cyberyogi asking him if he started the hoax, also stating I may be interested in joining his "first cyber-age religion" called LOGOLOGIE. So far, no response
http://weltenschule.de/e_index.html
But given that Cyberyogi had concocted another elaborate prank the same year, it seems safe to say he's behind it. He's German, and sinnesloschen is German for "senseless" or "loss of consciousness". Some also think the name Polybius was inspired by one of the few German games in the 80's called Poly Play.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly_Play
Sorry for such a long post, but I hope that this is good enough evidence and closure for everyone that Polybius has a 99.9% chance of being a hoax created in early 2000.
Luckily a user at the MAMEWorld forums named Stiletto had the info I was looking for. The first ever mention of an arcade game called Polybius was on 2/27/00:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/rec.games.video.arcade.collecting/AZGVIvoYwCA
"No, not the Greek historian. An arcade game.
I am skeptical of the claims made on the following page, but they certainly
make for interesting reading."
(Archive of the first website containing the Polybius myth)
http://web.archive.org/web/20000303224844/http://www.clickto.com/coinop/GamePage/Polybius.html
I contacted this guy to find out if he put the info up. It turns out he was just the first person to stumble upon it. Himself being a video game historian, he referred to such myths as a "menace" saying, "I don't think anything good comes from trying to pass off false information as true". I went on to the next lead.
One year later, a guy named Al accused a user named Cyberyogi of the hoax:
"Would someone please shoot this story in the head? It was put there by net kook 'CYBERYOGI' who was also responsible for an annoying April Fools prank last year."
It turns out Cyberyogi came up with an elaborate April Fools prank also in 2000 saying that, " SENSATION:"Phoenix" arcade game version from GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC found!!! [ROMs are intact!]".
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/rec.games.video.arcade.collecting/NBRiwPOjjzQ
I contacted Cyberyogi asking him if he started the hoax, also stating I may be interested in joining his "first cyber-age religion" called LOGOLOGIE. So far, no response
http://weltenschule.de/e_index.html
But given that Cyberyogi had concocted another elaborate prank the same year, it seems safe to say he's behind it. He's German, and sinnesloschen is German for "senseless" or "loss of consciousness". Some also think the name Polybius was inspired by one of the few German games in the 80's called Poly Play.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly_Play
Sorry for such a long post, but I hope that this is good enough evidence and closure for everyone that Polybius has a 99.9% chance of being a hoax created in early 2000.

