Polybius

Arcade cabinet

The game is designed to be run in an arcade cabinet. Designs for such a cabinet can be found at Sinnesloschen's web site at http://www.sinnesloschen.com/.

Urban legend

Polybius is, as the main description says, an urban legend. Supposedly, the game was released in 1981 in some suburbs of Portland, Oregon. Most sources claim the game was a "shoot-em up" but are not clear on exact game play. The game was said to cause amnesia, insomnia, nightmares, night terrors, and , in some versions of the legend, even suicide. Soon after the game appeared, it was pulled and not seen again. The legend also says that 'men in black'-types would enter the arcades and gather data from the machines. On March 20, 2006, a man names Steven Roach posted on coinop.org that he was involved with the creation of the game and wanted to "lay it to rest". On April 26, 2006 Duane Weatherall of Gamepulse.co.uk, now bitparade.co.uk, interviewed Mr. Roach about the game. Mr. Roach's story is said to contain a number of inconsistencies. Several people have claimed to own the original ROM to the machine but it has never been made public, a situation typical of hoaxes and conspiracy theories.