10 Most Ludicrous Video Game Urban Myths You Actually Believed

3. Government Conspiracy - Polybius

Polybius Arcade
Fark

We’ve really escalated things on our list of urban myths from theories and legends straight up to full on government conspiracies.

Such is the case for the arcade shooter Polybius. Released in limited capacity to certain arcades around suburban Portland, Oregon in the early 80s, this one gets weird fast.

The story goes that players who tried their hand at the game would begin to suffer panic attacks, amnesia, nightmares, and suicidal tendencies. Stranger still, it was said that the extreme strobing effect in the game was being used by The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency to test responses to psychoactive machines. Creepy. Apparently men in black would also come through and collect the info stored on the game’s memory.

Of course, to say none of this is confirmed is an understatement and no one is entirely sure whether the game even existed at all.

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Contributor
Contributor

Jess has been a journalist and content creator in the games industry for over 15 years and has been WhatCulture's resident Australian import and sorry cop since 2020, upping the quotient of swearing and apologising in WhatCulture Gaming's annual blooper videos considerably. She previously worked at GameSpot for 10 years, most notably hosting GameSpot News in addition to E3 live shows, and PAX panels. She regularly livestreams a variety of games on her 'jessmcdonell' YouTube and Twitch channels and hosts the 'Do It On The Day' podcast. She has won awards for her news and feature work in gaming as well as an accolade for her comedic writing (likely an admin error). She can be found on X at @jessmcdonell and Instagram at @jessicamcdonell sharing her current videogame fixations, industry insights, and videos of her cat, Karma.