Even video games have urban legends, you know.
One of them is Polybius, an arcade game that allegedly popped up in Oregon in the 1980s, only to disappear without a trace soon after. During its time in arcades, it supposedly had an addictive and trance-like affect on its players.
While we can all agree that sounds like the stuff of fantasy, Polybius has still carved out a place for itself in popular culture. It’s featured in numerous pieces of media, as well as popping up in other games; Arcade Spirits, which we reviewed earlier this year, has a whole side story set around the mysterious arcade cabinet.
But legend or not, you can soon own Polybius in your home. If you dare. Numskull has announced plans to bring a Polybius arcade cabinet to its Quarter Arcades range.
The Quarter Arcades line-up is, unsurprisingly, quarter-size scale replicas of popular arcade games. Already in the range are classic arcade games like Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga and Galaxian. And, all going to plan, Polybius will be joining them soon.
Numskull is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to bring Polybius to market. With 26 days still to go, it’s already more than half way to its £50,000 goal.
The catch is, the cabinet isn’t actually a playable game. Because how do you make a game that doesn’t actually exist? Rather, it’s modelled on what Polybius allegedly looked like; a striking all-black design with blue highlights. Rather than feature a made-up game, the screen plays trippy visual effects and audio, living up to the game’s mysterious nature. The functionality of the cabinet is actually a 10-port USB hub; ideal if you have several Quarter Arcade machines set up.
If you’d like to get your hands on a Polybius arcade cabinet, you’ll need to pledge £99 or more. Numskull is aiming to ship the cabinets by February 2021, providing the Kickstarter reaches its goal. Gotta admit, if you have a tabletop miniature arcade set up, Polybius will make quite the addition to it.
Find out more about Polybius and the Kickstarter campaign by clicking here.
