Documentary on video game urban legend Polybius hits Kickstarter

Portland, Oregon, 1981. Queues are forming for a new game called Polybius. Nobody can quite agree what it's about, but it's said to be insidiously addictive - and perhaps even dangerous. Those who claim to have played Polybius have reported headaches, amnesia and nightmares. Others have suggested that arcades have been visited by government officials in black suits.

These are just a small sample of the stories that have circulated since the earlier days of the internet. Although widely dismissed as a hoax, the Polybiuslegend has just enough shreds of truth about it to maintain a nagging sense of interest.

Players of games like AsteroidsandTempest really were reporting symptoms like sickness and migraine in the early 80s - though these were more an unwelcome side-effect of extended periods of play than sinister intentions on Atari's part. The CIA really was engaged in mind control in the 60s and early 70s, as declassified documents would later prove - though there's no evidence to suggest they'd ventured into the nascent realm of videogames.

A new documentary, which recently appeared on Kickstarter, aims to delve a bit deeper into the whole Polybius legend. Was there any truth behind the various claims that have surfaced over the years? Was there top-secret research into the mind-controlling possibilities in videogames? Maybe, maybe not.

Whatever the documentary digs up, it could at least provide an insight into how urban legends and conspiracy theories spring up and evolve - much like filmmaker Rodney Ascher's magnificent Room 237, with its multiple readings of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.

With two weeks to go, The Polybius Conspiracy's still shy of its $100,000 minimum goal (at the time of writing, it's at a shade over $35,000). But with a range of theorists, arcade owners and game designers interviewed and some handsome-looking footage already in the can, the documentary might be worth your consideration.

Kickstarter