“The Polybius Conspiracy” now funding on Kickstarter

If you frequented video arcade’s in the 1980’s, and you had a friend who believed in Bigfoot, he probably also told you about Polybius. Polybius was a video game that supposedly appeared in several arcades ain and around Portland, OR in the early 1980’s.  It was addictive, but it also had side effects: nausea… depression…night terrors…suicide.  Even stranger, Men in Black would occasionally show up, open up the machine to collect data, and leave.  And then just as quickly as it appeared, the game was gone.

Some people think the game was created by the CIA to test people, akin the government’s MKUltra program. Other ideas are even stranger.  But here’s the odd part, today nobody can prove that the gave ever actually existed.  Today some claim that the idea of Polybius was started on internet message boards a decade or more after it was supposedly in arcades. Was it real, or just a creepy ghost story for the electronic age?

Now a group of film makers is looking to make a documentary about the story behind Polybius and they have turned to Kickstarter to try and make it happen.  According to the project description, the film has been in production for some time already and they are turning to Kickstarter now due to the loss of a financial backer. The film making team is led by Tudd Luoto who is formerly of the Sundance Film Festival and currently works at Fox Digital Studio.

Over the years Polybius has become a pop culture punchline, being referenced in such shows as The Simsons and The Goldbergs, as well as comics.

Kickstarter rewards for backers range from digital trading cards, to receiving producer credits on finished film. They hope to raise $100,000 by June 10.  They have already announced potential stretch goals including a five city tour of the finished film and the construction of a full Polybius game cabinet.