Latest / PNW Haunts & Homicides / Neon-lit Nostalgia: Polybius and the Golden Age of Arcades

Transcript

Neon-lit Nostalgia: Polybius and the Golden Age of Arcades · PNW Haunts & Homicides

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[MUSIC]
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You know, urban legends sometimes can just flutter away as times change.
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But I love that this one stays in the public consciousness.
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And even if you don't know it's there, there's Easter eggs in all kinds of pop culture where
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Polybius keeps showing up.
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So it was in the Simpsons, the Goldbergs, 9-inch nails video, less than.
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Loki in season one, Polybius was there.
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It's just going to keep going on, which is fantastic because it keeps arcade in the consciousness.
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[MUSIC]
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Hi, Caitlyn.
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Hi, Cassie.
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Hi, creepy people.
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Hello.
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If you're new to our creepy corner of the world, this is PNW Haunts and Homicides, where we chat
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about true crime, paranormal, and a lot of creepy shit in the Pacific Northwest.
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So much creepy shit.
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We also do a tour reading at the end of every episode for a little bit of deeper insight
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into our topic of the day.
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And you should stick around if you're into that, but I'm going to take off.
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K-Bye.
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Yeah, Caitlyn's not sticking around for this one.
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The topic proved just far too terrifying for her to deal with.
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So yeah, also it wasn't invited.
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That's not true.
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She was invited.
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She just happens to have a day job during the week, which is the only time our guests could
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come.
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So gross, you guys.
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With indoor weather season, now in full swing, people are most likely looking for a place
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to have some fun out of the house and also safe from the elements.
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And what better way to do that than go to an arcade?
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Plus it has a bar, so that's like a no brainer, right?
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So today I'm joined by Shana and Eric from Arcade 2084. http://www.barthattimeforgot.com/
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Hello.
2:00
Nice to be here.
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Thanks for having us.
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Yes, of course.
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I'm so excited.
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Can you tell us a little bit about your arcade?
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Arcade 2084 is what we call a cinema grade recreation of what arcades were really like in
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the early 80s.
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This is when video arcades first emerged and became more than a national pastime, but
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a really global phenomenon that as everybody knows, kicked off video gaming as we know it.
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Yes.
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With a full bar and awesome food and cocktails, it's the whole package with awesome music.
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It's not just an arcade, it's not just a room with games.
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It's a full experience.
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It really is.
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I've been there and I walked in and I was like, oh my gosh, this is so cool.
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There's lights everywhere.
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You got the 80s music and the videos and it's awesome.
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It's really fun place.
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It's a real world outside and just have some fun and escape for a while.
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Yeah, it's almost like stepping into like a time machine.
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It's time travel, for sure.
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Well that leads me into very well into our topic today.
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In 1981, arcades were at the height of their popularity.
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Portland, Oregon was said to have been one of the prime locations for testing new games
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and have you guys heard that?
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Yes.
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Okay.
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I'm barely an 80s baby.
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I was 89 so I didn't really get to experience the 80s.
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I kind of have to live vicariously through things like this and you know, stranger things
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and everything.
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Did you guys get to experience the 80s?
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Indeed.
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And that's part of why this place is here because a lot of people missed it.
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I was a teenager every year of the 80s and going to these places was something I could do
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no matter what town I found myself in because I moved around a lot, a lot of kids do.
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And this is where we all could meet new friends and old friends and everybody got together
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there across all social and economic strata.
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It was a really special time.
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He was a teenager, I'm a few years younger but yet I was there and as an only child it
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was great to be able to always have some place to go where there were people like to hang
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out with.
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Oh yeah, that is great.
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I didn't even think about that.
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And teenager.
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So as the under kid I'm like, "Ooh, I'm with the cool older kids."
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Yeah.
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Did you guys have like competitions?
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I don't know what is it, the high score.
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I know there's less competitions and more sort of just boasting rights.
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You got to put your initials in and maybe somebody would see that and you'd have a bit
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of no to write.
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Nice.
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Or somebody would be having a really good game and people would just start to gather around
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and watch and you'd see like, "What's going on over there?"
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And then the crowd just gets bigger and bigger and...
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Oh, that is so cool.
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A lot of camaraderie.
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And we still see that happen.
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It's really wonderful.
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Oh, good.
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I love that.
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Do you guys get pretty packed on like the weekends?
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Well, I don't know about packed, but you know, we got a healthy steady crowd all day long.
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And it's never really, you know, sort of butt to butt there.
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Well, that's good.
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You don't want it over stuff, right?
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Our kids, you know, there's a lot of reputation for being like hot and dirty and crowded.
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And we are nice and cool and clean and not so crowded.
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So let's get on with our topic for today.
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It's going to be really fun.
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So it was in this year that I just mentioned, 1981, that black, unmarked cabinets would pop
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up in several arcades in the city and surrounding areas.
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This mysterious game is known as...
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Polybius.
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I feel like I should have done like an echo.
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So I've heard Beaverton specifically.
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I didn't end up coming across it again in my notes or in my research.
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I don't know where I heard.
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It was in Beaverton.
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Have you guys heard a specific town?
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No, same.
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When I looked into this in the past, I remember seeing Beaverton specifically.
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But when I brushed up on my research yesterday, I only saw Portland and surrounding suburbs.
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Right.
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Okay, so it's not just me.
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It's just the whole urban legend, the detail seemed to change like that and it just keeps
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it going.
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What's true?
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What's that through?
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Yeah, it's really weird.
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Because when I was diving into it, I was kind of on the other side of it, like, oh, it
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probably wasn't real.
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But then getting into it, I was like, no, because I just experienced the same kind of Mandela
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effect thing where the details are changed.
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So now I'm just all confused.
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The mystery doesn't end with an unmarked cabinet though.
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Symptoms of playing this game or sickness, nightmares, memory loss and behavioral changes.
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No one knows what about the game caused these symptoms.
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But some fan-made games of what they think the gameplay was like seemed to indicate it was
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a mix of optical illusions and visual and audio subliminal messaging.
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So did you guys ever come across any Polybius cabinets?
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I have a supplier that has the Polybius cabinet in his warehouse.
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Oh my gosh.
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Is it okay?
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Is it a real one or is it a fan-made?
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Well, that's a big question.
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That is the question, isn't it?
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I mean, of course, it's a mock-up.
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You know, I happen to know that.
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It depends on one's credibility when one tells you something, right?
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Right, yeah.
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Well, are you just going to believe that?
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This is a legend.
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Yes.
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And there's no real substantive evidence to support it, but it is fun.
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And there's a lot of mock-up cabinets that make people wonder, well, was that really a
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real one or is it just a mock-up?
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Yeah.
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It's so freaking mysterious.
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So have you played this one?
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No.
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No.
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I have not.
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I don't know that it's playable, really.
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I know that he's used it in his own productions.
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Okay.
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Because that's one of the big things is no one really knows what the gameplay was like.
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Right.
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People have kind of speculated that it was sort of like tempest, which I don't know.
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I don't have any idea what that is.
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Can you guys describe the gameplay for that?
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Well, tempest is one of the greatest hits of all time and you're probably going to want
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to edit that out that you've never played it.
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I might have played it at some point, but I don't remember.
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Arcade 2084, almost any other arcade worth its salt.
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And tempest will be there, usually an upright form factor.
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We have a cocktail table version.
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And I'll tell you in a minute why I chose that.
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The author of tempest wanted to create space innovators like Game.
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Space innovators have been such a huge hit.
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But he wanted to create sort of a 3D version where the aliens come toward you.
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And I think he did a great job.
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The game has this sort of 3D effect in suggestion, but it's a vector scan game.
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It's obvious to be a vector scan game and ours is in cocktail table form factor.
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So the bad guys seem to come up from underneath the table at you.
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It's really a beautiful game to play.
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And Shana did a little something.
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She understands something about tempest and why.
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It may have been confused for Polybius.
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Yeah, so a couple of things about the gameplay.
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Well, we'll stick with tempest for a second.
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The tempest, your ship moves around a field.
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And the original version of it, your ship was stationary in the field itself moved.
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And that was causing nausea and vertigo.
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I could see that.
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Right.
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And so they changed it to what it is now.
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So if anybody had played those, there was this conception that arcade games can make
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you sick.
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I think you nauseous and all that.
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And then the people who have actually claimed to have played Polybius describe it as a combination
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of tempest and Gallagher, puzzle and shooter game where the moving ship rotates around the
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screen, shooting at objects.
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And each level gets harder with distracting backgrounds and wildly spinning graphics that
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were brightly colored with these moving hypnotic backgrounds.
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So that was whoo.
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A people who have tried the gameplay of Polybius, which is eerily similar to a game called
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cube quest, which you know, you can, you can do the images of that.
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And it looks almost exactly like what people describe Polybius as.
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There's even like these spinning skulls coming at you at the very first level.
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Oh my gosh.
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Well, that sounds fun.
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And that was a game that was a laser disk game.
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So it's like seed, they were like CDs, but they were giant because they were video, but
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they were like a record album with the shiny stuff like a CD.
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And they, it was a new technology.
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It broke a lot.
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So no, that's what show up in arcades break often.
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And then the operators of the arcade would say get this machine out of here.
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So those machines would come and go pretty quickly with this same kind of gameplay.
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So I suspect that people who think they played polyveas actually played cube quest.
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How, I just, Polybius is such a random, very memorable name too.
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So I'm kind of wondering how that possibly could have got confused.
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Turns out that it's not so random.
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Oh, it's not.
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Okay.
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Polybius was the name of a Greek, let's see, in the five minutes, here's I get it right.
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Philosopher.
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Weren't all Greeks.
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Philosophers?
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No, it's a Greek historian.
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So it's a Greek historian born in Arcadia.
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Oh, okay.
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That's a little convenient.
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Yes.
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And he was known, it was historian that was known for relying on firsthand accounts.
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Asserting that historians should never report what cannot be verified through an interview
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with eyewitnesses.
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So.
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Yes.
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Wow.
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It's almost like someone kind of planned this out here.
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Right.
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Because that's connected a little too easily.
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So I heard, so we kind of talked about the optical illusion effect of the game, but I've
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also heard that it has video and audio subliminal messaging in it.
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Have you ever heard any of that?
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I hadn't heard that.
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I had heard the subliminal messages, but, you know, I don't know.
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It doesn't work.
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Yeah, I think it's, it's one of those things where they were trying to relate it to a government
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conspiracy, government mind control, like the MK Ultra type of thing.
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So I think it kind of just all got mishmashed into the story.
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Yeah.
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So my theory and the whole thing like how it began.
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So yeah, in 1981, there was two players that got sick at the same arcade on the same day.
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One of them ended up with a migraine after playing tempest.
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Now remember, these games were brand new.
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The flashing lights and the moving lights and everything.
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We hadn't experienced that really as humans.
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Yeah.
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And people that might have had photo sensitive issues with lights and flashing lights, you
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know, might get headaches or whatever.
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So the one kid collapsed from a migraine.
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The other kid was trying to break a world record and would plan asteroids for 28 hours straight.
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Oh my God.
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He got sick and had to step away, but he'd also been drinking like tons of coke the whole
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time.
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So, yeah.
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I can't imagine why he got sick.
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Right.
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So these two kids get sick at this arcade and Eugene and on the same day.
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And then around that same time, there were arcade operators in Portland who were fixing machines
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for gambling.
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Yes.
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No, exactly how it worked, but there were counters that were added.
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And so federal agents were in town.
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The FBI was in town, go into these different arcades, taking photos, opening up the back of
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machines, looking for illegal counters.
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And then, you know, a week or so after that, the feds came in and they did a raid for some
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of this illegal gambling.
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So you got some kids that got sick in an arcade and you jean.
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And then in Portland, guys and suits were showing up, poking around these machines and then
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moving in black.
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Exactly.
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And so, you know, this was before the internet, before really quick communication among people.
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And it just seems to me that those two events happening right around the same time was just
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right for an ordeal agent.
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Yeah.
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The telephone.
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I agree.
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Yeah.
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So it's like the telephone effect, like the game of telephone.
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It changes slightly.
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It gets a little more exciting or dramatic as you tell the next person and the next person
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tells the next person.
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Oh my god, this is pride.
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It's like, now you're on the cake, you know?
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So I also did see that there was on some games, I don't know how long it was for, I don't
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know if it was on every game, but there was an FBI message that would pop up on the screen
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saying winners don't use drugs.
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Yes.
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Yes.
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That came along.
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I think in the late 80s might have been primarily 90s if it didn't start in the 90s.
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No, I think it probably started in the 80s as part of like the dare campaign.
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Yeah.
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To get kids not to use drugs and you know, kids were in front of these games.
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So they put the message in the games knowing, you know, their target audience was there.
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Back into the Reagan administration.
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Yeah.
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Right.
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And then that would, you know, that put the government logo and all these kids' heads as
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they're playing arcade games.
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So it's even more of a link to this government conspiracy type of thing.
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Right.
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And in addition, in the day, and they don't do this anymore on DVDs, but you get a VHS tape.
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And at the beginning of every movie was an FBI warning about copywriting and copying
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the tape and selling it.
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And you can be fine and you can go to jail.
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So the connection of FBI and media was already there.
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Yeah.
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I mean, after, you know, arcade games have become so huge.
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There are these knockoffs, these clones.
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And you'd find these, you know, it wasn't quite Donkey Kong or it wasn't really Pac-Man
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in a lot of arcades.
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And so there were people, you know, the right soldiers were losing out on money and the FBI
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understood the importance of cracking down on counterfeit intellectual property.
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And that had everything to do with, you know, the rise in those warnings on arcade machines
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right in the software.
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You know, don't, you know, you're not allowed to copy this if you're playing this outside
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of Japan, yada yada.
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You know, it's wrong.
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And so it really, yeah, it helps to feed in and that coincidental moment to the urban legend.
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Yeah.
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Any good urban legends got these kernels of truth.
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Mm-hmm.
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Just enough to make you go, is it true?
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I don't know.
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Just enough because I did also find that there was an 18 year old named Peter Berkowski that
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passed away from a heart attack while playing the game Berserk.
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But that was not a direct result of the game itself.
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It was stress put on someone who already had an underlying heart condition, unfortunately.
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Like you said earlier, there wasn't a lot, these were new.
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So they weren't really aware that that might, you know, cause stress on your body enough
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to cause a heart attack or a seizure with the flashing lights.
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So that's very sad and unfortunate, but it was not a direct result of the game.
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And it wasn't Polybius either.
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It was at an arcade, so, yeah.
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Gosh, that would be just awful.
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Polybius is innocent.
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I agree.
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I did watch the documentary on YouTube.
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Did you guys watch that one?
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I think we've seen it a while ago.
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They had someone made, you know, a mock up of Polybius that had all of the crazy visual optical
18:48
illusions and the subliminal messaging.
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And this guy kind of took it apart to let you see the words that were popping up and hear
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it.
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And it was like breathing and like creepy words.
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It was like, if that was in a real game, that would be really terrifying.
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Right.
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Do you know of any other games like this?
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Well, we've mentioned, you know how there are some games which may lend to what Polybius
19:17
gets described as tempest and some other laser disk games where the laser disk footage isn't
19:25
directly controllable.
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You don't interact with that.
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It more overlays or underlays the gameplay.
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Dragon slayer, space age.
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But none are like Polybius exactly.
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You'd have to combine, like I say, a few different games.
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But there have been games, you know, and again, this helps feed the urban legend.
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They're having games that have been adapted by the military for training.
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Battle Zone was one of them.
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Doom II is another one.
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So, you know, there's that little thread, that kernel of truth there with the connection.
20:03
Yeah.
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So the military actually used these video games as training for like soldiers?
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Indeed.
20:10
Oh my gosh.
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And another interesting sort of piece of that is there's a home console that predates the
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Atari 2600, which everybody knows as right around this time of the arcade craze, you
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know, to play the home-ported versions of all these arcade games.
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There's a console that predates it called the Fairchild F and libraries very small.
20:37
It's a very little-known system.
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It was the first system you could change the gameplay experience with the cartridge.
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And I mentioned this because the military actually went ahead and contracted with them.
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They got together in Fairchild after their failure in the game console market did almost
20:56
exclusively military contracts.
20:59
Oh, wow.
21:01
I didn't know any of that.
21:04
I kind of knew like nowadays they have, you know, like flight simulators and things, but
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I didn't think even way back then that they would be, because it's like, I don't think
21:15
it's very practical.
21:16
Were they using guns or were they using like little controls?
21:19
They're using the little controls.
21:22
Yeah.
21:23
And there are these controls that were mapped to, you know, the commands in the game.
21:27
Just like there are now, you can use a steering wheel and so on.
21:31
You can use a full-on helicopter mock-up cockpit and they do.
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These games, you know, were not necessarily games.
21:40
They were adapted to military training.
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They were modified slightly, but the base of it was the game.
21:48
And then in 1984 there was a movie called The Last Star Fighter, where a teenager was
21:54
playing a game that was covertly developed to recruit him as a soldier.
21:58
Now is aliens that had done it, but that storyline was there and it was bright for urban legend.
22:06
Absolutely.
22:07
It was in the public consciousness that the military and the government would be using
22:11
these video games against the sender various ways, but for themselves obviously to recruit
22:18
trained civilians.
22:20
That seems kind of crazy to me too, because they would have had to get any of the data
22:25
from people playing the game.
22:29
The technology in the game would have had to be way more advanced than maybe they would
22:32
have had at the time to put like tracking information into an arcade game.
22:38
Well that doesn't ever stop conspiracy theory.
22:41
Yeah, that's true.
22:42
But yeah, I agree with you.
22:46
My conspiracy theory on this, well it's not like my theory, I'm sure.
22:50
But I think it was aliens who put it there to, like you said with this other movie to study
22:57
us.
22:58
That's what I've always thought.
23:00
It's a great idea.
23:03
You would be able to identify which kids are going to grow up to be the worst alien killers
23:07
and just eliminate them.
23:09
That's true.
23:10
You get the very good tactic.
23:14
The book 1984, all about government control and everything, well 1984 was coming and it
23:20
was, so it was very much in the public consciousness of the reaching government and all of that.
23:28
It was just a perfect storm.
23:31
Exactly.
23:32
Do you think a legend like this could be born now?
23:36
Yes.
23:38
I suppose so.
23:39
I mean there's crazy conspiracy theories that keep popping up every day.
23:43
So why not?
23:45
I feel like everyone now is just so suspicious because of AI and everything is just it's fake,
23:52
but it looks so real.
23:53
Yeah, there is a general distrust and a decline of faith in institutions, including those
24:00
that bring us our facts and news and truths.
24:05
And if it was going to come out today, I think it would be related to like home gaming,
24:11
whether it's a streaming game or like a PlayStation game or something because so you know back
24:17
in the day, arcades were where everybody was playing their games and now so many people
24:22
play at home that a more truthful conspiracy theory today would be one of these home played
24:27
games.
24:28
That is true.
24:29
So no one be afraid to visit the arcade.
24:32
That's right.
24:33
No, but almost right.
24:35
It's old tech.
24:36
It's not that fancy.
24:37
It can't watch you or anything.
24:40
It can't get you.
24:41
It's not tracking you.
24:44
If a version of Polybius was ever found and was playable and it did create all of these
24:51
symptoms, everything was true.
24:54
Would you play it?
24:55
No.
24:56
Good answer.
24:57
I'd be very tempted.
24:59
Me too.
25:00
I would certainly watch somebody else play it first.
25:03
Yes.
25:04
Yes, have someone else be the test subject.
25:08
But yeah, you know, some of the things that just crush the legend itself is there's no
25:15
actual ROM sets that can be found.
25:20
There was an article on I think it's coin up thought order or something where they said
25:25
they had a ROM set but they never shared it.
25:29
So we've actually existed.
25:31
So for listeners who may not know what a ROM set is, this is the actual software that holds
25:37
the game program.
25:40
And they are they had historically been stored on chips.
25:46
These ROM chips that were then on the main board of these arcade games.
25:51
And now, you know, the ROM codes for all these arcade games that we all know and love in
25:55
a bunch of deep cuts we don't is more or less preserved and can be reinstalled in new new
26:02
chips, app ROMs and they can go into the machine and help preserve it.
26:08
But again, you know, with the case of Polybius, the fact that there's no known ROM sets is deeply
26:16
suspicious.
26:17
Right.
26:18
So there's that.
26:20
There was a popular magazine at the time called Electronic Games.
26:24
And from 1981 to 1984, there was not a single mention of Polybius.
26:29
There was no mention of the game in any mainstream news in the early 80s.
26:34
And you'd think if kids were really getting sick from these games and such quantities, like
26:42
somebody would have said something on the news.
26:44
It probably would have come up in one of these magazines.
26:46
The first online mention was in 1998 or maybe the early 2000s, some people speculate the
26:53
date on the article isn't really accurate.
26:57
But yeah, it wasn't until the 2000s that there's really any mention of Polybius at any kind
27:04
of media or prancer.
27:06
Yeah.
27:07
It's BS y'all.
27:09
But if we jumped timelines like a Mandela effect situation, then there wouldn't be, right?
27:17
It's funny that you say that because there's a story at the foundation of arcade 2084.
27:22
Or it's a time travel story. It would not be uncommon for arcades in the 80s for operators
27:28
to create a sci-fi motif and a little backstory for it.
27:33
But audiences are a lot more sophisticated now.
27:37
And the nerds are ruthless.
27:39
So this narrative is really rich.
27:42
And it contains multiple timelines as a time travel story.
27:48
And in the original timeline, Polybius exists and our antagonist, our villain, has changed
27:56
history and removed Polybius among other dastardly events.
28:01
I love that.
28:02
That is so much fun.
28:03
And I love how the urban legend just keeps getting held up by like, so the original game
28:12
supposedly was created by a company called Sinneslöschen.
28:18
It's a German where I probably completely mess it up.
28:21
But it's supposed to mean like sensory deprivation.
28:24
But what people say, it's a very clumsy word as if somebody went to a translation dictionary
28:31
and tried to make a word.
28:33
Yeah.
28:34
So Sinneslöschen, there in 2007 at Sinneslöschen.com, you can download a Windows game called Polybius.
28:42
In 2017, PS4 had a game, Polyvius 2013.
28:51
There was a homebrew game for the Atari 2600 called Polybius.
28:56
So even if it wasn't real before, they're making that game.
29:00
Yeah, it's real now.
29:02
Right, exactly.
29:04
Maybe not with the mind control, but there are games called Polyvius now, which, again,
29:08
maybe with the mind control.
29:10
It makes the research murky, you know?
29:15
It did exist.
29:17
Well, Polybius games do exist, but, you know, yeah.
29:22
In '81.
29:23
Right.
29:24
So what is your guys' favorite arcade game?
29:30
Can you pick?
29:31
I know it's probably a terrible question to ask.
29:34
I like Gravitar.
29:35
This is a mid-80s Atari game, sort of a combination between Lunar Landr and Asteroids.
29:44
The physics in the game are amazing.
29:46
You control a ship that you can direct the attitude of and thrust and firing, and you travel
29:53
to different worlds on a two-dimensional plane.
29:57
And in these worlds, you have to collect fuel, which is depleting.
30:01
If you run out of fuel, even if you have, you know, three guys left, that's the end
30:05
of the game.
30:06
So the tactics you use to employ, you know, your ship's fuel, it's just as important as
30:12
your weapons.
30:13
It's a very difficult game, and it really crushes the spirit of most people.
30:19
It makes almost no money, and it is just fantastic.
30:23
That sounds really stressful.
30:26
I'm feeling the bodily effects of the stress right now, and I'm not even playing it.
30:31
Yeah.
30:32
I can't stand that game.
30:33
It's just so tough.
30:35
I'm dead in 30 seconds, and I'm just like, I'm done, you know.
30:39
Most games, it's like, okay, let me try another token and see if I can get better, but that
30:44
one's just so difficult.
30:46
Do you guys have that one?
30:47
Yes, we do.
30:49
Everyone goes try to play it.
30:52
Yes.
30:53
Shana, do you have a favorite?
30:55
Um, a Tapper has been a favorite.
30:57
It is so hard to choose.
31:00
Um, I say Tapper, where you're a bartender that, you know, you have to serve beer to your
31:05
patrons and serve more beer down the bar than there are patrons.
31:12
The mug falls off the bar and you leave it.
31:14
Or if the patron gets to the end of the bar before you've given them a beer, they pick
31:18
you up and throw you down the bar.
31:20
Oh my god.
31:21
Well, that's just fun.
31:23
Do you guys have that one there?
31:24
We do.
31:25
Yes.
31:26
Oh my gosh, I have to tell you.
31:28
That's why I'm a Tapper.
31:31
It's got the Budweiser logo and that ended up changing over time to root beer Tapper to make
31:36
it more kid friendly and all of that.
31:38
Yeah, that is sort of, but I guess that is surprising that they made a beer game for children.
31:44
Well, the games are originally not for children.
31:46
I mean, if you look at even the size of them, most kids need a chair to stand on.
31:51
It is a broad misconception that our kids were and are for children.
31:57
They're not necessarily children.
32:00
And a lot of them, like the Chuck E. Cheese and even like the mall arcades, we're maybe
32:06
geared a little bit more to kids.
32:08
And far more accessible, obviously.
32:10
Right, but these original standalone arcades were seen as like these very seedy places where
32:16
people were dealing drugs and doing bad things and not for kids.
32:21
Yeah.
32:22
That is true because all the gambling stuff, that's right.
32:25
There were even some towns that had ordinances.
32:29
And it's really interesting if you, Eric did some research a while back looking through
32:33
old newspaper articles.
32:37
And a lot of towns had laws where arcades could not be opened during school hours.
32:44
And other such things.
32:46
Parents just thinking, yeah, they were just full of drugs and bad things.
32:50
It was a mean, yeah.
32:51
No, well, it came, the belief among the carons of the day came from, again, curls of truth.
33:01
And it's why we now believe arcades to be, there are preconceived notions that arcades are
33:07
for children.
33:08
They're broken, they're dirty, they're rip off joints, there's no good food, there's
33:11
no good drink.
33:13
It comes from way back when these gaming parlors, billiards, pinball even, were in fact controlled
33:23
by the mob.
33:25
And Kramah was a little girl and she knew that those places were controlled by the mob.
33:31
And coming out of the 50s and 60s, pinball at its peak, there are lots of pinball places
33:39
that still had a lot of crime going on.
33:41
It was that third place like bars that maybe were less frequented by the authorities.
33:49
To be sure, there were narrative wells and things going on.
33:54
But going into the late 70s with video games, the dynamic was a little different.
34:01
Teenagers did like to go there, but there was far less drugs and crime than was suspected.
34:07
And there was no longer any mob control to speak of.
34:11
But you can see how women were very concerned, maybe some men too, about the kids being in
34:21
these places.
34:22
I'm glad we're setting all of these records straight right now.
34:27
For real.
34:28
And definitely, you guys have great food.
34:32
It is nice in there.
34:34
Like you said, it's clean, it's fun.
34:37
I feel like everyone got it.
34:38
We're really proud of the menu.
34:40
The drinks as well.
34:42
We're bringing to bear just decades of experience in food service and hospitality.
34:48
Because people deserve good food, good service, good drink and special products and special
34:54
place and a friendly crew, they deserve it.
34:58
And they're not getting it.
34:59
They don't expect it with our kids.
35:01
So the bar is low for better or for worse for us.
35:05
Do you guys do any events at the arcade?
35:08
Well every night, every day we're open every day.
35:11
There's a special, the thirsty Thursday, for example, $5 drafts.
35:16
karaoke.
35:17
Yeah, $4 bottles.
35:18
You've karaoke?
35:19
Yes.
35:20
Thursday’s are now karaoke night.
35:22
But only songs from 1989 and earlier.
35:25
Oh my God, I love that.
35:26
That is amazing.
35:27
Friday is fast times Friday.
35:29
That's where you can get some of my Nitro beverage line at a discount.
35:35
Route 84 is a Nitro root beer.
35:39
And there's a non-alcoholic version that was a huge hit for a couple of years.
35:44
But a lot of guests would drop in a shot.
35:46
And you get a great flavor profile with whiskey or vanilla.
35:51
But the alcohol destroys the effervescence when you do that.
35:54
So I've created the new, smooth and hard line and this has the alcohol right in in the
36:00
brewing process.
36:01
So it's just head for days and it's an amazing draft root beer on tap.
36:08
Oh my gosh.
36:09
And Saturday is super shot Saturday.
36:11
So we have our jealous shots and the big syringes.
36:14
They come with bonus tokens.
36:16
Sundays all day happy hour.
36:18
And then.
36:19
Dollar up all food and drink on the menu.
36:22
And then we do try to have other kinds of events eventually.
36:26
We're going to get into doing some kind of tournaments, competitions.
36:31
But see, this month alone we've got the Mrs. Roper romp.
36:37
So not arcade related, but definitely 80s related.
36:39
Two is a character from Three's Company.
36:42
Who has this big curly red hair and wore these very colorful, they're called calf tans.
36:48
It's kind of like a big moomoo, big chunky jewelry.
36:51
So everybody dresses up like Mrs. Roper and kind of bar hops.
36:54
So we're doing that actually this Friday.
36:57
And then we do paint nights from time to time, black light paint night.
37:02
Oh my god.
37:03
Yeah, do paintings with these phosphorescent paints that will glow under the black light.
37:07
And yeah, and we're open to other kinds of events.
37:10
You know, if anybody's got an idea for us, just hit us up.
37:13
We'll see what we can fit in.
37:15
That sounds like so much fun.
37:16
I am so into that black light paint.
37:19
Oh my gosh.
37:20
That sounds great.
37:21
You have a paint be support.
37:23
Yeah.
37:24
And of course we do private parties too.
37:25
You can rent out the entire arcade.
37:27
Oh, you can?
37:28
Yes.
37:29
Oh my gosh, that's so fun.
37:31
Has anyone done that yet?
37:32
Yes.
37:33
Have you had a wedding there?
37:36
No wedding is mostly birthdays, team building.
37:40
It was cute even during Pete COVID.
37:43
We opened July 2020.
37:44
It was rough.
37:45
You know, a lot of people couldn't come in and there was a period where nobody could come
37:48
in.
37:49
We're just afraid to be around other people.
37:51
And we had this adorable couple who reserved the arcade just for themselves for a fun date
37:57
night, just the two of them.
37:58
That is so freaking sweet.
38:01
I love that.
38:06
As indie podcasters, we love to show our support of other awesome shows.
38:11
So stay tuned for the promo we've got to share with you this week.
38:15
Let show them some love.
38:19
Hi guys, I'm Courtney and I'm Lisa and we are the host of the Book of the Dead, a true
38:26
crime podcast based out of New Jersey where we tell you about the most obscure cases that
38:33
you may have never heard of.
38:35
So join us in the Book of the Dead library for another chapter of the Book of the Dead
38:39
wherever you get your podcasts.
38:41
Bye guys.
38:43
You guys!
38:44
We're back!
38:46
And don't worry, we did get more wine.
38:48
Well of course.
38:52
Well on our episodes, we usually do a tarot reading.
38:57
How do you guys feel about tarot?
38:59
A fun activity.
39:01
Yeah.
39:02
Yeah?
39:03
Okay.
39:04
You're not scared, right?
39:05
Oh.
39:06
It's just no science man.
39:07
It's not a big deal.
39:08
I agree.
39:09
But some people are like, "Oh no, evil.
39:12
We're gonna..."
39:13
I have a stranger thing, Stack.
39:14
I thought it would be perfect to you.
39:16
Okay.
39:17
So I'm giving it a couple of good shuffles here.
39:23
Okay.
39:24
So I'm just gonna send me your Polybius vibes into the deck.
39:33
I think we're gonna go with this one.
39:38
Okay. We got the five of strands, which is Wands I Believe.
39:45
And I have my little interpretation book.
39:47
I'm gonna find the page.
39:50
I don't have all the cards memorized or anything.
39:53
We're pretty good now.
39:54
We've been doing it about almost three years now.
39:57
So we're pretty good with our intuition with the cards, but we still always like to read
40:01
the little interpretation.
40:02
It's a big deck.
40:04
A lot to learn.
40:05
Yeah.
40:06
Oh my gosh.
40:07
I know the major arcana pretty well.
40:10
Nerd.
40:11
I am.
40:12
I have so many tarot decks.
40:14
It's ridiculous.
40:15
That's cool.
40:16
That's kind of cool.
40:17
Yeah.
40:18
I like how I do that.
40:19
And then I have a theme for like any topic.
40:22
Perfect.
40:23
So there needs to be like a Pac-Man, you know, an arcade-game tarot deck.
40:29
There should be.
40:30
You guys should invent one.
40:32
You should invent one.
40:34
We can work on it together.
40:35
I know.
40:36
I don't know a lot about arcade games.
40:38
I know how to play Pac-Man sort of.
40:41
There's patterns.
40:42
Are you going to teach me secrets right now?
40:45
Like that.
40:46
There's a hiding spot in Pac-Man.
40:48
There's no pause button on any of these games.
40:51
So if you need to go take a pee break, you better hope you bought the asteroids branded diaper
40:55
because you can't step away without losing your guy.
40:58
Well on Pac-Man, there's a place in the maze where you can tuck Pac-Man in there.
41:03
The monsters won't bother him.
41:06
But what if someone else comes and moves the little stick and moves them out?
41:10
Yeah.
41:11
Is it a stick?
41:12
Or is it a Piss-But?
41:13
You take it with them behind the arcade.
41:16
Take them out back.
41:17
Yeah.
41:18
Deal with...
41:19
Talk to NATO or the UN or something.
41:23
Okay.
41:24
So for five of strands, which is ones, I double checked.
41:28
Five of strands is like navigating Murkwood Forest with a dim flashlight.
41:34
No matter how hard you try to find your way, you're surrounded by shadows and illusion throwing
41:39
you off course.
41:41
Although you may feel lost, remember that all you need is clarity.
41:46
What is the source of your current conflict?
41:49
Are you trying to solve the right problem?
41:51
As tricky as this card can be, it does indicate a great payoff if things can be resolved.
41:58
Now it's just a matter of deciding whether you think it's worth it.
42:02
Ooh, is that a threat?
42:03
That's a good one.
42:04
I feel slightly threatened.
42:08
Maybe we shouldn't be trying to solve this mystery.
42:12
Right?
42:13
A plebeia is, yeah, don't be close.
42:16
Yeah, I kind of think that's what it was saying.
42:19
Oh, awesome.
42:20
As a patriarchy, I do suggest we stop this immediately.
42:24
Okay.
42:25
That is interesting, though, that it said it talked about illusion.
42:32
Right?
42:33
That was like so perfect for this game.
42:35
I like the lights, too, kind of just remind me of the whole vibe of the, with all the lights
42:41
in the arcade.
42:42
So do we get any more cards?
42:44
Can you hit us?
42:45
Can you hit me?
42:46
Do you want another card?
42:47
We'll double down.
42:48
Yeah.
42:49
Let's do it.
42:50
I don't know how to play.
42:51
So.
42:52
I just grabbed, I felt like grabbing the one just that was on the top right here.
42:55
And it's the page of dice.
42:57
Dice.
42:58
Dice are swords.
43:01
Ooh.
43:02
Okay.
43:03
Page of dice.
43:06
Will Byers is full of creative ideas from stories to game campaigns to exploring the world
43:13
of science.
43:14
Okay.
43:17
As the page of dice, Will is finding his voice and learning how to express himself.
43:23
His presence in your reading encourages you to pursue your ideas or consider new ways
43:28
of communicating your thoughts.
43:31
So which is it?
43:32
Should we not pursue it?
43:33
Should we pursue it?
43:34
That was good.
43:35
That was, it literally says game campaigns like in science.
43:43
I love it.
43:45
I'm thinking of a shape right now.
43:49
What is it?
43:50
I don't know.
43:51
Triangle.
43:52
Oh my God.
43:53
I'm going to miss a phenomenon.
43:54
Thank you.
43:56
I was just thinking of pizza because I'm hungry.
44:00
It was a circle.
44:01
It was a fucking circle.
44:03
I was close.
44:04
I was a fucking circle.
44:07
That was very close.
44:08
See, I am a witch.
44:09
He said that pizza is a circle, but a slice of pizza is a triangle.
44:13
Yeah.
44:14
Yeah.
44:15
So I was right.
44:16
Everybody was right.
44:17
Yeah.
44:18
Okay.
44:19
Well, do you guys have any last words?
44:23
I did want to mention how urban legends sometimes can just flutter away as times change.
44:29
But I love that this one stays in the public consciousness.
44:34
And even if you don't know it's there, there's Easter eggs in all kinds of pop culture where
44:38
Polybius keeps showing up.
44:40
So it was in the Simpsons, the Goldbergs, Nine Inch Nails video, Less Than.
44:46
It's prominent in that one.
44:48
There was a short live show called Dimension 404.
44:50
It's got an episode all about Polybius, which I highly recommend.
44:54
Loki in Season 1, Polybius was there.
44:57
And some show called Paper Girls have never heard of.
45:00
But Polybius shows up there, too.
45:02
So.
45:03
Wow.
45:04
I feel like that's just going to cement the legend for way in the future.
45:08
They're going to be like, look, it was real.
45:09
It's in all of these old things.
45:11
Right.
45:12
And I think as people learn about it, you know, like you weren't necessarily there, but
45:15
you learn about it.
45:16
Like, oh, this is interesting.
45:17
And then they put it in their movie or book or whatever.
45:21
It's just going to keep going on, which is fantastic because it keeps arcade in the consciousness.
45:26
Yeah, I agree.
45:29
So I had the opportunity to be at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo a weekend.
45:35
Oh, fun.
45:36
Yeah.
45:37
And I met some fellows that work on independent new arcade games.
45:45
And they have a number of titles that are hugely successful in barricades across the country.
45:52
And I plan to pick up one or two of those for our arcade to introduce new audiences to
46:02
these old titles.
46:03
These games, these guys are making are in the spirit of these original eight 16-bit games
46:09
from the '80s.
46:12
The gameplay is on point as if the arcade phenomenon of the '80s didn't stop.
46:18
They've really, really nailed it.
46:21
And I'm excited to be working with them also on a new Polybius game that will be at our arcade.
46:28
Oh, my gosh.
46:29
I'm so excited.
46:31
You have to let me know when it comes.
46:33
I'm going to do like an opening day.
46:37
We hope that every day people come along.
46:40
There's been since we opened up a contest to create Polybius as well as some arcade games
46:48
in the style of the '80s and one with our own stories and narrative elements.
46:53
But there have been no submissions in this entire time.
46:56
So I'm hopeful that working with these guys, we can act the rubber to the road and get these
47:03
games rolling.
47:04
And bring this urban legend to life.
47:07
Yes.
47:08
Oh, this is so exciting.
47:09
I'm so glad to have you guys on.
47:12
Yeah.
47:13
Thank you so much.
47:14
It's wonderful to be here.
47:15
Thank you so much for your opportunity to talk to you.
47:16
Yeah, absolutely.
47:18
Do you guys have Instagram or Facebook or anything like that?
47:21
A website?
47:23
All three.
47:24
Yeah.
47:25
Website barthattimeforgot.com.
47:26
That will swing you over to barthattimeforgot.com.
47:30
That's our speakeasy style cocktail bar, board winning cocktails.
47:35
And Instagram, @arcade_2084.
47:40
Yeah, and I think our Facebook handle is bar timeforgot.
47:44
Bar that timeforgot.
47:45
I can't remember if there's underscores in it or not.
47:48
Well, we'll link to the website and I'm sure that they can find you all from there.
47:52
Excellent.
47:53
Have a creepy ass day.
47:57
See you in the future.
48:00
We won't have a tarot read video for our Patreon this week, but we will have a very special
48:07
bonus episode, a whole episode for you guys.
48:12
Oh, my gourd.
48:13
Yes, so that will be released in place of a video.
48:17
I'm very sorry.
48:18
You won't see our beautiful faces.
48:20
Still, if you have any true crime, paranormal, witchy, or other creepy stories, maybe like
48:29
any creepy video games you've played recently.
48:32
Yeah, definitely that.
48:34
You should attention them too, Cassie.
48:40
That'll be for our listener appreciation episodes, creepy people chronicles.
48:45
Email them to us at pnwhauntsandhomicides@gmail.com or you can use the Google contact link in our
48:54
episode description.
48:56
Slash.
48:57
Show notes.
48:59
When you are always welcome to remain anonymous, if you have a story that maybe you're worried
49:04
the men in black will come after you for.
49:07
Oh, great.
49:08
We don't want that to happen to you.
49:09
I wasn't worried about that, particularly, but after this episode you might be okay, great.
49:17
It's fine.
49:20
But they also don't have to be specifically from the Pacific Northwest.
49:24
Yes.
49:25
Yeah, let's focus on that.
49:27
These great, pre-impressed that I said specifically Pacific.
49:32
Oh, yes.
49:34
All of us on all of the socials, if you don't want to miss out on photos of the tarot cards,
49:43
our beautiful, alter setups and a lot of backstage shenanigans, unless the men in black
49:49
are after you.
49:50
And therefore you have no time for shenanigans.
49:56
None.
49:57
And whatsoever.
49:59
Also this week's tarot card photos will not be with an alter, but they'll be very special.
50:08
You can find our website and link tree in the description of this episode to check out
50:12
all of the strange fun we have to offer. pnwhauntsandhomicides.com
50:15
Oh.
50:45
Do you want to say it with me?
50:50
You don't have to say the ass part.
50:51
Oh, I'm into the ass.
50:53
Okay, cool.
50:55
We love the ass around here.