Here's how to solve the mystery: Create a company called Seneslochen, release a game called Polybius, and see who sues you.

Games being addictive was truly a horror story back when you needed to put 25 cents in each time just to play

Not only was Polybius born in Arcadia and his name literally means "many lives" one of his most famous quotes is " historians should never report what they cannot verify through eyewitnesses". Whoever came up with all the details for this story is a straight-up thematic genius. Hope they found their true calling as a writer or director.

"This game makes people vomit, get sick, and it hurts their eyes a lot."

I saw a Tumblr post not too long ago that talked about why this urban legend caught so much traction. To paraphrase, every individual element of Polybius is true to some extent:

POLYBIUS:

Polybius may never have existed in 1981... but it does now with all the fan-made games. An urban legend came to life.

German is my first language. "Sinneslöschen" is not a commonly used word (and I'd definitely do a double take if someone used it in conversation), but it's a perfectly valid and grammatically correct compound noun.

One of the biggest missed opportunities ever is the fact that Polybius didn’t show up in the background of a Gravity Falls episode.

"There's also a user named polybius who was quite active in alt.mag.playboy between 1997 and 1998."

26:45 "I had the prankster's full name, and an approximate location; so I drove there and personally beat him to death with a crowbar."

"History isn't necessarily what happened... it's what people say happened"