Containment Protocols: The original copy of Item-936 is kept stored in an airtight locker, temperature controlled and filled with inert neon gas. Affected electronics found in the wild get collected by field agents, who then immediately physically pulverize the objects to prevent further spread of Item-936's effect.
Description: Item-936 is a video game designed for playing on the Nintendo Entertainment System media format standard. The master copy of the machine code exists on 54 floppy discs currently possessed by the Authority. Development occurred in 1986, but it never got a license from Nintendo of America and never put into official physical production. Several thousand bootleg copies were distributed by the creators using mail-in catalogs.
When Item-936 is viewed through a screen, it displays two humanoid figures wandering around an interior environment, with various geometric shapes representing furniture and other household items. Subjects who view Item-936's display always recognize it as resembling their own home despite the lack of specific detail on-screen.
The humanoid figures are Entity-936-A and -B:
Entity-936-A: A short and stocky humanoid resembling Ryan Yandle, a programmer who had been working in the games industry prior to that individual's death in 1986. Lived with Matt Weegar, was known to live a sedentary lifestyle, partially due to losing his feet after a car accident in 1979.
Entity-936-B: A tall and lanky humanoid resembling Matt Weegar, an artist and mathematician who had been working in the games industry prior to the individual's death in 1986. Known to suffer from an obsessive-compulsive desire for neatness and cleanness. Known also to co-habitate and work on game development with with Ryan Yandle.
Once noticed by an Item-936-affected subject, Entities-936-A and -B will gain control over the contents and functionality of any electronic devices. Initially, both will attempt to frighten and alarm the subject over whom they have control of their devices. This is done by altering content displayed on their screens, causing devices to malfunction, and using alert notices and volume control to disrupt the subject's sleep schedule among other things.
It has been observed that both Entity-A and Entity-B will attempt more elaborate and dangerous actions to cause the 936-affected subject further discontent. This competition inevitably leads to -A and -B fighting for control over user-interface icons and other programming abstractions, before attempting to destroy one another.1 Both -A and -B are capable of traveling between devices connected to the internet through the same local network and frequently make use of this capability. This conflict will continue until either -A or -B cause the program to crash, or if the host device loses power before -A or -B can transport itself to a new digital location. If the subject attempts to stop them, the instances will also begin to try to terminate the subject by whatever mean exist at their disposal.
If the subject is able to destroy either of the Entity-936-A or -B instance, or dies an unnatural death, then all 936-related activity will cease. Item-936's effect can only be spread via Nintendo cartridges present in item-936-affected homes, once a death has occurred the active phase of Item-936's effect ceases and only a new subject coming into contact with the Item-affected cartridges can cause a new 963 event to occur.
Approximately ~2000 copies of Item-936 are known to have been produced by its effect or other unknown means since 1986, of those exactly 876 have been destroyed and 2 are being retained for further study. The majority of Item-936 affected cartridges have been recovered from flea markets and thrift stores, piecemeal.
936 File - Newspaper Clipping
Note: This incident led to the discovery of Item-936, contact P. Hornqvist to access original documentation.
POISONER'S GAZETTE WEEKLY
No. 12
| San Diego | MARCH 17 1986 | 50¢ - HAPPY ST PATRICKS' DAY |
BIZARRE MURDER SUICIDE
LINKED TO VIDEO GAME TAPES, D&D, SATAN?
by Tom Harvey Donald