Item #: SCP-1315
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1315 is kept in secure storage at Site 15. It is stored within a small safe on premises, the code to which can be requested via a written application from Dr. █████. As SCP-1315 will not exhibit any anomalous effects unless directly interacted with, no further containment is necessary.
Description: Item SCP-1315 is what appears to be a standard 5.5 x 4.1 inch video game cartridge, for use with the North American version of the Nintendo Entertainment System console (also known as the "NES"). The cartridge is manufactured out of gray plastic, and is unlabeled. According to an operation manual packaged with the cartridge, the game is entitled Professor Ghoul's Terrifying Horror Challenge and is accompanied by a subtitle reading "a realistic high-stakes action game for 1 to 2 players".
When the cartridge is used in a Nintendo Entertainment System, a black screen appears, containing nothing except a simple menu with the option for a single player or a two-player mode. Pressing the Start button on either of the options advances to another screen, where the game asks to confirm whether the persons currently holding the game controller(s) are those who wish to play the game. If the "No" option is selected, the game will return to the mode select menu. Selecting "Yes" prompts the game to beep loudly and then display a blank red screen. Nothing more will happen onscreen after this point.
At this point, the "game" will begin, and the player(s) of the game will be subjected to a series of increasingly horrific "challenges" that apparently manifest in the physical world. While players will report being chased by monsters from within the game, it appears, to the best of the Foundation's knowledge, that these elements of the "game" are only visible to the player(s), and do not exist for other people who happen to be in the same area. The "challenges" involve players escaping from or combating hostile creatures over a series of levels. Each time a "challenge" is won, the game will inform the player of the objective for the next, and then the game will continue. The game's manual claims "the fun never ends" and does not specify how many "challenges" must be completed to win the game (if it can be won), though D-Class personnel who have played the game have thus far managed to reach Level 33.
Once the "game" has begun, it cannot be halted until the player(s) either win or are defeated. Turning the Nintendo Entertainment System off simply renders the player(s) unable to receive hints from the game, and physically leaving the area in which the game is set up simply causes the phenomena manifested by the game to follow the player(s) elsewhere. Those playing the game grow gradually more distressed as the "challenges" continue, until they report that the game has become "too hard" for them, and they are captured by the enemies within the game, which prompts the game to end and the player(s) to disappear. It is not currently known where the player(s) are taken upon losing the game.
Additional Materials
Test Log 1315-1
It appears that the content of the game is static, and does not change on subsequent playings. Different players have reported similar events occurring on certain levels, though there does appear to be some element of randomness, as some slight variation has been observed.
Test Log 1315-2
Several tests have been conducted with SCP-1315 in an attempt to determine the origins and extent of its anomalous properties.
History: SCP-1315 was recovered from a computer and video game store in █████████, ███ on 11/04/1986, after an employee of said store attempted to burn the establishment down in an effort to destroy SCP-1315, which he and a friend had used during a down period some days prior. Said employee was arrested by the █████████ Police Department and held in custody. Although those on duty reported that he had not been released from his cell, he supposedly vanished, and is still missing, as of ██/██/20██. Other employees of the video game store were interviewed, though it has been determined that none of them possessed any knowledge of SCP-1315 or its origins.
Excerpt from Operation Manual
Included with SCP-1315 cartridge on recovery.