"The Cabinet of Dr. Micro"

Illustration by Abby Howard

### Season Pass Only

No (unavailable to free listeners during original airing, later included as part of Waiting for 13)

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"October 17, 1989"

**"The Cabinet of Dr. Micro"** is the fifth tale in the first episode of the twelfth season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, an arcade game seemingly causes deaths in a town. Written by C.M. Scandreth, it has a runtime of 38:00 and was performed by Nikolle Doolin, Kyle Akers, Matthew Bradford, and Jesse Cornett. It is the 1429th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

Michelle frequents a local arcade called "Charlie's"with her brother, Keith. It is one of the most popular places for kids to hang out in town. Though all of the games are loved, there is an endless, exceedingly difficult game named "Dr. Micro" that only a few people have managed to get a high score on. For years, the leading scorekeeper is someone simply with the initials "MIC". The kids speculate about who this could be.

A boy no one likes very much, James, beats MIC's high score on the game after a marathon session and brags exceedingly about it. A few days later, he goes missing and is never seen again. MIC's name suddenly appears back on top of the leaderboard. The kids wonder if MIC killed James.

The town's local drunk, Caesar, starts hanging around the arcade's doors, yelling at kids as they enter that the machines are evil and the work of the devil. Sometime later, Keith's friend Toby dethrones MIC from the top spot. Over the course of several weeks, Toby slowly begins to look sick and secluded. He tells Michelle that he dreams he's inside Dr. Micro's game every night. Eventually, his body is found at the bottom of dry creek bed outside of town, having either jumped or been pushed from the bridge above. MIC's name appears back on top the next day.

A detective comes to town to investigate Toby's death and the identity of MIC. Through his findings, he discovers that the arcade's repairman, Frank, is secretly a convicted child molester who has failed to report his presence on the national registry. Before he can be interrogated, he is beaten so severely by an unknown assailant outside the arcade with a bag of coins that he falls into a coma and never awakens.

Caesar goes completely insane, yelling at anyone who will listen that the dead found the only way out of town, which was through the game. A few days later, he breaks into the arcade to destroy the machine, but accidentally topples it onto himself and is crushed to death.

The whole town is now under panic that a murderer is loose. Michelle and Keith talk about what's been going on and the latter decides to do something about it. That night, he fatally injures himself while setting the arcade ablaze. Every machine in the place is burned and unusable except Dr. Micro, which doesn't play but constantly displays the scoreboard, with MIC's name at the top.

Charlie is shunned by the townsfolk and becomes a drunk. The police take Dr. Micro away and bulldoze the lot, turning into a carpark. A year after the incidents, Charlie kills himself by inhaling pesticides. The children wonder if he is the last victim of the machine.

Michelle grows up and goes to university, getting a degree in electrical engineering. One day, a police auction is held, and the Dr. Micro game is up for sale. Michelle buys it and opens an arcade of her own, called MIC's. No one ever plays the cursed machine, meaning the scoreboard will remain with MIC's, Toby's and James' names on it for the rest of its days.

## Cast

Nikolle Doolin as Michelle

Kyle Akers as Keith

Matthew Bradford as Toby

Jesse Cornett as James/Charlie/Caesar