Editor's note: Jeff Minter's Polybius is out now, but the origins of that mythical game go back decades, and venture to some dark places. The Polybius story has everything. Shady government agents ...

Legend has it that in 1981 an arcade cabinet called Polybius briefly took residence in Portland, Oregon. But Polybius was no ordinary video game. Many believe that it was a tool of the United States ...

Eagle-eyed urban legend fans might have spotted an old friend in Marvel’s Loki: a sinister black arcade cabinet labeled Polybius. Or you might have seen it in The Simpsons or in the music video for ...