Polybius: The Most Dangerous Arcade Game

If you haven’t heard of Polybius, here’s the short version: in the fall of 1981, a mysterious video game suddenly appeared in arcades around Portland.

The game—a black box with no name that involved geometric patterns and colorful shapes—was instantly addictive, hypnotic, and, in some cases, dangerous. Two teenagers supposedly disappeared after playing it. Mysterious men in black suits periodically came to service it.

Was it a secret government research program using gamers as unwitting guinea pigs?