Loki Reveals Polybius, the Urban Legend Game, Exists in the MCU

The fifth episode of Marvel's Loki is now available on Disney+, and it features an awesome easter [...]

By Marc Deschamps

The fifth episode of Marvel's Loki is now available on Disney+, and it features an awesome easter egg for video game fans! In the episode, a Polybius arcade machine can be seen. For those unfamiliar with Polybius, it's an arcade machine from the 1980s that seems to exist solely as an urban legend. It's unclear exactly when the urban legend started, but GamePro magazine covered it in an issue published in 2003. Some variations of the urban legend state that shadowy government agents were using these machines as part of an experiment on players, and all evidence of the game's existence was subsequently destroyed. Apparently, one still exists in the Void, however!

For those that missed the cameo, an image of the arcade machine can be seen in a Tweet from @Atreya300 embedded below.

Most accounts of Polybius conclude that the machine has only ever existed in myth. Some variations of the legend exclude the shadowy government agents and merely focus on the possibility of an arcade game that time forgot. That's significantly more plausible, as there was no internet to keep track of these things back in the day. With all of the concerns about "lost games" and video game preservation, there's something compelling about the idea of an arcade machine that time forgot. However, it seems the only place we can confirm that Polybius exists is in the MCU. Sadly, we didn't get to see any gameplay footage!

The first four episodes of Loki were predominantly set at the TVA, but episode five mostly focused on the Void. The Void is inhabited by people and things that have been "pruned" by the Time Variance Authority, including several variants of Loki. As a result, the background of this episode was filled with a number of easter eggs beyond the Polybius machine, including the Thanos Copter. You can read more about that particular vehicle and its history right here.

Do you think Polybius existed as a real arcade machine? What did you think of the arcade machine's cameo in this episode? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!

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