dec 9, 1981 - F.B.I. Arcade Raids

Description:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation raids arcades located in the Portland area under suspicion of illegal gambling. They would often open up machines for inspection and collect monitoring devices that had been placed there previously. Additionally, one of the more common arcade games used for these purposes was the game Tempest. The cabinet would then sometimes be taken by the F.B.I. afterwards which led to a shortage of Tempest cabinets in the area.

This seems to be the inspiration to the part of the Polybius myth mentioning that Men in Black would take information or parts from the Polybius cabinets. With the shortage of Tempest cabinets, some believe that people who recall long lines in front of Polybius may be misremembering Tempest as Polybius.

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