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The Children of the Neon God (DTY)

Polybius Protocol

A Science Fiction and Fiction podcast

#182 in Science Fiction · 🇮🇳
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About the show

Before TRON, there was POLYBIUS. A retro sci-fi horror fiction podcast from Children of the Neon God, based on the infamous 1981 Portland arcade legend. Liz Faire thought she was just a substitute teacher—until a haunted arcade machine came back to finish what it started. Analog horror, Cold War conspiracies, and buried memories. Reboot the program. Remain for the glitch. For fans of Archive 81, Welcome to Night Vale, The Magnus Archives, Limetown, or Control (Remedy Games). Check out our website: polybiusPROTOCOL.com

Newest episodes

Polybius Protocol — Episode 11 - Big Trouble with Little Liz

11 min

Play the game no one can remember playing. POLYBIUS PROTOCOL Episode 11: “Big Trouble with Little Liz” Young Liz runs through 1981 Portland as the signal spreads, the bystanders obey, and a mannequin-android version of her future self gets a little homicidal. Missing student Kelly Deale has escaped the Void. Pacify is waiting in Liz’s future. Reality is fracturing. Polybius has activated. And he’s upset you left him back in 1981. Have you played POLYBIUS today? #PolybiusProtocol #BigTroubleWithLittleLiz #AudioDrama #SciFiHorror #AnalogHorror #RetroGaming #Atari2600 #80sCommercial #VHSHorror #CursedMedia #IndiePodcast #MannequinKing #Pacify

Polybius Protocol - Episode 10 - Live Studio Audience

11 min

Welcome back after sweeps season and our MID-SEASON hiatus. The Children of the Neon God, TV Guide’s #101 channel to keep an eye on, returns with its flagship show, The Polybius Protocol, where sci-fi meets existential crisis as present-day slacker Liz Faire discovers that an arcade experiment back in 1981 gave her the dark gift of quantum snapping into alternate dimensions. Whew! Follow Liz as the artificial intelligence she befriended as a child sends her back in time to 1981, where she must confront her younger, eight-year-old self, dispensing wisdom, laughs, and possible homicide in an unexpected twist ending that will make your jaw drop! Watch Episode 10 of The Polybius Protocol, “Live Studio Audience,” and find the eighties goodness you can only get by quantum snapping back in time. As always, brought to you by your friends at The Children of the Neon God. Save the children! Goshdarnit! #PolybiusProtocol #LiveStudioAudience #AudioDrama #FictionPodcast #SciFiHorror #HorrorComedy #AnalogHorror #80sSitcom #CursedSitcom #TimeTravel #AlternateDimensions #ArtificialIntelligence #IndiePodcast #WeirdFiction #MannequinKing

Polybius Protocol - Episode 9 - "The First Signal"

25 min

Episode 9 – “The First Signal” A hidden tape reveals the first time the Signal worked. Young Liz returns to 1981, and when she comes back, something is different. In her mother’s basement, she finds a recording that was never meant to be heard. Before the game. Before the protocol. There was a signal. And this was the first time it worked. #PolybiusProtocol #AnalogHorror #AudioDrama #FictionPodcast #SciFiHorror #ConspiracyTheory #MindControl #ColdWarMystery #WeirdHistory #PixelArtHorror #GlitchArt #RetroGaming #CyberpunkHorror #TheFirstSignal #Episode9 #HiddenRecording #HorrorPodcast #IndieCreator #Storytelling

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All episodes

Polybius Protocol — Episode 11 - Big Trouble with Little Liz

11 min

Play the game no one can remember playing. POLYBIUS PROTOCOL Episode 11: “Big Trouble with Little Liz” Young Liz runs through 1981 Portland as the signal spreads, the bystanders obey, and a mannequin-android version of her future self gets a little homicidal. Missing student Kelly Deale has escaped the Void. Pacify is waiting in Liz’s future. Reality is fracturing. Polybius has activated. And he’s upset you left him back in 1981. Have you played POLYBIUS today? #PolybiusProtocol #BigTroubleWithLittleLiz #AudioDrama #SciFiHorror #AnalogHorror #RetroGaming #Atari2600 #80sCommercial #VHSHorror #CursedMedia #IndiePodcast #MannequinKing #Pacify

Polybius Protocol - Episode 10 - Live Studio Audience

11 min

Welcome back after sweeps season and our MID-SEASON hiatus. The Children of the Neon God, TV Guide’s #101 channel to keep an eye on, returns with its flagship show, The Polybius Protocol, where sci-fi meets existential crisis as present-day slacker Liz Faire discovers that an arcade experiment back in 1981 gave her the dark gift of quantum snapping into alternate dimensions. Whew! Follow Liz as the artificial intelligence she befriended as a child sends her back in time to 1981, where she must confront her younger, eight-year-old self, dispensing wisdom, laughs, and possible homicide in an unexpected twist ending that will make your jaw drop! Watch Episode 10 of The Polybius Protocol, “Live Studio Audience,” and find the eighties goodness you can only get by quantum snapping back in time. As always, brought to you by your friends at The Children of the Neon God. Save the children! Goshdarnit! #PolybiusProtocol #LiveStudioAudience #AudioDrama #FictionPodcast #SciFiHorror #HorrorComedy #AnalogHorror #80sSitcom #CursedSitcom #TimeTravel #AlternateDimensions #ArtificialIntelligence #IndiePodcast #WeirdFiction #MannequinKing

Polybius Protocol - Episode 9 - "The First Signal"

25 min

Episode 9 – “The First Signal” A hidden tape reveals the first time the Signal worked. Young Liz returns to 1981, and when she comes back, something is different. In her mother’s basement, she finds a recording that was never meant to be heard. Before the game. Before the protocol. There was a signal. And this was the first time it worked. #PolybiusProtocol #AnalogHorror #AudioDrama #FictionPodcast #SciFiHorror #ConspiracyTheory #MindControl #ColdWarMystery #WeirdHistory #PixelArtHorror #GlitchArt #RetroGaming #CyberpunkHorror #TheFirstSignal #Episode9 #HiddenRecording #HorrorPodcast #IndieCreator #Storytelling

Polybius Protocol - Episode 8 - "Back to '81"

13 min

Episode 8 – "BACK TO ’81" PRESENT DAY PORTLAND: Liz’s mother, Shelly, and the Mannequin King AI force an entranced Liz to play a slap-dash version of the POLYBIUS arcade game. Then— INSERT COIN. Then— Score: 7,300 TARGET SCORE ACHIEVED. DIMENSIONAL SNAP PROTOCOL ENGAGED. PLAYER ONE STATUS: RESET. Liz is back in 1981. Eight years old again. Same town. Same kids. But something’s off. They don’t remember her. And they don’t remember the game. POLYBIUS. And Liz is starting to realize… ...something she was never supposed to remember. Keywords: fiction podcast, sci-fi horror, analog horror, AI thriller, psychological thriller, time loop, alternate reality, mind control, retro 1980s, mystery series, immersive audio drama #FictionPodcast #AudioDrama #SciFiHorror #AnalogHorror #AITechnology #TimeLoop #MysteryPodcast #PsychologicalThriller #80sVibes #IndiePodcast #PodcastSeries

Polybius Protocol - Episode 7 - "Homecoming"

12 min

Liz’s students are in a coma.She’s the only one still standing. Returning to her childhood home in Laurelton, Oregon, she’s desperate for answers. But her mother, Dr. Shelly Faire, doesn’t want her to remember. Because this isn’t the first time Liz has come close to the truth. In 1981, a classified mind-control experiment hidden inside an arcade game called Polybius changed her forever. The SIGNAL didn’t pacify her. It unlocked something. Something that can see beyond this dimension. And the key is buried inside her memory. Some memories are deleted for a reason. Because it’s either bury the memory… Or bury the person. Welcome home, Liz. #SciFiPodcast#AudioDrama#AnalogHorror#ConspiracyThriller#MindControl#RetroSciFi#Polybius#PolybiusProtocol #ChildrenOftheNeonGod

Polybius Protocol - Episode 6 - "Pacify"

22 min

A new SIGNAL is spreading.First it was audible. Then visual. Then both.Now, the Signal may be biological. When substitute teacher Liz Faire wakes up handcuffed in a hospital wing full of comatose students, fresh from her return from the VOID, she realizes Polybius has followed her into the real world. As the Mannequin King and his doppelgänger cronies tighten their grip while hunting a missing girl named Kelly Deale, Liz discovers something terrifying: The SIGNAL doesn’t affect everyone the same.Especially not her. Meanwhile, shadowy Agents of the Program, "Men in Black" armed with a metronome-based counter-signal, storm the hospital, battling Polybius for control as competing frequencies collide. Caught in the crossfire, Liz begins to understand her role in a war she doesn’t remember starting. The Polybius Protocol is a retro sci-fi audio drama blending analog horror, Cold War paranoia, dark comedy, and conspiracy myth—inspired by the 1981 Polybius arcade legend. #PolybiusProtocol #AudioDrama #SciFiPodcast #AnalogHorror #ConspiracyFiction

Polybius Protocol - Episode 5 – "Avoid the Void"

20 min

LIZ IS BACK! A forgotten arcade cabinet. A digital entity with memories. And a void that feels too familiar. When Liz snaps between dimensions, she finds herself inside the game she thought she escaped. Polybius is evolving and remembers her. But so is something else. Trapped in an 80s-style arcade filled with corrupted memories and digital phantoms, Liz must uncover a hidden past, face her parents’ secrets, and survive a signal that’s trying to overwrite her mind. Schrödinger Dimensions. Mannequin Kings. Animal chases. And one last quarter to put in the machine. Welcome back to the VOID. #PolybiusProtocol #AVOIDTHEVOID #AnalogHorror #Glitchcore #FoundFootagePodcast #ArcadeHorror #RetroHorror #VHSaesthetic #LostGame #InsertCoin #DigitalDread #SciFiPodcast #80sHorror

Polybius Protocol - Episode 4 - "What's the Deal with Kelly Deale?"

17 min

EPISODE 4 — “What’s the Deal with Kelly Deale?” A Portland high school physics class collapses into a mysterious coma except for two missing people: the strange transfer student Kelly Deale, and her substitute teacher (and our reluctant hero), Liz Faire. Now, Men in Black agents String and Stick interrogate the only conscious witness who might know what happened: Reagan, a chaotic Twitch streamer who is the only student at North High who actually knew Kelly Deale and the reason for the classroom slight case of unconsciousness. As the MIB crank their metronome to overdrive, reality glitches, secrets spill, and POLYBIUS surfaces once again… revealing another piece of the puzzle. This is the episode where the mystery blows wide open. If you’re new to the series, start here and give it a whirl. BTW: The Children of the Neon God apologize for the production delay. Our systems are rebooting. #PolybiusProtocol #Polybius #AnalogHorror #FictionPodcast #SciFiPodcast #HorrorPodcast #AudioDrama #LiminalSpace #BackroomsAdjacent #MIB #MenInBlack #PodcastSeries #NeonGod #Portland #AIHorror #QuantumHorror #EightiesTech #MindControl #MKUltra #Signal

Polybius Protocol - Episode 3 – “String and Stick”

19 min

🎮 Episode 3 – “STRING AND STICK” ▶️ Episode THREE Now Streaming The Polybius Protocol — a retro sci-fi horror podcastinspired by the infamous 1981 Portland arcade legend — has been recognized by the Austin Film Festival (2025) as a Second Rounder in their Fiction Podcast Screenplay category. Thank you, AFF, see you in Austin! About the Series: Blending analog horror, Cold War conspiracy, and psychological suspense, The Polybius Protocol explores what happens when humanity loses control of their technology, and must remember what their own creation has been forcing it to forget. Episode 3 Summary On her first day at a new middle school in 1980s Portland, young Liz Faire discovers her father — a military official working on a top-secret project — has forgotten her eighth birthday. That same day, she will celebrate her dubious date of birth by encountering the mind-controlling arcade game POLYBIUS. Meanwhile, in the present day, Liz introduces us to the Men in Black: agents who investigate and suppress government-created anomalies such as Polybius.  String and Stick, agents in the Portland area are called to a bizarre bank robbery involving a mannequin-human hybrid known as the Mannequin King —a living, real-world manifestation of the AI known as Polybius. What is the Mannequin King trying to steal? And are String and Stick, descendants of the original test subjects, allies… or something else entirely? This extended episode dives deeper into the Polybius legend in an extended episode rife with action, dark humor, and existential mystery. All hail the MANNEQUIN KING! All HAIL POLYBIUS! 🎧For fans of Archive 81, Welcome to Night Vale, and TheMagnus Archives. TIYCwABSVDt12Gi2aAj3

Polybius Protocol - Episode 2 - "The Sub"

15 min

Episode 2 – “SUB” ▶️ Episode Two Now Streaming Relieve the part of 1981 that has been suppressed from the history books. Over and over again. Polybius Protocol is a retro sci-fi horror fiction podcast, inspired by the infamous 1981 Portland arcade legend. Blending analog horror, Cold War conspiracy, and psychological suspense, the series explores what happens when haunted technology remembers what we were forced to forget. SUMMARY 1981 –  Black site scientist Shelly Faire watches her invention (POLYBIUS) almost fool NORAD into starting World War III. PRESENT DAY – Liz Faire just wants to survive her first day as a substitute teacher, but when a purple VHS tape starts a kaleidoscope of hypnotic fury in a Portland classroom, students collapse in a mind-controlled coma.  Liz meets her teenage doppelganger, but that’s not the only thing that’s a reminder of her past -- Polybius is back. And this time, he’s not alone. A fiction podcast for fans of analog horror, sci-fi mystery, and 1980s psychological thrillers. Perfect for listeners of Archive81, Welcome to Night Vale, and The Magnus Archives.

Polybius Protocol - "Pilot"

15 min

Before TRON, there was POLYBIUS. ▶️ Episode One Now Streaming Reboot the program. Remain for the glitch. Polybius Protocol is a retro sci-fi horror fiction podcast from Children of the Neon God, inspired by the infamous 1981 Portland arcade legend. Blending analog horror, Cold War conspiracy, and psychological suspense, the series explores what happens when haunted technology remembers what we were forced to forget. SUMMARY Liz Faire thought she was just a substitute teacher in Portland, Oregon. She didn’t know she was the first test subject in a Cold War mind control experiment—disguised as an arcade game. But Polybius remembers. And it’s come back to reconnect with its long-lost best friend... Whether she remembers him or not. A fiction podcast for fans of analog horror, sci-fi mystery, and 1980s psychological thrillers. Perfect for listeners of Archive 81, Welcome to Night Vale, and The Magnus Archives.

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