Pokey

Pokey is a term with several distinct uses in English. It can refer to prison slang, a fictional character in a video game series, and the name of a vintage hardware chip used in Atari computers. The senses are separate and distinguished by context.

In American slang, “the pokey” or “the poky” means jail or prison. The expression dates from the early 20th century, and its exact origin is uncertain. It appears in newspapers, film dialogue, and everyday speech as a colloquial term for confinement.

Pokey Minch is a recurring character in the EarthBound (Mother) video game series. First appearing in EarthBound (1994) as Ness’s rival, he evolves into an antagonist in later games. In English-language releases, the character is commonly called “Pokey.”

POKEY is the name of a sound and input chip used by Atari in its 8-bit family of computers and the Atari 5200 console. The chip provides four-channel audio, programmable noise, and digital I/O, including keyboard scanning and potentiometer input. It is one of the key custom chips in Atari’s late 1970s to early 1980s systems and is widely documented as “POKEY” in hardware references.

Alternate spellings include poky, which in some dialects is used as an adjective meaning cramped or slow; however, in most proper-noun uses the capitalized forms “POKEY” or “Pokey” distinguish the specific senses described above.