Pogs
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Pogs (also Milkcaps) is the name of a game that was popular from the early-to-mid-1990s. It got its name from POG, a brand of fruit juice (made from passion fruit, orange and guava); the caps of POG bottles were originally used to play the game. Pog originated in Hawaii around the 1930s, and was repopularized when the Canada Games Company reintroduced them to the American mainstream public in the mid-1990s, where they became popular with pre-teens.
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[edit] History
The game of Pogs is said to have originated in the early 1920s in Hawaii. Dairy farmers would play the game using milk caps. Blossom Galbiso, a teacher at Waialua Elementary School on the north shore of Oahu, is credited with reviving the game. She began using the milkcaps in her classroom in 1991 and told her students about an old game she used to play by flipping milkcaps to be the first one to get the cream off the bottom. Her students began flipping the milkcaps and the game of pogs rapidly spread to other elementary and middle schools around the US.
However, the origin of the game may, in fact, be much earlier. Menko, a Japanese card game very similar to pogs, has been in existence since the Edo period, or the 17th century.
[edit] Rules
Two players both have their own stack of POGs and slammer. Each player contributes the same number of POGs and stacks them facedown. The players take their turn at hitting the stack with their slammer (also called a 'kini' in the United Kingdom), and the players keep the POGs that turn face up after they slam the stack. After each slam, the POGs are restacked. When no POGs are left in the stack, the player with the most POGs wins.
[edit] Popularity
Pogs became so popular in the 1990s that hundreds of types of Pogs were manufactured, covering a wide array of toys, cartoons, movies, games, sports and images of famous people on the front of the pogs. The popularity of the game spawned knockoffs, such as "Slammer Whammers," a similar game released under a different brand name. Today the pog craze has tapered off, but pogs can sometimes still be found on eBay and in game and card stores. During the early 1990s, a national pog tournament was held every February 7 in commemoration of the game's inventor's birthday.
[edit] School banning
Because many children would keep the pogs they won in games from other players, many school districts considered Pogs a form of gambling. Pogs also proved to be major distractions in lessons and the source of various playground arguments. Also, the "slammers" would often rebound from the floor, hitting other players or nearby persons. Furthermore, in some schools monetary coins began to be used instead of pogs. These elements eventually led to the banning of pogs from several schools across North America, the United Kingdom and Australia.
[edit] Educational pogs
Responding to and capitalizing upon the popularity of pogs, many groups, ranging from Christian charities to government organizations, released their own versions of pogs. These enjoyed marginal successes, and can be seen as novelty items. They can be recognized by the name of the organization that produced them as well as the ideas they promoted. The pogs included versions quoting Bible verses, encouraging healthy activities and sports, even a series based upon health food groups.
[edit] Tazos
The word Tazo was used to refer to another registered trademark of Frito Lay, Sabritas, which products included discs that were similar to pogs. Tazos hit their peak in 1996 and 1997 (the same time as the Tamagotchi), with the most popular being the Looney Tunes discs. In the Netherlands and Belgium these were called "flippos".
In the UK, tazos came free with Walkers crisps. Walkers released several series including the very popular Star Wars series.
Tazos evolved to different forms: at the end of the Tazo fever at the end of the nineties Tazos had eight slots around the edges. The slots were the width of one Tazo, so that one could slot together multiple Tazos and make structures from them.
Even some anime series and popular cartoons like Looney Toons, Tiny Toons, Medabots, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Dragon Ball Z had tazos in Mexico, however the most popular since are Pokémon Tazos. They were relaunched in October 2006 , this time with a Simpsons theme.
In Spain the last mention of the product was from #2 winner of EuroJunior, Antonio Jose singing "Te Traigo Flores" in 2006, with the Spanish lyrics, "Today I give to you a bright day, a drawing, a poem, a rumba and my "collection" pogs. ( Colección de Tazos )" This song was heard in all of Europe because of the television show.
[edit] Trivia
- On The Simpsons:
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- In the episode, "Round Springfield," comedian Steve Allen is said to have invented the game, and a large pog with his face on it is created to celebrate the honor. Comic Book Guy sells it at his shop for $500 ("The ultimate pog!").
- In another episode, Homer Simpson forms a motorcycle gang and makes pogs with the gang's name on them.
- In "Bart Sells His Soul," Milhouse buys a piece of paper representing Bart's soul, and later sells the paper and spends his earnings on ALF pogs. (Milhouse: "It's ALF pogs! Remember ALF? He's back... in pog form!")
- In Robin Williams' Jack, Jack requests his pog back when released from jail, citing that "it was a slammer."
- A Flash cartoon describing the alternative uses for pogs has been animated by Weebls-Stuff.com. Many scenes borrow the ALF pog idea from The Simpsons.
- In the hellogoodbye video for 'Here In Your Arms', a POG championship game is held between Marcus Cole and a boy from Camp Holadios. Of course, Marcus wins.
[edit] External links
- Milkcap Mania Site
- Official POG site
- spakatak.com Tazos Collectors Guide
- Funrise Toy corporation
- 2005-2006 Pog´s designer
- Whatever Happened To...POGs?
Pogs were imported from the USA to England by Susan Roberts in 1990
