Who would have thought that you could have so much fun with little cardboard disks. Pogs were a huge craze back in the early 90’s and were banned from numerous schools across the country. The cardboard disks had a variety of different patterns and logos on them and became collectable items.

If you have never heard of Pogs read on, you don’t know what you’re missing.

How do you Play Pogs?

To play the game you needed a selection of thin cardboard Pogs that you and your opponent would provide in equal numbers. You also needed what was called a ‘Slammer’, this is a thicker Pog that was usually made out of plastic or metal.

The cardboard Pogs were stacked up into a tower with the pattern side faced down and you would take it in turns to throw the slammer down onto the tower. If any cardboard Pogs landed pattern-side up, they were yours to keep. The ones that landed still faced down, were then re-built into a tower and the process was repeated until no Pogs were left.

History

The game of Pogs was originally called ‘Milk Caps’ and was based on a Japanese game called ‘Menko’ – which has been played since the 17^th Century. Menko was very similar to Pogs but was played with thick cards rather than disks. Milk Caps was originally played back in the 1920’s in Hawaii, with people using the caps of a fruit drink that was made by Haleakala Dairy and came in a glass.

Even after the drink bottles discontinued, they continued to just make the caps to keep the popularity of the game alive. In 1990’s a school teacher named Blosson Galbiso, who grew up playing the game, introduced it to her class and it was a hit and the game was soon popular again around Hawaii.

In the late 1990’s Milk Caps was re-named Pogs by the World Pog Federation who joined forces with the Canada Games Company and brought Pogs back on a larger scale. The name Pog originated from a juice brand made from passion fruit, orange and guava. Their popularity was huge and every brand under the sun were giving them away, including cereals and McDonalds!

Pogs made it to the UK in the 90’s and they were everywhere. They were so popular on the playground that they were even banned in many schools as it was seen as a form of gambling, with children paying for ‘keeps’ and then getting increasingly upset when they lost their favourites.

In the early 2000’s milk caps were used by the US military as a form of currency due to their lighter weight and therefore reducing the cost of distributing coins into war zones. The milk caps had 5,10 and 25 cent denominations and could be used in a variety of camps across the world.

Where are they now?

Pogs have disappeared from production and have not been seen in circulation for a number of years. They can still be bought on websites and some of the military milk caps are seen as collectables. You never know, one day they might make a comeback.

Check out our toy collection!