Calling All 90’s Kids! Do You Remember POGS? Kentucky Woman Discovers Vintage Collection

My mom is always finding boxes of my old toys and memorabilia from my childhood. This weekend, she found one with quite the jackpot inside. Not only was my beloved Tamagotchi inside, but shining right in the middle was a postal service shipping tube I instantly recognized. It was where I stored my Pog collection.

Of course, my initials are still on the back of each of them. If you had Pogs, you know they were as good as currency in elementary school. Some of them are actually really valuable now. I found this set of Jurassic Park Pogs listed on eBay for $20,000! That is insane for some cardboard "milk caps."

Do you remember these things? They were all the rage in the mid to late-1990s and there was a game you played with them. Players would stack up their Pogs and then take turns dropping their Slammer Pog (a heavier plastic or metal disc) onto the pile sending it in all directions. The Pogs that landed face-up after the fall went to the player with the Slammer and the ones that landed face-down went back into the pile for the next round. When there were no Pogs left, the player with the most collected was the winner. Sometimes folks would raise the stakes and whatever Pogs you won, you got to actually keep, but I was never down for that.

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The official Pog brand from the 90s was actually based on a type of Hawaiian juice (made with Papaya, Orange, and Guava) that had little round cardboard tops on the bottles to play with, but the game itself dates back to 17th-century Japan and a similar game called Menko. An article from Mental Floss states, "In 1991, teacher Blossom Galbiso reintroduced the game to the world when she taught her beloved childhood diversion to her students. Galbiso favored the game because she believed it helped teach math skills and provided her pupils with a fun game that didn’t require any dodgeball-style potentially dangerous physical activity."

Of course, movies, restaurants, and other pop culture figures of the 1990s joined in the fun with their logos and characters on Pogs from promotional campaigns. I have some Pogs from Fazoli's and Cookie Crisp cereal, but there were Power Rangers, X-Men, NBA players, and so many more themes. There were also Official POG caps like the ones shown in these crazy commercials.

Bring back any memories?  Do you still have your Pogs in a box somewhere? You may want to look them up on eBay to see if they might be the ones that are valuable! Or teach your friends and family how to play.