1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogel bomb here. Hollywood has cashed in pretty hard 3 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 1: on our nostalgia for the nineteen nineties. There's the new 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: Jurassic Park movies, the Space Jam sequel, the Crow remake, 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 1: and rewatch podcasts for everything from Full House to Friends. 6 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: And that's not even getting into the video game remakes, 7 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: vinyl re releases, and near inexplicable return of extra wide 8 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:36,600 Speaker 1: legged jeans. Less attention is now paid to another nineties 9 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: pop culture artifact, POGs. Remember those little paperboard circles and 10 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,880 Speaker 1: the game you played with them. There's an episode of 11 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: The Simpsons from nineteen ninety five where Bart sells it 12 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,159 Speaker 1: old Millhouse, who trades it away for a set of POGs. 13 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: In Milhouse's defense, they did have the character Alf on them. 14 00:00:55,800 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 1: But unlike the Simpsons and even Alf, POGs have pretty 15 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: much dropped off the radar since their nineteen nineties heyday. 16 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: If you weren't in grade school in the nineteen nineties, 17 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,560 Speaker 1: there's a chance you've never even heard of POGs, despite 18 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 1: the phenomenon that they were so today, let's talk about them. 19 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: By some accounts, the story of POGs began a long, 20 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,960 Speaker 1: long time ago, not in a galaxy far far away, 21 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: but in Japan. There's a Japanese game called Minko, thought 22 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,759 Speaker 1: to have originated during the Kamakura period, which lasted from 23 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: thirteen thirty three to eleven eighty five BCE. Minko operates 24 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 1: under a simple premise. First, one player lays down a card. 25 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: This is the target. An opponent then tries to flip 26 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: over the target by throwing their own card at it. 27 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: If that player succeeds, they get to claim both cards. 28 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: Amenko wasn't always played with cards. Originally, players used discs 29 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: of baked play with colorful designs like portraits of famous 30 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: people reel or painted on one side. These were small, 31 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: about two inches or five centimeters across, but by eighteen 32 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: sixty eight, paper cards had replaced them. Another thing that 33 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:14,919 Speaker 1: happened in the latter half of the eighteen hundreds was 34 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: that there was an influx of Japanese immigrants to the 35 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: Hawaiian Islands. There. Amenko may or may not have inspired 36 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: a similar game called milk Caps, popular in the early 37 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds. This was a children's pastime that could be 38 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:33,919 Speaker 1: enjoyed on the cheap kids would stack up bottle caps 39 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: in a vertical pile. Then that take turns tossing a 40 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: harder object known as aikini or slammer at the stack. 41 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: Any caps that landed face up would go to the thrower. 42 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: Remaining caps would be restacked, and the next kid had 43 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:52,520 Speaker 1: a chance to throw. We owe the word pog to 44 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 1: a beverage company originally called Halea Kila Dairy based on Maui. 45 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 1: In the nineteen seventies, they debuted a new do mixed 46 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,639 Speaker 1: juice drink called Passionfruit Orange Guava or POG for short. 47 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: Today the brand is owned by Meadow Gold and their 48 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: beverages are sold in paper cartons and plastic jugs and 49 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: bottles sealed with screw on plastic caps. But at first 50 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: Pog juice was distributed in bottles sealed with cardboard caps, 51 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: and these lids were the perfect fit for a new 52 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: spin on the milk caps game. The game had pretty 53 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 1: much gone extinct by the early nineteen nineties, that is 54 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: until along came One Blossom Gelbizo, a teacher and guidance 55 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: counselor who's lovingly remembered as the mother of Pog's In 56 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one, while working at Wyalua Elementary School on Oahuo, 57 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 1: she reintroduced the old time waster to her students. Suddenly, 58 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: milk caps was all the rage again at Wyalua Elementary 59 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: and beyond, but a few changes were necessary. Milk bottles, 60 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: like the ones older generation had gotten caps from to 61 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: play with, weren't as common in the nineteen nineties. In 62 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: their absence, children turned to Pog juice caps. Galbizo later 63 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: told the press, the beauty of it is that the 64 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: students stopped playing the real rough games in the playground. 65 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:19,279 Speaker 1: Both boys and girls can play, and it teaches rules. 66 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 1: A Galbizo may have been the mother of Pog's, but 67 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: it was one Alan Rapinsky who made them a global sensation. 68 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: Helia Khila Dairy didn't actually print its own bottle caps. 69 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: Those were manufactured by stan Pack, a separate company based 70 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 1: in Canada. Thanks to Galbizo, stan Pack realized it could 71 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,480 Speaker 1: make a killing in the Hawaiian toy market by selling 72 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: its juice lids as game pieces. There A Rapinsk, a 73 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 1: California business owner, somehow caught wind of this. In nineteen 74 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: ninety three, he purchased the Pog brand name from the 75 00:04:55,839 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: dairy and founded the World Pog Federation. That's when things 76 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 1: really got serious with relentless marketing. The Federation turned POGs 77 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 1: into a multimillion dollar industry and the American Mainland's newest 78 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: playground craze. So why did the game catch on? Partly 79 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: because the game pieces were inexpensive and collectible, and partly 80 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 1: because the game itself has super easy rules. To play, 81 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 1: you need only some pog caps and a slammer. Pog 82 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,679 Speaker 1: caps are paperboard discs about the size of a US 83 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:33,840 Speaker 1: half dollar, around forty millimeters across that's one and a 84 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:37,280 Speaker 1: half inches. Each cap has one side that's blank or 85 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,280 Speaker 1: bears the Pog logo, and one side with an eye 86 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: catching illustration, printed photo, or other design, sometimes with fancy 87 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: features like holographic foil or glow in the dark ink. 88 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: We call this second side the face. Slammers are slightly larger, 89 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:58,039 Speaker 1: thicker discs made of plastic, hard rubber, or metal. They're 90 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: about seven times heavier than pogcap and are often decorated 91 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:07,360 Speaker 1: with engravings, anadized patterns, or bright stickers. Participants meet over 92 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: a flat surface where they can pile their caps into 93 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: a single stack, face down. Everyone has to chip in 94 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 1: the same number of caps. Player one chucks their slammer 95 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: at the top of the stack, they'll get to take 96 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: all of the caps that land face up. If you 97 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: miss the stack completely, that still counts as your turn. 98 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:27,719 Speaker 1: The players restack the remaining caps and the second player 99 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: gets a throw. The process repeats until all of the 100 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 1: caps are gone, at which point the game ends, the 101 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: winner being whoever claimed the most caps. I'm merely saying 102 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: that POGs caught on feels like a severe understatement. In 103 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: February of nineteen ninety three, the Federation through the first 104 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:50,039 Speaker 1: ever US National Pog Tournament. Within a year, the game 105 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: had made its way to the East Coast infiltrating playgrounds 106 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: from Maryland to California. Rapinsky realized that his core products, 107 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: the Pog caps, were basically collectible business cards. The Federation 108 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 1: struck licensing deals with just about every brand you can 109 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: think of, McDonald's, Teenage Mutant, Ninja Turtles, Pega, Genesis, Bugs, Bunny, 110 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: the National Hockey League. Even the Catholic Church wanted a 111 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: piece of the action. In nineteen ninety five, the Diocey 112 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: of Camden, New Jersey ordered fifty thousand POGs with Pope 113 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: John Paul the Second's face on them. Other designs made 114 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: use of more generic nineties pop culture imagery like eight balls, flames, skulls, aliens, dinosaurs, skateboards, 115 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: and mildly rude or gross cartoons. If you remember the 116 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: vibe of Spencer's or gadzooks, think that if you don't, 117 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: try to imagine a uvy lit day glow wonderland of 118 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,239 Speaker 1: what thirteen year olds thought was edgy at the time. 119 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: For a minute there, POGs were omnipresent. But the pog 120 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: bubble had to burst sometime. Rapinskiing Company may have oversaturated 121 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 1: their own market with too many variants, and by the 122 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 1: mid nineteen nineties parents were starting to complain. When kids 123 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 1: played POGs for keeps at recess or between classes, you 124 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 1: could easily lose your favorites to another student. That sometimes 125 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: caused fights. Many teachers considered the game and its pieces 126 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:22,120 Speaker 1: disruptive and way too similar to gambling for comfort, so 127 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: POGs started getting banned in various schools around the country. 128 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:29,680 Speaker 1: By the turn of the twenty first century, POGs were 129 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 1: decidedly out. The magazine Boy's Life was already dismissing POGs 130 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:38,439 Speaker 1: as a bygone fad in nineteen ninety eight. The fads 131 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 1: can't last forever, and after all, people had beanie babies 132 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:50,440 Speaker 1: to buy. Today's episode is based on the article You're 133 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:52,840 Speaker 1: definitely a kid of the nineties if you played POGs 134 00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:56,040 Speaker 1: on housetuffworks dot com, written by Mark Mancini. A brain 135 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:58,679 Speaker 1: stuff is production of Iyheart Radio in partnership with Houseifforks 136 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: dot Com and is produced by Time They're playing. Before 137 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 1: more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 138 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:07,080 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.