Pogs was a game that surged in popularity during the 1990’s. The game featured the use of little round discs that were decorated with images, resembling the bottle caps of the POG juice drink from which Pogs originated.
There are two types of equipment used when playing Pogs: pogs and slammers. Pogs were decorative little round discs, traditionally made of cardboard, that were the main pieces used to play the game. Slammers were of equal size to Pogs, but were often made of heavier materials than cardboard, including metal or plastic. Slammers of heavier weight were known to give players an unfair advantage when used on the first move, and were often not allowed for use.
Pogs has fairly simple rules for play. The game consists of a two player competition in which each player has their own collection of pogs and slammers prior to playing. Players agree on the stakes of the game, which was usually playing “for keeps”, which meant that any pogs collected during the game were kept by the player who collected them. The game begins with each player handing over the same number of pogs to build a stack of pogs, face-down, between them. The player with the first turn then throws a slammer on the stack to scatter the pogs and hopefully have them land face-up. The player was then allowed to collect any pogs that landed face-up.
At the end of the turn, any pogs that were still face-down were stacked again for the next player. At the end of the game when all the pogs were collected, the player with the most pogs was the winner.
The game experienced huge surges of popularity throughout the 1990’s, but quickly lost it by the end of the decade.
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