Milk caps is a children’s game played with small flat circular discs, originally the cardboard caps from milk bottles. Players make a stack of these caps, and take turns to drop a heavier "slammer" object onto it, causing the stack to be disrupted.

Each player keeps any face-up caps and is to restack the face-down caps, repeating the process until none land face-down, at which point the player who collected the most caps wins the game.

The game is also known as Pogs (or Poogs), under which name it was sold commercially in the 1990s. The name originates from POG, a brand of juice made from passionfruit, orange, and guava; the use of the juice's caps to play the game preceded the game's commercialization.

History

thumb|Men'uchi from the [[Edo period were made from clay. They were converted into paper format (menko) during the Meiji period.]]

The game of milk caps possibly originated in Maui, Hawaii, during the 1920s or 1930s; it may also have origins in Menko, a Japanese card game very similar to milk caps, which has been in existence since the 17th century, during the Edo period. The game of milk caps was played on the Hawaiian island of Maui as early as 1927. There are cap collectors that have caps dating back to the 1940s and 1950s.

After new packaging made cardboard milk caps obsolete in the 1950s, manufacturers such as Haleakala Dairy and Orchards Hawaii occasionally distributed the caps as promotional items. In 1991, Haleakala expanded to the more populated Oʻahu island, which led to a revival of the game. With this revival, the Pog name began being used generically for the game. thumb|250px|Real milk caps had small staples in them which, when stacked, produced a random element to the game. Regular milk caps were used to throw at the stack and were able to flip the pile.

Milk caps returned to popularity when the World Pog Federation and the Canada Games Company reintroduced them under the Pog brand name in the 1990s. The Pog fad soared, and peaked in the mid-1990s. Pogs were being handed out for opening bank accounts and in McDonald's Happy Meals.

The term Pog was claimed as trademark by the World Pog Federation while other companies claimed it was a generic term as it was selected by the children that played the game. In October 1994, a lawsuit was settled between World Pog and Universal Pogs Association. Pog was recognized as World Pog's exclusive term and Universal Pogs changed its name to Universal Slammers, Inc. Milk caps proved to be major distractions from classes and the source of various playground arguments. These elements eventually led to the banning of milk caps from various schools across North America. Other bannings occurred across Australia and Sweden.

Equipment

Milk caps generally involves two types of playing discs: milk caps and slammers. Milk caps are typically flat circular cardboard discs which are decorated with images on one or both sides. Traditional (or traditional-style) milk caps are made of rougher cardboard, are printed with limited colors, and often have a staple in them (as they appeared when used as actual POG bottlecaps), while modern commercial pogs were stiffer, thicker and are often printed with colorful glossy imagery.

The other equipment that is used is a slammer: a heavier game piece often made of metal, rubber, or more commonly plastic, which come in various thicknesses and weights.

  1. After each throw, the milk caps which have not flipped over are then re-stacked for the next player.
  2. When no milk caps remain in the stack, the player with the most pogs is the winner.
  3. Rules can be changed depending on who is playing, and where they are from.

Philippine variation

In the Philippines, they use a pog, not a slammer, to slam the Pogs.

World POG Federation

The World POG Federation was the licensed POG publisher, which was 14% owned by Haleakala Dairy, the trademark holder of POGs. The company was based in Costa Mesa, California.

Catalonia

is a traditional card game played by children in Catalonia in which the are turned upside down, hit with the palm of the hand and, if they turn around, they win.

They are made with wasted Spanish playing cards.

<gallery>

Pataco1.jpg|1. Spanish card back view

Pataco2.jpg|2. Spanish card front view

Pataco3.jpg|3. Fold up the middle

Pataco4.jpg|4. Cut down the middle obtaining two equal parts

Pataco5.jpg|5. The two parts are placed at an angle of 90°

Pataco6.jpg|6. The vertical part is folded back and then forward again

Pataco7.jpg|7. The horizontal part is folded back and then forward again inserting the tab into the slot to hold it

</gallery>

The PogChamp emote originates from a video titled "Pogs Championship" in which Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez wins a game of Pogs.

In The Simpsons episode "Bart Sells His Soul" (Season 7, Episode 4), Milhouse shows Bart his new collection of Alf pogs, saying, "Remember Alf? He's back, in Pog form!"

See also

  • Bachicombat
  • Tazos
  • Skully (game), a disk based game
  • Tiddlywinks, another disk based game, involving a pot at the center

References

  • spakatak.com International Tazos Guide
  • Reference site for AAFES pogs, with image galleries
  • Information and images of pogs, tazos, flippos and other milkcaps
  • Information and history about the milkcap craze