Throwback Thursday: Pogs

For many children of the 90’s, our first foray into the world of gambling came through Pogs.

You say you just want to try it once, just to see what the big deal is about. Maybe a friend gives you a few of their spare Pogs, some of the uncool ones that they didn’t really want anyway.

“You can have the Arizona one. Fuck cacti.”

You play a couple times and after you do a couple good slams, suddenly your stash of Pogs is growing. You find that playing once or twice isn’t enough–you want more.

Plus it was really satisfying to take things from your friends.

Pretty soon you’re blowing all of your allowance on sweet slammers and attempting to hustle your friends.

I had a yin yang slammer with a sparkly gold border but this one is obviously better.

And then, just as soon as you’d built your empire and turned yourself into the Tony Montana of the playground, your school banned Pogs on the grounds of “gambling.” Frankly, you couldn’t see what they were talking about–you didn’t have a “problem.” You could quit whenever you wanted.

So what if this was quickly followed by a cock fight?

Now, when you visit your parents around the holidays, you go into the closet and find a giant box of Pogs and you remember your glory days.