Every parent out there knows the feeling of buying a child an expensive toy and seeing them lose interest in favor of a totally mundane object. Whether it be a roll of bubble wrap, a rubber band, or a large refrigerator box, kids make the best of what’s in front of them using that often overlooked sixth sense: IMAGINATION.

Although growing up in the 90s afforded the opportunity for many electronic, complicated playthings with many small parts that were easy to lose, break, and choke on, there was still room for the old classics like a bouncy ball, a stick, and another activity that started out simple and harmless and blossomed into something much more sinister. I’m talking about the catalyst for a worldwide wave of childhood gambling. I’m not talking about jacks, dominoes, or baseball cards, oh no. I’m talking about the seemingly harmless, but malevolently addictive Pogs.

Pogs is, in its simplest terms, a game. A game from the 90s. At its height, it was the cause of more playground crying than a skinned knee. Basically, pogs are little white paper discs with designs on one side. The game is played with these paper pogs and their heavier counterparts known as slammers.

Slammers are made of either heavy plastic or metal and come in a range of thicknesses and weights. The heavier the slammer, the better chance you had of winning. Some of the slammers that were owned by friends of mine were beyond obscene. They were multiple inches in thickness and weighed as much as a gallon of milk. Personally, I always took the high road and kept my slammers within reason. I’d dabble in metal ones, but I always kept them to a low thickness to avoid being labeled a cheater or a fink.

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