Milk caps (game)
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Pogs, generically milk caps, is a game that was popular among children during the early to mid 1990s.
The brand name "Pog" is owned by the World Pog Federation. The name pog originates from POG, a brand of juice made from passionfruit, orange, and guava; the use of POG bottle caps to play the game preceded the game's commercialization.
The game of milk caps possibly originated in Maui, Hawaii during the 1920s or 1930s, or possibly with origins in Menko, a Japanese card game very similar to milk caps, which has been in existence since the 17th century. The game of milk caps was played on the Hawaiian island of Maui as early as 1927. There are cap collectors that have dating till 1940s and 1950s.
Haleakala Dairy of Maui sold a mixed fruit drink in a glass bottle with a cap under the brand name of POG. In 1955, Haleakala discontinued using the glass containers, but continued making the caps to allow the game to be played. Orchards Hawaii also continued to make milk caps after having stopped using glass bottles. In 1991, Haleakala expanded to the larger Oahu island, which led to a revival of the game. With this revival, the Pog name began being used generically for the game.
The 1990s revival is credited to Blossom Galbiso, a teacher and guidance counselor who taught at Waialua Elementary School in Oahu. In 1991, Galbiso introduced the game she had played as a little girl to a new generation of students, soon incorporating milk caps into her fifth grade curriculum as a way of teaching math and as a nonviolent alternative to other popular schoolyard games, such as dodgeball. The game quickly spread from Oahu's North Shore, and by early 1992, STANPAC Inc., the small Canadian packaging company that had been manufacturing the milk caps distributed by Haleakala Dairy on Maui (the same caps that were collected by Galbiso for her class), was printing millions of milk caps every week for shipment to the Hawaiian island chain. The game soon spread to the mainland, first surfacing in California, Texas, Oregon, and Washington before spreading to the rest of the country. By 1993, the previously obscure game of milk caps, which had almost been forgotten, was now played throughout the world.
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