Gaming Throwback Episode 3: Let's play POGS!

Hold on to your milk caps, SYFY WIRE's Gaming Throwback is bringing back POGS for our third episode! As part of Gaming Month, we've already played Mall Madness and Pretty Pretty Princess. But it's the POGS that may truly drive us to insanity as we try to make this strange mixture of collectible and game into a fun experience.

Join Jackie Jennings as she demonstrates the correct way to eat a Fruit Roll-Up while playing POGS with Jen Kirkman and Ziwe Fumudoh. Along the way, Jackie enlightens us about some of the details behind the history of POGS. For example, did you know that POGS date back to 17th-century Japan? Or that POGS broke out in the '90s thanks to the efforts of a schoolteacher in Hawaii?

For a few years in the '90s, POGS were a real cultural phenomenon. If it existed, there was probably an official POG for it. However, POGS proved to be a fleeting fad and quickly faded from the zeitgeist. Although POGS are still around today in a limited fashion, they're also more of a punchline to anyone who remembers the original Age of POGS.

One of the key parts of playing the game involves slamming a stack of POGS and claiming the POGS that land right side up. As you can see in the video, it took a few tries to get it right. In the meantime, another subgame of Either/Or helps pass the time when POGS threatens to destroy the players' sanity. Watch the video to see who won the game!