Disneyland is a classic American staple and has been since it opened in 1955.
Just saying the name, Disneyland, evokes the images of Mickey Mouse and the famous Matterhorn
Bobsleds and…
POGs.
OK so maybe POGs don’t jump to the forefront of your mind, but they did in-fact find their
way to Disneyland in the spring of 1994.
You see, Disney at the time was constantly interested in finding new ways to make the
parks more appealing for older kids.
The classic Disney characters worked well on young children, and the legacy of Disney’s
films and parks won over plenty of adults who grew up with it, but Disney was usually
struggling to win the attention of older kids and teenagers.
To put it bluntly, Disney wasn’t cool.
So the 90’s were a period of frequent attempts to convince kids otherwise.
In some cases it worked and brought us classic attractions like The Tower of Terror and in
other cases… we got Goosebumps and Barbie.
When the spring of 1994 rolled around, Disney introduced Spring Break ‘94.
It was a limited event that ran at Disneyland from March 25th through April 10th in order
to capitalize on the spring break vacations that kids in the region were on.
And what better way to win over kids in 1994 than with rollerblades and POGs?
Uncool Adult: POG is a cool kids game.
Rad Kid: Team Rollerblade Stunt Shows!
Cool Kid: That's phat!
Uncool Adult: Most incredible.
90s Child: Kids get a free POG pack with a Disneyland kini!
Uncool Adult: The kini slams the POG
Cool Bro: There's a POG play zone!
90s Child: Team Rollerblade's so burly! Uncool Adult: Awesome
Go POG Wild and Rollerblade Crazy! Spring break!
Only at Disneyland! (Cool)
POG Wild and Rollerblade Crazy offered three daily skate stunt shows performed by “Team
Rollerblade” over in Tomorrowland.
The shows featured ramps, jumps, and a 10-foot-tall half pipe.
Southern California, already home to surfing and skateboarding, had seen rollerblading
grow in popularity over the previous few years.
The other offering during the event were POGs, which was still on the rise at that point.
The game itself was nothing new.
It originated back in the 1930’s in Hawaii as a game called milk caps, and was even believed
by many to be a descendant of a 12th century Japanese game called Menko.
The rules of milk caps varied slightly depending on who was playing, but the basic idea was
that players would stack the cardboard caps and then take turns hitting the stack with
a heavier piece which was referred to as a kini or slammer.
The player would keep whatever pieces landed face up, and then the rest were restacked
for the next player.
Whoever had the most pieces in the end was the winner.
To add to the stakes, people could play “for keeps” and would ultimately get to keep
whatever pieces they scored during the game.
The game’s popularity would wane over the years.
Then, in 1991, a 42-year old teacher from Oahu named Blossom Galbiso introduced the
game to her students.
They used the caps of a popular Hawaiian drink that contained Passionfruit, Orange, and Guava
and was aptly named POG.
It caught on and began to spread across Hawaii, and by 1993 it found its way to the US mainland
in California.
So as the craze grew, Disney decided to capitalize on it for their Spring Break event.
Every child under 13 who visited Disneyland during those 17 days received a free set of
collectible POGs along with a kini.
The park also featured an area advertised as a “slammin’ scoopin’ POG Play Zone”
where kids could play POGs with other kids.
And oddly, this was more or less the height of Disney’s involvement with POGs.
The craze would continue to grow the rest of the year and into 1995.
You’d think with the wealth of characters they owned that Disney would get into the
business of making and selling their own POGs, or at least licensing them out.
However they’d end up only licensing one Lion King set in 1995 for retail use in Canada.
There were plenty of counterfeit Disney POGs that were manufactured without Disney’s
permission though, and in the fall of 1995 they’d reach out to over 300 retailers and
distributors to put a stop to it.
Perhaps they knew it wasn’t a long lasting opportunity, or maybe because POGs themselves
were so cheap that it wasn’t worth the effort.
Either way, it didn’t matter much.
The fads of the 90s, like most fads, would eventually fizzle out, and POGs were no exception.
As for Spring Break ‘94 in Disneyland, it would prove to be unnecessary the following
year as they had something better than rollerblades and POGs to win kids over.
They had Indiana Jones.
Between Disney’s general lack of involvement in POGs during most of its craze, and the
short length of their Spring Break ‘94 event, it makes the few legitimate Disney POGs out
there pretty rare.
So make sure you’re not playing for keeps the next time you break out your POGs.