Pogs, also called Milkcaps or Tazos, is a game dating back to 1920s Hawaii which then became extremely popular in the rest of America in the 1990s.
Recently I've aquired a large amount of Pogs and have gotten really into the whole thing. And when I discovered that it is incredibly easy to make your own Pogs, I got very excited
Below are a collection of Pog designs I've made, free for you to download and print out.
How do I make my own Pogs?
Here is what you will need:
- A printer.
- A pen or pencil.
- Scissors.
- A glue stick
- 1mm thick cardboard. You could probably find this at any craft store but I bought mine online.
- A circular object that is 1.6 inches in diameter. (Alternatively, you can also glue your image to the cardboard before you cut it out.)
- Optional: Clear packing tape or Modge Podge and clear Acrylic Sealer.
Note: If you want to make a Slammer, you should use 6mm thick cardboard or glue 6 1mm cardboard peices together. Slammers are commonly 1.7 inches in diameter. Slammers are usually made out of plastic or metal, though, so it may be easier and cheaper to buy them secondhand. Or, you could 3D print one and use superglue to stick your image onto it. But I would reccomend buying them off E-bay or Amazon, as they are pretty cheap.
Steps:
- Arrange the images you pick into a google doc or word document.
- Right click each image, open up "image options," and resize the images to be 1.6 inches X 1.6 inches (480px x 480px). This is important as you don't want your image to be too big or too small when they print out. The images here are already the right size, and should stay the same size if you use a program like Word or Libre Office, but i do know that Google Docs tends to resize images so it's always good to check.
- Print out your images and cut them out.
- On your 1mm thick cardboard, trace your object onto the cardboard. If you don't have an object to trace, cut out and glue your images onto the cardboard.
- Cut out your cardboard circles, glue your images onto them if you haven't already. Wait for the glue to dry.
- If you want to seal your Pogs, measure out two short peices of clear packing tape, stick your Pog onto one peice, cut the tape to be a bit bigger than the Pog, and fold the edges down around the Pog. Repeat on the other side of the Pog with the other peice of tape. You can also use an old paintbrush to cover your entire Pog in Modge Podge, and then use a clear Acrylic Sealer. Don't use just Modge Podge, or your Pogs will stick to each other and your other Pogs.
The pogs here below are just fun designs that I've made. But as long as you have a program like GiMP or PhotoShop, you can make your own designs.
You can also find images on Milkcap Mania, which is an archive of pogs from all over the world.
How to play Pogs
- Depending on how many people are playing, each person choses 5-10 pogs from their own collection.
- Stack the Pogs on a flat surface face up, or face down if you want to add an extra layer of fun by keeping the designs a mystery.
- Each person takes turns throwing their Slammer onto the top of the stack. Whichever Pogs fall off of the stack landing on the opposite side go to the thrower.
- Winning conditions depend. If you're playing for keeps, then each person will win each other's Pogs. If you're just playing for fun, then whoever has collected the most Pogs when the stack is depleated wins.
