Vintage Milk Bottle Cap Pogs: The Destiny of Things, Story #120

Vintage Milk Bottle Pog Caps:  The Destiny of Things, Story #120

A little note came my way with a story!

 photo via The Destiny of Things, more milk caps available here.

 Little note:

Cool product, thanks a lot! We are using these as inspiration for some scrapbooking products.

photo via The Destiny of Things, set 5 available here 

I would like to use these in a collage type scrapbooking way too!  The little note did inspire me and get me thinking, but it's on the back burner, I seem to prefer washi tape at the moment.

On another note, does anyone remember pogs?  These are the original like pogs from a game that a teacher, Blossom Galbiso revived in Hawaii.  She used to play pogs as a child and in 1991 taught her class.  Later she incorporated pogs into her curriculum as a way of teaching math and as a nonviolent alternative to other popular schoolyard games, one of which involved throwing a ball at one's opponent as hard as possible.

Which was also a popular recess game where I taught and pogs did become an alternative for a couple of years.  

The game 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 pogs 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 pogs, which had almost been forgotten, was now played throughout the world.

It was a fad that left as quickly as it had spread, however it reach internatinal attention and oddly enough was

banned because many children would keep the pogs they won in games from other players, many school districts considered pogs a form of gambling. Pogs proved to be major distractions from classes and the source of various playground arguments. These elements eventually led to the banning of pogs from various schools across North America and many western European Countries such as Sweden, Iceland, Germany and the UK. Other bannings occurred across Australia.

How to Play Pogs:

Rules may vary among players, but the game variants generally have common gameplay features. Each player has his/her own collection of pogs and one or more slammers. Before the game, players decide whether to play "for keeps", or not. "For keeps" implies that the players keep the POGs that they win during the game and forfeit those that have been won by other players. The game can then begin as follows:

1. The players each contribute an equal number of pogs to build a stack with the pieces face-down, which will be used during the game.
2. The players take turns throwing their slammer down onto the top of the stack, causing it to spring up and the pogs to scatter. Each player keeps any pogs that land face-up after they're thrown.
3. After each throw, the pogs which have landed face-down are then re-stacked for the next player.
4. When no pogs remain in the stack, the player with the most pogs is the winner.

Revive Pogs again but with old school vintage milk pog caps!  Information about pogs is from wiki, here.

 photo via The Destiny of Things, set 2 available here

Saying Goodbye:  I set some of my favorite ones aside, in case I do decide to use milk pogs in my art one day.  This was my third set that has sold and all of them went to artists and crafters.  I hope they reach out and send me an update, so I can satisfy my curiosity of their new lives.

What I Learned:

1.  Just when I was recovering from the new project I turned down, I accidentally got glutened one meal and my insomnia is back with too many other allergic reactions to talk about.  As the days go on I get less and less and slept got about three hours last night.  Crash sleep should have happened a few days ago.

As I suspected last year, it seems there may be a connection between my hoarding and my diet.  It sounds far fetched, but if it is gluten and all I have to do is be especially careful to avoid it then so be it!

Anyways, I kind relapsed a bit, which I thought might have been run off stress from turning down the new project with a two year contract and/or how I let myself get overwhelmed and stressed prepping for it most of September  non stop and how I destroyed my dehoarded room into more of a mess looking for things and how catching up and recovering is taking over two weeks, well the gluten put me over the top!

2.  Avoid gluten at all costs!  It reeks havoc and chaos on my body and mind.  Definitely takes me further away from my dreams because I'm buying again!  Oh well, mostly making wish list after wish list.

3.  The good news is I'm doing at least a week long detox, perhaps two and I'm getting a lot done since I'm not sleeping.  And now I triple check and read ingredients labels for gluten or any hidden wheat protein, like even in my organic shampoo!  Only time will tell if  gluten is part of my hoarding issues.

Do you think gluten maybe tied into my hoarding?  Scientists and research I've read have linked it to autism, OCD and schizophrenia, even depression.  Only time will tell for me.

On a lighter note, will you be reviving or reliving the game Pogs at your next get together? Makes me wonder if I have any Pogs from the 90s in my hoard from my teaching days.

Thank you Etsy buyer for leaving me the little note that sent me some big inspirations! and may have brought me closer to the mysteries of my hoarding ways!

Thank you Etsy for helping me with an outlet to find 450 better homes for my hoard to people who are using them and giving them new lives!

Thank you US, Canada, Germany, UK, Poland, Serbia, Switzerland, China, Spain, Bulgaria and Hungary for viewing my Hoarder Rehab:  The Destiny of Things!

Click on the shop names to visit my hoard listed daily at: HoarderRehab,  The Destiny of Things, VintageToGoEtsy and now JunkDrawerLoveEtsy!  There are about 70 items listed on JunkDrawerLoveEtsy and will be listing 1-3 new things there daily and 1-2 items at the other shops!  Thanks for looking!

Related Stories:

1.  How the music art room got worse by the new project I almost took on:  More Stories to Tell in the Dark: Destiny of Things, Story #117

2.  My first story about Milk Pog Caps, here .