Play Meter

FROM TH E EDITOR Are you ready for Pog? I Valerie Cognevich Editor PLAY METER flipped the TV to "Entertainment Tonight" several days ago and came face-to-face with the n ext fad-Pog . The first time I'd seen the name was in a King Plush ad which sported the word Pog in its h eadline. I didn 't exactly know what it was, but figured it was something I'd run across somewhere soon. I was right. And it wasn't a stuffed bear with a catchy name. I was glued to the TV set as Leeza Gibbons told us how popular Pog is. How popular is it? Let's simply say that there are schools banning it from classrooms , while others are calling it gambling for kids. No doubt you're on pins and needles waiting for me to tell you e xactly what it is. It's not high technology by any m eans. In fact, it could only be calle d extremely low technology. H e r e's the story: you take some round disks about th e size of a silver dollar made out of heavy cardboard. One side is blank while the other side is adorned with anything from your favorite rock star or movie star to the n a m e Pog or smart designs. You place a stack of these disks on a flat surface. Then you take a solid disk m a d e of steel, or something of that n ature , and slam it down on the stack of disks . Those that turn upside down revealing t h e blank sid e are taken by the player. The player accumulating the most disks wins the game. There were inte rviews with outraged teach e rs who claim this is blatant gambling for kids. They argu e that children will learn th e b asics of gambling and go on to be gambling adults. Children defended the game saying it's fun and they don't play for anything but fun . School principals are setting down the law against it . Kids love it even more because B a dults seem to b e so adamant against it. It 's interesting to see something as simple as tiddlywinks or marbles claiming the attention of children used to high technology. There's e ve n an organization called t h e World Pog Federation promoting th e sport . While we d emand even more creativity from video games, reasoning t hat kids are not content with yesterd ay's technology, h ere comes something to defy a ll logic. It makes us crazy. We have known all along t hat no one really knows what playe rs want in a gam e, but we've been fairly certain t hat it's something with lots of bells and whistles. Now Pog comes along and we are back to square one and even the certainty of high-tech is not a ll that certain anymore . We are very sensitive to comm e nts about th e industry. Leeza Gibbons, in h er introduction to Pog, said that kids were willingly passing up time on video games to entertain th e mse lves with a gam e or two of Pog. Blasphamy to our ears! What's th e attr action? We want to know what would take kids away from video games. No one may be able to figure it out, but you'll quickly notice th e interaction a mong players. Laughing , talking, a nd squealing with d e ligh t are a ll elements you 'll see when kids are playing Pog. What can video game manufacturers offer that will appeal to playe rs? I wouldn't be surprised to see a video version of Pog. After all , kid s a r e use d to playing something a little more sophisticated ; let's give it to th e m . Wa it, hold the presses. I just got a note from my good fri e nds at LazerTron about wh at they will show at AMOA. It's Pogger, a rotary merchandiser with Po gs or milk caps as prizes. Lazer-Tron noted that the Pogs that feature many different ch aracters are valued by kids as highly collectible ! Isn't this a great industry. Nothing gets by us. Long live coin-op!