Pog (drink) facts for kids
POG, or Passion Orange Guava, is a super tasty tropical juice drink! It was first made in 1971 by a food expert named Mary Soon. She worked for a company called Haleakala Dairy on the island of Maui, Hawaii. The name POG is a special word called an acronym. It comes from the first letters of the three main fruits in the drink: passionfruit, orange, and guava.
Today, a company called Meadow Gold Dairy makes POG. Other companies also make similar juice blends with these three delicious fruits.
The Fun Game of Pogs
Did you know that the caps from milk bottles inspired a really popular game? It's called Pogs (or "milk caps")! This game became a huge fad in the early to mid-1990s. The game of Pogs might have started in Maui, Hawaii way back in the 1920s or 1930s.
Even though POG juice never came in bottles with cardboard caps, the drink and the game became linked. This happened because Haleakala Dairy gave away caps with the POG logo on them. It was a special way to advertise the drink in the 1970s.
The big Pogs craze in the 1990s started with a teacher named Blossom Galbiso. She was from Hawaii and began using the milk caps in her classroom in 1991. She told her students about an old game she used to play. It involved flipping milk caps to be the first to get the "cream" off the bottom. Her students loved it, and soon the game of Pogs was popular again!
Meet the POG Mascots
When the POG drink first came out, it had a mascot called the "Izard of POG." This character looked like a medieval gnome. It even had stars and a magic wand!
Later, the "Izard of POG" was replaced with the current mascot, the "Poglodyte." This friendly character is covered in yellow fur. He stands about ten inches tall and is known for being very happy and cheerful!
