If you’re of a certain age – went to school in the 90’s – then you’ll likely remember a toy craze called POGs, little cardboard discs with interesting cartoon designs that could then be used by players to slam their opponents into submission and capture their collection. Well thanks to Compton Technology POGs have been brought back to life, this time with an augmented reality (AR) twist.
POGs AR is an officially licensed World POG Federation mobile videogame for iOS and Android devices with hundreds of POGs featuring both classic and all-new designs. To start things off Compton Technology has launched an Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign to help promote the title ahead of a planned September 2018 release. As it’ll be a free-to-play experience Indiegogo backers will gain access to exclusive perks including a limited-edition physical slammer which can be scanned in to the game using AR, elite in-game content; a custom designed in-game POG character; a horde of in-game currency; pre-release beta access and more.
Just like the original version players have to whack their slammer down and turn over their opponents cards, whoever flips the most POGs wins and both players keep whatever they flip, helping build or reduce their collection. So POGs AR features two-player battle and AR game modes, the ability to scan real-world items in AR mode to complete POG sets, as well as competing to earn real-world prizes and rare POGs from some big name brands.
“POGs blend two things people love to do – compete and collect. But in POGs you play for keeps and must risk losing some of your collection to expand it, so the excitement and intensity increases as you play,” said Sam Park, Director of Compton Technology. “By going digital and applying modern technology like AR to the original concept, we’re creating a game community and collectible ecosystem that I believe can be even bigger than the original.”
Remember this is 21st century POGs so you’ve also got slammers that come equipped with different abilities and upgrades, plus there are multiple throwing techniques for you to try.
POGs AR isn’t the only traditional style kids game to get an AR makeover. British toy company Sensible Objects created Beasts of Balance as a novel use of the tech. In the run up to POGs AR launch, VRFocus will bring you further updates.