# Did you ever or do you now possess a pogo stick? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** toys-models\ **Created:** [October 22, 2023, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919 "2023-10-22T12:54:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/21 "2023-10-22T23:08:37Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > I had one as a kid and I can still hear the ryrhmic squeaking of the internal spring. Ditto, down to the rusty spring squeaks. We got it used from a garage sale or something. I got pretty good at but but don’t remember being able to climbs stairs. I think I remember being told to not jump on the grass since it poked big holes in the turf. Edit: we got a pair of stilts around the same time, possibly from the same garage sale. Those were very easy to master. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/22 "2023-10-22T23:19:26Z")
We had every dangerous toy known to humanity. No stilts. Now I’m feeling deprived. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/23 "2023-10-23T12:10:00Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > My parents bought us kids a set that had a pogo stick, stilts, and a unicycle. My sister had stilts, a pogo stick, and a unicycle. Santa brought one each year. She was really good at each. I never tried and neither did my brother. We both thought of them as “girl toys”. Thinking back, my sister was insanely good at the three devices. ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/24 "2023-10-23T13:48:24Z")
I found this [video on the famous Manitou Incline](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcOa5ca7oNs). (A former funicular railway that’s now a super steep staircase of railroad ties, rising 2000+ feet in less than a mile.) At 7:15 the video presents a guy who’s working on pogo-ing up these 2744 steps. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/25 "2023-10-23T13:56:33Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > We had every dangerous toy known to humanity. We even had lawn darts. The real metal ones that could kill someone. They were fun! (But we never killed anyone.) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/26 "2023-10-23T14:33:05Z")
> [@2\_More\_Bits](#): > > - Are they fun? > - Do you (did you) play with it a lot? > - Were you any good at Pogo Sticking? > - What qualifies as an amazing Pogo-related achievement? 1. For a brief while. But basically you’re just jumping up and down in one place. 2. For a brief while. 3. I could bounce up and down in one place for a minute or two. 4. I have no idea. Eventually the rubber base wore through and it chipped up the sidewalk. So my parents got rid of it. I don’t recall minding that much. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/27 "2023-10-23T19:29:18Z")
-checks to make sure Cafe Society not FQ- Well, according to the documentary “Tremors” using pogo-sticks, especially while wearing headphones leads to [a risk of being murdered](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9O_Xs8wAZk) by giant underground monsters! Glad I never owned one. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/28 "2023-10-23T19:37:44Z")
I wonder what the Fremen stance on pogo sticks might have been. Though Arrakis was probably too sandy for them to be practical anyway. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/29 "2023-10-23T19:44:07Z")
Well, it’s obvious. Thumpers are upside down, powered, unmanned pogo-sticks! Made in every Seitch! ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/30 "2023-10-23T21:44:44Z")
I had one, not sure where it came from but it was industrial. Very heavy, thick steel cylinder painted red, no handles, just a pole and sticky black grease where the piston met the cylinder. A bad bounce and you could damn near knock yourself out if your jaw hit the top of the stick. Everybody in the neighborhood tried it at some point. No memory of getting rid of it but that can be said about most toys. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/31 "2023-10-23T22:18:31Z")
Had one as a kid, got pretty good at staying up and pogoing. My daughter got one a few years ago, and she got pretty good at it too. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/32 "2023-10-23T22:33:06Z")
> [@motu](#): > > No memory of getting rid of it but that can be said about most toys. I am a dad and I can tell you exactly when some of my daughter’s toys disappeared. She has no idea when they vanished, but I do. 🤫 ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2023, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/33 "2023-10-24T03:37:32Z")
> [@Common\_Tater](#): > > Ha!! I’ve often thought what a shame (a blessing!?) You Tube was not in existence during some of our more … unsupervised moments. YouTube, hell. Give it a couple years and look up “Pogo Stick Challenge” on TikTok. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2023, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/34 "2023-10-24T04:31:39Z")
We had one. Was actually my younger brothers but it was kept in the garage so I used it a bit. Was the kind with the handle bars that knocked the wind out of you when you flipped forward on the thing. Ever have the wind completely knocked out of you? Good Lawd does that suck. Feel like you’re going to die and afraid you won’t. Never found out exactly where that thing came from: **PK:** _Where did that come from?_ [pogo stick] **Lil Bro:** _Traded an old catchers mitt for it from some kid._ **PK:** _What kid? From our neighborhood?_ **Lil Bro:** _I dunno. Couldn’t recognize him through all the bandages!_ ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2023, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/35 "2023-10-24T04:47:42Z")
We had one when we were kids. I don’t remember how we got it, or who it was bought for (which one of my siblings?). It was in the garage. I played around with it a little bit. I think I was about 9 or 10. I was decently good at it. I’d bounce up and down for a few minutes at a time. I used it a few times, but it’s the kind of toy that you just can’t do much with. A few times, and that was it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/36 "2023-10-24T16:59:36Z")
Yeah, I had a pogo stick (well, technically it was my brother’s). It was fun for a while. I tend to put pogos in the same class with stilts. Something that required balance and coordination, but once you’ve mastered the requisite skill ceases to be entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2023, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/37 "2023-10-24T17:03:33Z")
Pogos, and stilts, and also unicycles too. They require balance and skill, but once mastered you’re pretty much done with them and it’s on to the next thing. Or, back to watching TV reruns of _The Big Valley_, or _Gilligan’s Island._ Like I did at that age. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2023, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/38 "2023-10-24T17:47:11Z")
I recall a neighbor kid had one that he was bouncing around on. Looked unimpressive to my untutored yet toy-centric mind. Looked like work, and a good way to crack yer noggin’. But I wonder - these were el-cheapo squeeky spring Pogo sticks. What if they were updated, with variable rate damper springs, an articulated business end to deal with those pesky staircases, and other improvements. Lighter weight, carbon fiber, etc. Those same kids had “skateboards” which were nothing more than old roller skates nailed to a piece of plywood. I wasn’t too impressed with those either. But skateboards soon morphed into a highly technical, smooth rolling device when silicone-rubber wheel and good wheel bearings came on the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2023, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/39 "2023-10-24T18:32:34Z")
1. Yes 2. Yes 3. Yes I even built one with a heavy duty spring for power pogo-ing. Yep, stilts too (home-made, tall ones) And a unicycle. All the kids in our neighborhood had them - a gang! ha ha ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2023, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-or-do-you-now-possess-a-pogo-stick/991919/40 "2023-10-24T18:40:55Z")
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