# Pogo Sticks **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 10, 2011, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859 "2011-04-10T11:18:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/1 "2011-04-10T11:18:01Z")
Did you ever have a [pogo stick](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogo_stick)? They had a brief resurgence of popularity in the 70s and all my friends were pogoing and I got one. I couldn’t even do one pogo. To make matters worse, I tried and tired and failed and failed. Then my mother got on it and was pogoing up and down and she was over 50 at the time. I just couldn’t get that darn thing to work for me ERRRRRRR ---
**Author:** ![Pops1963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9de053/32.png) [@Pops1963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pops1963)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/2 "2011-04-11T01:21:56Z")
I would pogo like it was going out of style.Sometimes with no hands!(not that I am bragging or anything.🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/3 "2011-04-11T01:23:12Z")
Yeah, but the spring was so stiff, neither my sister nor I could really get anywhere. It seemed like such fun, but when you weigh fuck-all, it’s just a fancy stick. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/4 "2011-04-11T01:42:03Z")
We had one in the 60s. I never could get the hang of it, so I dropped the stick and stayed with [Pogo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogo_(comic_strip)). ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/5 "2011-04-11T02:04:22Z")
In a [1943 Goofy cartoon](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXguGoJTK4o), Disney advocates the pogo stick as the best wartime alternative to the car. (They show a bunch of silly transportation "inventions before getting to the pogo stick at around the 5:00 mark.) Check out the [Flybar](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFVsWBmZvcQ), too. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/6 "2011-04-11T04:41:30Z")
Was there a trick to getting it to work or something? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/7 "2011-04-11T04:44:23Z")
I remember that mid-70s resurgence. I tried … oh, did I try. Nope. So I learned how to ride a unicycle instead. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/8 "2011-04-11T13:03:02Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > So I learned how to ride a unicycle instead. That’s really cool. Some of my Japanese elementary students have them as part of their recess. I have not yet successfully been able to do either. I can at least hula hoop and jump rope though, so hope is not yet lost! ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/9 "2011-04-11T14:26:53Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Was there a trick to getting it to work or something? The trick is to weigh enough. My folks got me one when I was about 8. Couldn’t make it work until I got up towards 100 lbs. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/10 "2011-04-11T14:32:52Z")
Yes. And stilts. I have no idea if I could use either today, but I definitely used both as a child. Pogo-ing was fun. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/11 "2011-04-11T14:34:02Z")
My heavy friend was able to do it way back in the 70’s. My kids have an electric pogo stick. . ---
**Author:** ![wonder\_lust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@wonder\_lust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder_lust)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/12 "2011-04-11T16:16:29Z")
[quote=“amarinth, post:10, topic:577859”] Yes. And stilts. QUOTE] LOOOVED my pogo stick. Didn’t have stilts, but I had little overturned bucket things with strings. (Stand on the buckets, stabilize with string handles. Walk in a rigid way until bored.) I’m sure there were homemade versions, but mine were commercially made for the purpose. They were yellow. So was my horse headed bouncy ball thing that I adored around the same time. (Probably a little earlier than the pogo stick. Kind of a blur.) Good times. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/13 "2011-04-11T22:12:55Z")
[quote=“wonder\_lust, post:12, topic:577859”] > [@amarinth](#): > > Yes. > And stilts. > QUOTE] > > LOOOVED my pogo stick. > > Didn’t have stilts, but I had little overturned bucket things with strings. (Stand on the buckets, stabilize with string handles. Walk in a rigid way until bored.) I’m sure there were homemade versions, but mine were commercially made for the purpose. They were yellow. > > So was my horse headed bouncy ball thing that I adored around the same time. (Probably a little earlier than the pogo stick. Kind of a blur.) > > Good times. Were those bucket things with strings “Romper Stompers?” I always wanted a set of Romper Stompers. The bouncy ball thing, I think, was a Hoppity Horse. My dad made me some stilts. They were cool. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/14 "2011-04-11T23:52:10Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > We had one in the 60s. I never could get the hang of it, so I dropped the stick and stayed with [Pogo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogo_(comic_strip)). I read and loved all my dad’s Pogo comics, but I also had a pogo stick and could hop with the best of them. It was the only quasi-athletic thing I was better at than any of my friends. ---
**Author:** ![loshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce73a5/32.png) [@loshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loshan)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/15 "2011-04-12T03:48:27Z")
I was the neighborhood pogo champion! I loved my pogo stick. 😃 I also had stilts my dad made me and I was pretty good on those too. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/16 "2011-04-12T13:39:02Z")
I, too had a pogo stick and homemade dad-stilts. The stilts were big, heavy things made out of 2X4’s. StG ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/17 "2011-04-12T13:47:40Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > Yes. > And stilts. > > I have no idea if I could use either today, but I definitely used both as a child. Pogo-ing was fun. I think I tried pogo-ing once or twice on somebody else’s stick, but I never had my own that I can remember. The stilts I had were made by my dad who called them “tom-walkers.” Anybody else ever hear that term for stilts? ---
**Author:** ![wonder\_lust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@wonder\_lust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder_lust)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/18 "2011-04-13T21:50:31Z")
[quote=“kath94, post:13, topic:577859”] > [@wonder\_lust](#): > > Were those bucket things with strings “Romper Stompers?” I always wanted a set of Romper Stompers. The bouncy ball thing, I think, was a Hoppity Horse. > > My dad made me some stilts. They were cool. YES! Thank you for providing proper names. I spend most of my life describing things with silly made up adjectives. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/19 "2011-04-14T03:16:52Z")
I had one. Man, did I love it. I believe I got up to 840 jumps. I coulda got more, but my friend got tired of counting and yelled at me to get off. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859/20 "2011-04-16T00:07:51Z")
I hadn’t thought of that in years, but yes I had a pogo stick and stilts as advertised in the 1982 Sears Wish Book. I had the best mom ever. These two toys made me the most popular kid in the neighborhood that year. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pogo-sticks/577859.md?page=2)