School fads
 

I was just talking with some friends about fads that we had at our respective schools, and wondered what kinds of fads you guys had, and whether you participated in them.

4-Square was very popular at my first primary school, when I was about 8, and for a few weeks in 7th form (final year) at my high school, when I was 17-18. If any of you are unfamiliar with this game, there is a 2x2 grid of squares numbered 1-4 painted on the ground. (Sometimes improvised by drawing with a piece of bark.) One person stands in each of the four squares, and a soccer ball, basketball, or other similar ball is bounced between them. If the ball bounces in your square, and you fail to hit it into another square, you have to go to the square numbered 4, or to the back of a line of people if there are more than 4 players, while everyone in the squares numbered lower than the one you were in moves up one. The object was to get to square 1 and stay there as long as possible. I thoroughly enjoyed the game and spent many a lunch time/study period playing it.

At my second primary school, we had a hockey fad when I was about 10. This was unusual, as hockey was generally regarded as a "girl's sport". (It was field hockey - ice hockey is not very widely played here.) Ours was the only school in the area to have this fad as far as I know, and as a result, we completely thrashed three other schools at an interschool sports day - IIRC we won our first game 9-0, our second 17-0, and our third 21-0. I didn't often participate as I didn't really enjoy sports much at that age.

When I was about 11-12, we had a huge marbles fad. We didn't play the traditional marbles game, with a circle you had to knock other marbles out of. Instead, each of the two players in a game would play one of their marbles against the other's. Each player took turns at flicking, bumping, or throwing their marble, in an attempt to hit the other player's marble. Whoever hit their opponent's marble first won, and kept both marbles. Different types of marble were seen as "better" than others, depending on their rarity and how cool they looked. I resisted this fad at first, but eventually joined in, as the alternative was to watch these games, or spend my lunchtimes staring at a wall, as damn near everyone else in the small school (100 students or so) played. After a few fights and a couple of cracked windows (it was amazing how much force you could flick a marble with) the teachers banned the game.

Card games, especially one called Arsehole, were very popular in 7th form. Hackeysack and Arsehole probably accounted for about 90% of my lunchtimes and study periods that year. For some reason our dean didn't like us playing cards and would continuously confiscate our decks, but someone always had another pack, and 5 minutes after she left we would be playing again.

There was Pogs in 1994, which I didn't partake in, and Magic: The Gathering around the same time, which I also didn't partake in. I wasn't a very partaking-in kind of kid at the time, which probably saved me a few hundred bucks - my obsessions are sporadic but intense.

wow... good thread...

i remember one particular fad in year 8 (2nd Form) involved bombs.

i think it started out with people strapping fire sparklers around CO2 bulbs. (this made a loud bang and a nice bit of shrapnel).

i think it progressed to gunpowder... and ended when one boy was expelled for blowing up a few of those old metal lockers .. and his form masters desk.

another interesting fad involved fire-arms.
this fad started out with waterpistols towards the beginning of year 7.

it progressed into rubber bands with little missles of folded up paper, metal or perspex (forged in the design and technology labs - if only the teachers knew).

at the end of year 7, this fad had exploded into bb-guns. please bare in mind that in Australia, guns are not readily available, neither are air-rifles, nor bb-guns.

these guns didn´t really hurt when you were shot, until we discovered metal pellets... and gas powered pistols.

this fad ended when one particular individual (coincidentally, the same person who blew up the lockers the following year), decided it would be a good idea to get his gun out on the train home, to play with it. of course he was arrested... thus the school cracked down on this little fad.

Elementary school - we had 4 square, football - the girls even got in on it, Chinese Jumprope was the most popular Girls activity in 1985 at my elementary school.

I remember having slap-bracelets in elementary school. They were metal bracelets in patterned fabric that would stay straight until you hit it/bent it, at which point it would turn into a circle. Kids would wear them on their arms, wrists, ankles. I think they got banned at my school, for some reason.

**EDIT**
And let's not forget Garbage Pail Kids! Those were great....

Tetherball was huge when I was in third grade which sucked for me since I sucked at tetherball. Also slap bracelets in 6th grade.

We had 4-square most of the way through my high school in Queensland, but with a tennis ball, and there were usually up to 15 people playing (and sometimes more if we could define enough squares). You also had to bounce the ball in your square before it bounced in someone else's square, and you could volley It'd either go in a rotation like 4-square with the dunce (lowest person) getting eliminated if they lost, or with lives. In lives, you didn't rotate, so it often ended with the final 2 playing each other with 2 or 3 empty squares in between.
We were all pretty skillful by year 11, needless to say :)

We also had a game called Bash Ball in year 9. It involved throwing a tennis ball against a brick wall, aiming at a plaque. If you hit it, you got to randomly beat everyone else in the game until they touched the wall, but if you went to catch the ball and dropped it, everyone else bashed you 'till you touched the wall. If you were at the back of the pack, this was a Bad Thing.
That game ended when I broke my arm...I rode a guy for a screamer of a mark (If you're not Australian, that means I jumped on his shoulders and caught the ball), then fell right down onto concrete.

We had Yo-Yos in year 8, and knitting for a short while in year 9.
Oh, and I was the height of Year 7 fashion in my black-and-white striped Shaquille O'Neal Reebok Pumps!

And, of course, when we got bored of all of the above, we didn't go without our fair share of backyard cricket. In fact, in 3rd year uni, we still play a hell of a lot of backyard cricket. I'm pretty sure that doesn't count as a fad.

I remember both of these. I never got into either. I'd much rather poke fun at those with their pretty pieces of cardboard that they are so obsessed with.

Hackey Sack was big in my junior high and early HS years. We played a lot of Smear the Queer when the recess lady wasn't watching too. Foursquare was big in my early years, 2nd to 4th grade.

My fondest memory was our Mortal Kombat style deathmatches we would have during recess in about 5th grade. It was basically one big friendly fight while mimicking Mortal Kombat moves and characters.

ok I am old...... but how about the tying the bandanas around your pant legs???? This was early 1980's when I was in high school. The big feathered hair and the bandanas.... yikes... thoes were scary times. hahaha

tetherball!!!! butts-up (wall game), and pogs.

these days it's card games like pokemon and yu gi oh.

When I was in kindergarten I tried to start a fad of wearing a suit to school... didn't catch on :( (ok maybe it was just me)

It could be an urban myth, but I think schools were banning slap bracelets because the metal would cut through the fabric on and end up slicing the wrists of catatonically happy kids. Oops.

I remember the Pogo-ball fad and the Pocket Rocker fad, and the bandanas around the legs. The ripped jeans! Oh god the ripped stone washed jeans. There was a big spitball comeback when I was in 6th & 7th grade. Me and my buddies really championed that one. What about those Trapper-Keepers! Whoohoo. I had the funky zebra-striped one, and with my ripped tight-rolled pant leg stone-washed jeans, I was the coolest kid in 4th grade.

Hey Midlandmadman GO WINGS!!!

I didnt participate in them much, but 4 square was huge and fun. Hacky sack (sp?) was pretty popular. Stupid slap bracelets were around also. Never had one of those I think. There were slap bracelet fights. Thats about all I can remember.

Hack-attack (high-school, early 90's)
Hit the hackey sack three times, then peg it at someone else. If it hits the floor, they have one out. Total of three outs. It came down to a duel between two people, furiously kicking at each other. Looked like a bad movie kung-fu match after a while. That was the first time I kicked someone in the throat.

What concerns me is that, by inference, it was not the last time you kicked someone in the throat. . .:D

hacky sack was the shit! but that was more junior-high to high school than elementary :)

I can still keep a hacky sack in the air indefinitely :D

I remember in 2nd grade poppers were a huge fad. You could get em at Peter Piper Pizza if ya had enough tickets. Everyone loved em. Ya'd bend em back, lay em on a flat surface and slowly but surely they would bend back and pop up. Then some stupid fuckin little girl or 2,000 had to go and fuckin stick it to her eyeball almost making it fuckin pop out and therefore I think they recalled them from the market cause I haven't seen one of em in a long while. I used to have many but now I have none. Really sux too cause they were kinda fun.
http://minor-miracles.net/poppers.jpg
http://www.howellto.com/images/eye-poppers.jpg
http://www.trainerswarehouse.com/shop/images/BKPOP.JPG

Then you also had the puzzle balls. I can't remember what grade I was in though I think it was like 5th or 6th or some shit. Pretty cool little things. You can still find those around though. Like the poppers I also had a lot and I don't know where any of them are anymore.
http://www.puzzle-shop.de/5puzzle-balls.jpg
http://www.paradisedriveinn.com/graphics/puz11.jpg

Then ya had the laser pointers. Everyone fuckin had one a these things. It was always funny when someone would break one out in class and everyone would be lookin around to see who had one.
http://www.electronic-kits-and-proje.../4xxx/4038.jpg
http://www.fakecrap.com/images/jokes/laser.jpg
http://www.expomed.com/images/laser.jpg
Then ya tape one a yours to yer fuckin super soaker or bee bee gun and ya felt like fuckin James Bond n shit. I had 2...I think they both broke. One I know for sure did cause I still have it around and the other was this kick ass alien head one that had all these different images you could use all ya had to do was turn the dial n shit I haven't seen it in forever though.

There were a whole bunch. The pogs (I still own a few, lots a slammers too), the cards, the hackey sacks, tops, yo yo's, etc.

Then ya had the clothing/activity fads. As far as clothing went when you were younger ya had the light up shoes, and the pumps. Then when ya got older brand names were the thing. Everyone wanted a fuckin pair a JNCO's when they got popular (my first pair were the JNCO skunks...great day) and Gibaud's, Polo & Tommy, Cargo pants (I love em...I think I got like 13 pairs of em all together...all different types a course) etc. Activities were like Pencil Fighting, Wall Ball, Breakdancing (I did it), tagging, etc. We also had this one thing we called Z.A.P. in which case you would trick someone into letting you write that on their hand followed by a time and date and until that time and date passes everytime someone said your name you would have to tell them "I LOVE YOU" the ladies especially loved this. Loved to tease us dudes with it I'd hear my name 12 times a second n shit. I think the consequence of not saying I love you was like I dunno getting punched in the arm or some shit whatever deemed the punishment at the time. Also I dunno the birthday fads in one town I lived in ya told NO ONE your birthday cause on your birthday the tradition was that all the guys would "jump" you and kick your ass and in my case they took it the extra mile. Then in another town I was in ya tell someone it's your birthday and then they give you a dollar and you clip it to your shirt and then more people (those who had to spare or cared to) would give you money as well. By the end of the day I had like 10 bucks or something not a whole lot but still not too shabby at all I like that tradition much more than the other. I'm burnt can't think of anymore just now.

Asta!!

We had those popper things for a while too, I'd forgotten about those.

Hackeysack was/is too popular and long-lasting here to be a fad - it was widely played for all 5 of the years I was at high school, and is still popular now, 4 years after I finished school.

Well, being a child of the 80's, we had a lot of fads.

http://www.edirectory.co.uk/pf/image.../rubiks001.jpg

http://www2.vo.lu/homepages/phahn/puzzles/snake2.jpg

Speaking of card games, Later on on high school I remember playing a lot of Euchre. But, I think that is mostly a regional game.

We played a lot of euchre too, if its regional its most of Michigan I think. I have a buddy from Flint who still thinks he's the euchre champ of the universe.

never heard of 4-Square. intresting.

haha yeah. i immediately thought of pogs.

it was all the rage when i was in middle school.
i had a couple pogs but didn't really get into it. i was kinda wondering what all the appeal was about. i thought they were pretty dumb. but i guess i can't help but give in to the bandwagon even marginally.

same went for tamagotchi's and virtual pets. :P but i had a couple of them.

i remember when pagers were sooo cool and everyone had them. i never bothered though. then cell phones took over and practically everyone has them.

haha. i still have my popits! i actually use them for dog toys. lol i'm weird but she loves it. she just chews on it but she's never tried to EAT it so i know i can trust her to have it as a toy. sometimes, i popit to hit her nose and after doing it so many times, she's already flinching before it pop from my finger! bwahahaha. i'm mean :-D

Kill the carrier, freeze tag, and dodgeball were big until theygot banned. I also remember various sports which always ended the team-choosing session with both captains trying to stick me on the other's team. It's a miracle I turned out as normal and free of emotional scars as I did.

Oh man...4 square was great! We also had this whole thing where when we would address someone we would say their first and last name. It didnt last to long...but with some people (like me) it just kinda stuck so now everyone calls me by my first and last names.

is it weird that i used to chew on those too? :x

Back in primary school, we all wanted to play 'catch-and-kiss', only problem was, it was an all boys institution. :rolleyes:

I'll never forget a friend (really, it wasn't me) stuck one on his forehead for a minute or so. It left a perfectly circular hicky slap-bang in the middle of his brow.

Oh, how we laughed. every single day for about a week. It still gets brought up after all these years, and we still laugh at him.

OMG!!

I went to a private schoool. One of the 6th graders did this to a 3rd grader (one of my classmates). By the end of recess, we had the "cool kids" all gathered round my classmate.

As soon as the bell rang for us to all line up to walk into class, they took the popper off his head, and he had the hugest purple circle on his forehead.

I don't think there was one classroom that didn't have kids laughing on their wait for the end of the day.

I remember magic cards before they got popular - everyone told me it was stupid. the next year everyone was playing and fighting over them.

I also remember comic books from '92 to about 94. They were very popular at my school.

I remember the reptile fad in SoCal from 1987 to 1993, also. Started by Kenny Sommer. That was amazing.

I was a little old for the pogs, and I was already in college by the time Magic came along. Not that I didn't have buddies who were into it. But I was too cool and too broke for anything other than the half-dozen role playing games I was already involved in.

There was one funny, cyclical fad at my school: yo-yos. Every four years or so yo-yos got really big, and everyone had to have one. My school even made and sold yo-yos with the school crest on it one year. I think I have one around here somewhere....

Hacky-sack was big in high school. The Coolest Teacher in School was into it too, and he'd come out and play with us. He was a black-belt in karate, so he'd do some wild-ass stuff with a sack.

Four sqaure was big.....tetherball.....Pogs.....Magic (didnt do this one), umm.......now (Senior high school) it is playing old school Nintendo games on our laptops using emulators (nice to play some NES and SNES, some N64 games on the laptop)

Sixth grade was Vans sneakers and scratch and sniff stickers. Seventh and Eigth grade was the Coca-Cola shirts. Earrings on guys was just getting popular when I was in Junior high. I had a coke shirt and that was about it. Also, all the black kids wore the Africa medallions.

Hmm, 4-square was popular until about 3rd grade. Then it was tetherball. Freeze tag was also uber cool. We also played a game where you had to jump off of the swing, as you were swinging, and see how far you could go.

I hated bicycle shorts/shirts. Those tight, lycra things in the bright colors. I never had one, but the coolest girl in my class did, so one day I just wore my swimsuit top to school. I think I was in 4th grade. Boy, did I regret that. No one really said anything to me, but I was sooooooooooooo embarassed. Never again did I do that. In fact, just when I am about to forget that it ever happened, it pops into my mind, and my cheeks get super red.

In junior high, the giga pets became cool. I wanted one so bad. But my parents were poor, and that always made me about a year behind the fad. I think I finally got a hold of one once, and I thought it was the stupidest thing ever. Although, so did everyone else by that time.

Havent we all done that? .. .. Maybe not.. Neither have I.. ..

Anyways, i guess a 'fad' at my school was for all the mexicans to wear these belts that were like 2x their size so they could like hang em down n shit. I have no clue, but everyone of hispanic origin did it, and supposedly it was gang related. i dunno.

Um, Foursquare was fabulous. Teatherball too. Being suspended was a fad of mine all thruout my school years, didnt catch on well with my peers, but hey, gotta lead the herd somehow eh?

dodgeball was big in elementary school. Some of my best memories are of playing dodgeball in the cafeteria before lunch. (And yes, I got as well as I gave)

Tetherball and slapbracelets were big shite in late elementary and early secondary.

For some reason, flannel shirts caught on there for a while in junior high....I was never a big flannel guy, mind you....

and spades and pitch were the big games in high school. Killed many hours on long ass bus rides with spades and pitch....

ahhhh...good times....

When I saw "slap bracelets in 6th grade", I thought "this person must be the same age as me!" I checked your profile and we're definately pretty close in age. Class of '97?

I used to read the Bevery Cleary Ramona books, and remember one story where the fad was for kids to break hard boiled eggs over their head during lunch to break the shell, and Ramona accidently brought a non-hard boiled egg to school.

Poor Ramona. School fad backfire.


Okay, I'm going to bed now.

I was always on the receiving end of those fucking things. To me, they were always NOT funny!

Its intresting to see how many fads were the same on both sides of the Atlantic. For example several years ago when I was younger I remember slap bracelets, pogs, poppers, top trumps. digimon's, yo-yos and more recently laser pens (couple of years ago).

As some people had said, laser pens were funny in class as people used to wind up the teacher etc.

See my sis's loved the slap bracelets.

Everyone did yo. Ya just gotta grin & bear it. Not like ya gonna die cause of it eh? :)

Asta!!

pogs, wall ball / butt's-up, various hackey sack games, magic the gathering, and smear the queer

in high school me and my crew all had lil motorola talkabout walkie talkies with the FBI style earpiece and clip on microphone that we used to co-ordinate ditching. the fad later caught on and walkie talkies got banned from the school, but that happened after i left so i dont care anyways
hahahaha

starting fads is cool

Gi Joes how to destroy them in grade school!!Jump rope!!! Koosh balls in Junior high!! Hackey Sack in High School!! Then big Bass Systems in the cars and huge rims!!