On Twitch the term "Pog" is commonly used to express surprise, excitement, or amazement. Other variations of the term include "PogChamp" or "POGGERS".

While the term has gained traction within the Twitch community, it stems from an unlikely source - juice.

The Origin Of The Term Pog

The term Pog comes from the milk caps game of the same name, with the game itself inspired by the caps on the popular Hawai'i juice drink POG (an acronym for Passion Orange Guava).

In the 1990s, students in Maui, Hawai'i began using promotional POG caps given away by Haleakala Dairy to play milk caps, a game which is believed to have originated in Maui in the 1920s or 30s.

By 1993, Pog was played worldwide and by 1997 the fad had died out.

Twitch Usage & Evolution

The term Pog as used on Twitch originated from a video posted by streamer Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez to his YouTube channel, titled "Pogs Championship", in which he records his play of the game.

The phrase quickly gained traction on the Twitch streaming platform, and became associated with a specific emote - referred to as PogChamp - depicting Gutierrez' surprised face.

Controversy

After controversial comments made by Gutierrez regarding the Capitol Riots, anti-vaccination conspiracies, COVID-19 denial, and the promotion of far-right conspiracies, Twitch removed his face from the emote and replaced it with a Komodo dragon.

Eventually a rotating system was introduced for the PogChamp emote, which featured different streamers' faces each day. The system was received with mixed reactions.