Popular chips (caps) that children of the 90s loved to play (9 photos)

In the mid-90s, Turbo chewing gum inserts were replaced by chips (caps), which were also the “currency” of children of the 90s and one of the main gambling entertainments of our childhood. Today we will remember about the caps themselves, and also discuss some of them in more detail.





The essence of the game

As a rule, there were two ways to get chips: buy or win. Chips were usually bought as an addition to chewing gum, although some were sold in ready-made sets.



Well, if we wanted to win chips, we had to put them on the line. Moreover, it was necessary to place chips not by quantity, but by face value. For example, one player bets 10 chips for 1 point, another player puts 5 chips for 2 points, and a third player puts one chip for 10 points. After that, all the players folded, thanks to which we decided who would shoot first. This was important because the first player has a better chance of winning.

After the chips were placed on the line, the winner of the fold would take the stack of chips. which were placed face down, after which they were placed on a horizontal surface. The player took those chips that turned upside down after a hit. The next player did the same, but with the remaining number of chips.

There was, of course, another version of the game. A stack of chips could be broken with a special bat. But in my memory, this method was used much less often.

Chupa Caps





Chupa Caps are probably one of the very first chips that appeared. As a rule, such chips had to be purchased as a whole set, which included 10 caps, 1 bit and two lollipops. But besides this, lollipop caps could also be bought at a regular stall, since they were often given in addition to lollipops.



On the front side were drawn images that were not attached to any specific theme. The back side was yellow.

As for me, these are the most uninteresting features, and they were the least valued in childhood. Personally, I didn’t want to put my MK3 caps on Chupa Caps.

Mortal Kombat 3



One of the most popular series of chips was the Mortal Kombat 3 caps from the Dunkin company. The collection included 50 chips, on which characters from the game of the same name were drawn.

In total, 16 characters were depicted on the chips. Moreover, each character was depicted on three chips in different versions (face, half body, full height). The remaining two chips were identified by the title logos (MK3) and the dragon design. Moreover, oddly enough, if the first logo was number one, then the second was number 49, not 50. For some reason, number 50 went to Shao Kahn.

"MK3" chips had three denominations - 1, 2 and 5 points. 5 points were located on chips whose number ends in 6, that is, 6, 16, 26, 36 and 46. But nevertheless, visually the chips of different denominations were no different from each other.

Mad Caps



Mad Caps chips are caps with images of strange creatures. Mad Caps were slightly larger than standard tiles such as "Mortal Kombat" or "Chupa Caps". Therefore, betting chips from these collections together was not very convenient.



These caps had 4 denominations: 1, 2, 5 and 10 points. Moreover, unlike the same "MK3", Mad Caps chips differed in their properties:

1. Chips worth 1 and 2 points were ordinary. That is, ordinary chips with images;

2. Chips worth 5 points were labeled "Light". The chips are partially coated with phosphorus, so if you hold them near a bright light source and then turn off the light, they will glow right in the dark. It looked especially interesting in the 90s.

3. The 10 point chips were labeled "Laser" and were coated with a shiny material.

Mad Monster Caps



The chips from the "Mad monster caps" series were essentially the same chips as "Mad caps". Except that their backs were black, and on the images themselves various monsters and evil spirits were drawn.



But unlike Mad Caps, these chips had as many as 5 denominations:

1. Regular (1 and 2 points) - just caps with regular designs;

2. Light (5 points) - caps with phosphorus coating, which also glowed in the dark if they were first held near a bright light source. Also, these chips were interesting because they depicted skeletons on a black background. And it was these skeletons that glowed in the dark;

3. Gold (10 points) - these caps were similar to regular chips, except that they had a golden stripe;

4. Flick (12 points) - these features were especially valued because they were a “flick”, consisting of two frames that changed depending on your viewing angle.

Of course, these are not all the caps that could be seen in stores and in the hands of children. I just tried to describe the most popular caps of the mid and late 90s.