Submitted by Kenny O, who cheated by peeking at the shoes:

This was everyone’s favorite rainy day activity in elementary school. A few problems: If you weren’t popular, no one ever touched your thumb. Or, if a boy picked a girl, it could have been taken to mean that he liked her. Cheating was easy: All you had to do was open your eyes and steal a peek at the shoes when you felt your thumb get tapped. You could also tap your neighbor’s thumb to trick him.

Submitted by Michael D, who spies some WIN.

If I could count the hour spent interacting with I Spy books during my youth…Well, I don’t have that much time, honestly. In addition to being fun, the images themselves were gorgeous enough to stare at for hours. I’ve even, as an adult, flipped an I Spy book open once or twice, and there is still something magical about them. These have my vote over the “I spy, with my little eye, something _____” games that my brother and I used to play on road trips. Here’s a sample to gaze at for a bit (might be kind of hard to spot a toothpick in an image this size, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying):

Submitted by Chris T, epic gamer.

This classic video game console was released in 1994 (1995 in the United States and Europe). It was not the first console to utilize optical disc format, but it was the first successful model to do so. It was manufactured for 11 years. Of course, by now we’ve been through PlayStation 2 and are currently using PlayStation 3, but the original is the true nostalgic win. Let us know in the comments what your favorite PlayStation games were!

Submitted by Lewk S, olympic-level Funnel Ball master.

Growing up in the early/mid ’90s, I fondly remember the numerous playground games I used to play. One of my favorite pastimes, of course, was throwing a kickball, basketball—or anything, really—into the towering Funnel Ball tower with my friends. I still see these on playgrounds, and I often see kids throwing balls into the funnel. Simple, very entertaining, and fondly remembered—that, to me, is pure win!

Submitted by J Olsen, who collected milk caps before it was cool.

These circular bits of cardboard (and the thicker, heavier, plastic “slammers” also used to play the game) became all the rage in the ’90s, though similar games had been played as early as the 17th century. The gist was this: Stack your pogs up, face down, and allow your opponent to throw his slammer at the stack. If any of your pogs landed face up after the dust settled, they became his pogs (if you were playing “for keeps,” anyway). I remember these things were everywhere…for a very short amount of time. People moved on to Tamagotchis or something, leaving pogs to be remembered fondly by those of us who did most of our growing up in the ’90s.