POGs a Thing of Past for Present Firm

Remember the World POG Federation?

The Orange County-based company that cashed in on the POG fad a few years back has resurfaced as WPF Inc., a Beverly Hills-based toy company. While the company’s name makes a hidden reference to POGs, it no longer markets the game pieces, which resemble milk bottle tops.

WPF changed its name and moved out of town early in 1996, shortly after founder Alan Rypinski was caught in a cash crunch, and control of the company passed to Beverly Hills-based Pacific Capital Group. Rypinski is best known as the founder of Armor All Products.

Under Rypinski’s leadership, World POG Federation won the legal right to the POG name. Other competitors, however, were free to manufacture the game pieces, which flooded the market during 1995.

While the company no longer markets POGs, it is pushing a new line of toys, including Act One, a board game dedicated to TV game shows. “We selected the WPF name because of our heritage,” WPF spokeswoman Arlene Winnick said. “It was an incredible product that the World POG Federation brought out, and we want people to remember us for that.

“A lot of people made a lot of money off of POGs,” Winnick said. “And people know that that’s where we had our roots. Look around and you’ll see that some people are still trying to imitate POGs.”

WPF’s president is Paul Cleveland, a former Mattel Inc. executive.

Greg Johnson covers retail businesses and restaurants for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-5950 and at greg.johnson@latimes.com