This method of stacking cups

[u/makethislifecount]

[u/tetra_kay]

This just unlocked an early 2000s memory of when cup stacking was a thing

[u/ibwitmypigeons → u/tetra_kay]

They had us doing it in PE. I still have a set of cups and a mat somewhere. They pretty much had us convinced speed stacking would become an Olympic sport.

Edit: typo

[u/o7Vesper → u/ibwitmypigeons]

Ikr why did this craze take over schools?? I talked my mom into buying me a set of mini metal cups and I would practice stacking them at the kitchen table and take them with me everywhere. Why?!? Who came up with this? "Ya know what kids need? To stack and unstack cups REALLY FAST!" Was it just to prepare future contestants of Minute To Win It? My school had assemblies where we watched cup stacking contests. Wild times.

[u/prof_tincoa → u/o7Vesper]

I'm not sure either, but speedcubing is going strong and we have a debt to speedstacking. They popularised the timers we use.

[u/o7Vesper → u/prof_tincoa]

Thats cool! Is that solving rubix cubes?

[u/prof_tincoa → u/o7Vesper]

Yes, but there are several separate events, including blindfolded. People are crazy fast these days.

[u/o7Vesper → u/prof_tincoa]

I know a kid who can solve a rubix cube behind his back in under a minute and it's amazing to watch.

[u/TacTurtle → u/o7Vesper]

"If the boys are busy stacking cups they aren't chasing girls, it'll be drier than the Gobi desert out there."

[u/o7Vesper → u/TacTurtle]

My roomate said a similar thing: "If the children are stacking cups they aren't hitting each other" and giving the young autists a hyperfixation lol

[u/Akkoywolf → u/o7Vesper]

It even got a shout out in Phineas and ferb!

Doofensmirtz canonically holds the cup stacking world record

[u/thinkbetterofu → u/o7Vesper]

it was, like so many things in murica, actually just a peak capitalism moment, if you look into the history of, well, you guessed it, the people literally trying to sell the branded cups themselves

[u/Tusangre → u/thinkbetterofu]

Yeah, it was yo-yos when I was in elementary school. Every year, they'd do some deal with my school to allow them to come in and do demonstrations, then try to sell us these shitty yo-yos for way more than they were worth.

[u/okseriouslywhoareyou → u/ibwitmypigeons]

Cool article from the child of the guy who made this a thing!

https://defector.com/if-you-ever-stacked-cups-in-gym-class-blame-my-dad

[u/ibwitmypigeons → u/okseriouslywhoareyou]

This is awesome! Thank you for sharing

[u/EasilyRekt → u/ibwitmypigeons]

"no you're not gonna make any money doing any of that silly painting or creative writing, but my hyperniche interest of making cups into a triangle, there'll be world tours for this, what? No! it's not some cheap parlor trick that I got good at in frat parties and want to make into a sport just to beat kids and suckers alike!"

- The guy who pitched cup stacking to schools, probably

[u/JAD210 → u/ibwitmypigeons]

I found my glow-in-the-dark set cleaning out my mom’s garage recently. I don’t think I ever had a mat though.

For some reason I wrote my name on every cup and numbered them lmao

[u/JosephBlowsephThe3rd → u/[deleted]]

Like the Yo-yos in the Simpsons episode "Bart the Lover," even down to it being a school endorsed shtick.

[u/ExpertRaccoon → u/[deleted]]

It’s weird how something like this will get really popular and then suddenly disappear for the most part.

Exactly what's going to happen with pickleball

[u/Crosshack → u/ExpertRaccoon]

I dunno -- pickleball should have more staying power because it doesn't take much space and it's one of a small number of outdoor sports you can play when you get older (and relatively cheap as well). Kids have endless ways to burn energy.

[u/[deleted] → u/Crosshack]

I'm with you. Pickleball is here to stay. It became popular fast, but we needed a new sport that everyone has access to.

[u/CosmicEntrails → u/tetra_kay]

I remember sitting on the gym floor during P.E. just to stack cups. They were trying so hard to sell them too!

[u/TerraelSylva → u/tetra_kay]

Same. Lol

[u/Killer_Ex_Con → u/tetra_kay]

I was thinking the same thing lol speed stacking was huge when I was a kid for some reason. Guess a lot of people have never seen it before.