Fads of the 1990s

How many of these mostly-American fads of the 1990s can you remember?

Quiz by

Rate:

Featured Quiz

Last updated: September 20, 2018

You have not attempted this quiz yet.

More quiz info >>

First submitted	October 16, 2012
Times taken	34,424
Average score	55.0%
Rating	4.07

Quiz and answer stats >>

Friends stats >>

5:00

Enter answer here

/ 20 guessed

The quiz is paused. You have remaining.

Scoring
You scored / = %

      This beats or equals
      % of test takers
      also scored 100%
      
The average score is 

        Your high score is
        
      
Your fastest time is 
more stats >>
friends stats >>

Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats ...

Clue	Fad
Style of music exemplified by Nirvana	Grunge
Shirt material worn by those musicians ^	Flannel
Stuffed animal brand that became a speculative investment bubble	Beanie Babies
Handheld digital pet	Tamagotchi
Dance craze from a Los del Río song	Macarena
Sesame Street toy which become impossible to acquire	Tickle Me Elmo
Loose pants popularized by a certain MC	Hammer Pants
Blue-collar work garment worn by the Fresh Prince, but with one strap unhooked	Overalls
Billy Blank's cardio boxing routine	Tae Bo
Picture books where you tried to find a guy	Where's Waldo?
Shirts that changed color depending on the temperature	Hypercolor
This 1930s dance style had a comeback	Swing Dance
This clothing store was huge in the 1990s, and had a commercial featuring these dancers ^	The Gap
Inflatable shoes that supposedly made you jump higher (but didn't)	Reebok Pump
Computer program that people used to pirate music in 1999	Napster
Powerful water gun toy	Super Soaker
Doctors and drug dealers had these	Beepers
Web site that featured a dancing rodent and catchy music	Hampster Dance
Roller skates, but modernized	Rollerblades
Strengthen your legs by squeezing them together with this device advertised by Suzanne Somers	Thighmaster

Level 58

Oct 15, 2012

Should allow Nanopet as well as tomagotchi, and on beepers pagers as well.

Level 37

Dec 13, 2012

There were several variants of that phenom. I tried "digimon", "pokemon", "digipets", finally gave up on that one.

Level 54

Sep 10, 2014

Digimon and Pokemon are cartoons and I know Pokemon has cards; they weren't virtual pets.

Level 56

Apr 4, 2017

"Digipets" were one form of virtual pet, but Pokemon and Digimon are in no way connected to that fad, other than the fact that they all originated in Japan.

Level 72

Jan 7, 2019

I thought digimon had a tamagotchi style thing that you could also connect together to fight. but maybe that was something else

Level 51

Apr 23, 2015

Were Neopets a thing? 'Cause that's what I remember them being called. But perhaps my memory is off? I never had them myself, but it seemed every one else had them.

Level 88

Jan 6, 2019

Neopets were digital pets on a website, but I wouldn't say they were quite the same thing.

Level 60

Oct 17, 2012

I'm baffled that more people don't remember Hypercolor! Anyone care to propose a probable explanation?

Level 89

Oct 17, 2012

I remember Hypercolor, but I couldn't remember that's what they were called.

Level 89

Dec 31, 2019

I'm shocked 5 times as many people remember Tamagotchi as Hypercolor. At best I would've thought people would think, "Oh yeah, digipets". Odd.

Level 84

Oct 15, 2013

I'm trying to forget about hypercolor. It was working until this quiz...

Level 84

Apr 21, 2014

Having lived through the 90s, split between the US and UK, I an say I have never heard of hypercolor.

Level 41

Sep 10, 2014

Aw yeah, I had a Hypercolor shirt! Those things were pretty cool, although mostly what happened was that it changed color on your shoulders and the parts where it was resting, and stayed that way, and you couldn't really make the cool handprints they showed in the ad(vert)s. But still. The one I had was kind of mauve, and pink when it got warm.

Level 36

Dec 5, 2020

I had a Hypercolor sweater that was that color... in fact, I still have it! It has a big rip along one of the seams and it barely works, although I don't know if this was because I used to wash it in the washing machine and stuck it in the dryer when I was a teen (you're supposed to hand wash and flat dry it) or because of age... or both.

Level 46

Oct 7, 2015

I remember the shirts. I had one. Couldn't remember the name of the company. I kept trying "hydrocolor"... even though I realize there is no water.

Level 84

Aug 11, 2017

This is literally the first I've heard about "hypercolor" shirts. Sounds like I didn't miss much.

Level 75

Jan 6, 2019

I never heard of it either, and I had teenagers in the '90s.

Level 71

Feb 26, 2018

Were hypercolor shirts in the US or in Europe? American here - never heard of them. If they were here, maybe they were a regional thing?

Level 77

Jun 4, 2018

US. They were quickly taken off the market because the colors changed more drastically on the hottest places on your torso. So your pits were a different color and, more embarrassingly, for busty girls, the underboob area changed colors. Not a great look.

Level 69

Jan 7, 2019

I remember the same thing. During the first week of 6th grade, some of the kids with wealthier parents had the new hypercolor shirts. Only took them a week or so to realize that a shirt that highlights when and where you are overheated in the September California sun is a bad idea...

Level 82

Apr 7, 2018

If you still have one they don't change colors anymore.

Level 85

May 24, 2018

It was unimportant? Never heard of it.

Level 88

Jan 6, 2019

It seems like a neat concept but I don't remember it at all. It is one of only two answers I missed.

Level 49

Jan 7, 2019

I was penalised for spelling colour correctly...

Level 82

Mar 20, 2020

Then why did you spell it incorrectly in the comments?

Level 14

Oct 17, 2012

It would be really cool to have a shirt that changes color. It could be hard to match though. :)

Level 71

Oct 17, 2012

*reading on Wikipedia about Beanie Babies and Tickle Me Elmo* Why did these things become such fads? That's so sad.

Level 66

Mar 17, 2013

Because they're toys? Kids like toys if I remember how kids work.

Level 77

Aug 8, 2013

The fad when I was a kid were Cabbage Patch dolls. Have you seen these ugly buggers? No respectable kid now a days would dream of having one, yet people were literally getting trampled for them. Kids + Greed + Parents trying to buy affection = Crazy toy fads. Ridiculous.

Level 75

Feb 20, 2015

I didn't trample anyone to buy a Cabbage Patch Kid for my daughters, I waited until the craziness had died down, found them stocked on the shelves, and bought them as birthday gifts. The girls played with them until they outgrew them, and now they have passed them on to their own daughters who love them as much as their mothers did. What's wrong with that? Not many toys today are so well-made as to survive two generations of play.

Level 68

Sep 6, 2013

It's not the kids. the adults feed the fad--they decide that their kids have to have it.

Level 75

Feb 20, 2015

Elmo was a toy, but Beanie Babies became a collectible due to the company's regularly retiring designs and producing only limited numbers of each design. Some of the early retired toys were sold for large profits and then people were in a frenzy to collect every one the company made. Someone gave each of our kids one, but they were never into them. They preferred Pound Puppies.

Level 82

Apr 7, 2018

Beanie babies tapped into people's impulse to collect, and also FoMO.

Tickle-Me-Elmo was just the popular toy one Christmas season that everyone wanted and as often happened with those things, American parents decide that they've somehow let their child down if they don't get them the big popular toy of the season, which led to people fighting over them. I worked at Toys R Us in the stock room that year. I should have stolen a box, I had my hands on one once coming off the truck, I probably could have made $10,000 on eBay.

Level 70

Oct 17, 2012

It's actually called "Hampster Dance." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampster_Dance

Therefore, I think "Hampster Dance" should be allowed.

Level ∞

Jan 20, 2015

Fixed

Level 69

Apr 4, 2017

That's weird, because the animal is actually spelled HAMSTER. Or is it a special kind of Hamster?

Level 76

Apr 7, 2018

I'm pretty sure it was just that the person who made the original web page didn't know the actual spelling, and it stuck.

Level 25

Oct 17, 2012

haha I remember when swing music came back in style for like, 2 minutes back in 1998. good times.

Level 28

Oct 18, 2012

"Mambo No. 5 !!!"

Level 37

Sep 10, 2014

I never associated that with the swing craze, but I can see how the resurgence in swing (Cherry Poppin Daddies, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Brian Setzer Orchestra) led to a resurgence in mambo, salsa and other traditional dance music. I think of swing as being rather non-Latin but I suppose it all bleeds together at a point.

Level 37

Dec 13, 2012

I missed the Hampster Dance era - so I had to go check it out. Thanks alot! Now it's stuck in my head!!!

Level 9

Dec 13, 2013

good quiz

Level 58

Dec 31, 2013

First of all, it's '90s not 90's. Secondly, the Atkins Diet was a 2000s fad, not a '90s one. From the Wikipedia page, "The Atkins Nutritional Approach gained widespread popularity in 2003 and 2004."

Level 75

May 15, 2014

It first came out in the 1970s if I remember correctly. It has risen and fallen in popularity many times since then, but is still going strong so I wouldn't exactly call it a fad.

Level ∞

May 24, 2018

Agreed. I removed Atkins.

Level 70

Jan 2, 2014

I had no idea what Hypercolor was, now I want one.

Level 41

Sep 10, 2014

You can buy them on ebay.

Level 56

Apr 1, 2015

But you really shouldn't, unless you like to broadcast your armpit sweat in technicolor.

Level 37

Sep 10, 2014

In the 90s I was 14-24, and I've never even heard of Hamster Dance, Hypercolor or Tamagotchi. I guess I was into other things.

Level 67

Mar 30, 2015

14 was a little old for Tamagotchi. I've also never heard of hypercolor. Hamster dance was popular, but it wasn't a craze on par with some of this other stuff.

Level 95

Mar 2, 2015

Atkins' diet was introduced in 2002. Just saying.

Level ∞

Mar 3, 2015

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkins_diet

Level 82

Apr 7, 2018

That was the one clue that jumped out at me as something that felt like it was later than the 90s. But I assume QM did his research. Maybe it was introduced in the late 90s and caught on in the 2000s? In the 90s I remember jogging, power walking, Ultra SlimFast (or was that the 80s?), and fat-free frozen yogurt.

Level 75

Jan 6, 2019

As I stated previously, Atkins came out in the 1970s. It's had ebbs and flows since then.

Level 55

Mar 30, 2015

So few people know the hamster dance! I'm aghast!

Level 55

Mar 30, 2015

Also, I thought "picture book where you tried to find a guy" was talking about like, dating...pre-internet, pre-facebook. Duh. Where's Waldo? Totally misunderstood that one.

Level 66

Jan 6, 2019

Glad I read the comments before I repeated this one.

Level 69

Mar 30, 2015

It's hamster, not hampster

Level ∞

Mar 30, 2015

No, it's not.

Level 82

Mar 20, 2020

.. except it is?

Level 75

Mar 29, 2023

For a minute there I thought this was an exceedingly rare instance of Quizmaster being objectively wrong. Turns out the website in question really did misspell it as "hampster". Should have known

Level 51

Mar 30, 2015

i fotrgot about the hamster dance. but we played that in the 2000's not the 90's...

Level 63

Mar 30, 2015

I'm upset by the lack of references to: the video game console war between Nintendo and Sega and then Nintendo 64 and Sony Playstation. To no reference at all to Michael Jordan, maybe the most famous human on the planet during the Bulls' 1990s dynasty. To no mention of Titanic (the movie was a phenomenon at the time, as was Celine Dion's awful song), Seinfeld, or Friends. To Bill Clinton and Monica Lewnsky. And many, many more. I was born in the mid-1980s, which means I grew up in the 90s and I remembered everything on this list but hypercolor and the Hamster thing.

And I saved these for last just because they made me laugh, but what about pogs?

Level 76

Jan 9, 2019

Not sure what kind of "fad" would be connected to Clinton and Lewinsky....

Level 63

Mar 30, 2015

And the correct spelling of the ANIMAL is hamster, but I'm guessing what is referred to here - which I have never heard of before - is indeed spelled with a P.

And a few things I left out: crystal pepsi, America Online, Stater jackets, and the color teal. In the early to mid 1990s used the color due to the fad, from the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA, the Florida Marlins and Seattle Mariners (who existed before the '90s but adopted teal in that decade) of MLB, the San Jose Sharks in the NHL, and the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL. And why the NFL decided to introduce two southern teams who were both named after large jungle cats and both wore teal is a mystery to me. I know people who still confuse them (though I must admit, I am not one of those people).

Level 63

Mar 30, 2015

That was Starter Jackets, not Stater.

Level 67

Mar 30, 2015

I don't really think grunge was a fad. It was a sustained era of music that is still well-respected. Yes, it is decidedly '90s, but it wasn't an incomprehensible success based solely on hype in the way that almost everything else on this list is. People still discover and get into Nirvana and Pearl Jam every day. How many people do you think are still buying Tamagotchis and Hypercolors?

Level 77

Mar 30, 2015

My daughter grew up in the '90s and had several Giga Pets; I never once heard the name Tamagotchi. From Wikipedia: "In the U.S., Giga Pets were reported to be more readily available than Tamagotchis and at price of approximately $10 USD, roughly $5 less than the suggest retail price for their Japanese counterpart." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giga_Pet) Please accept Giga Pet as an alternative answer.

Level 82

Mar 31, 2015

They were just the knock-off brand.

Level 70

Apr 2, 2015

many teen shops are endorsing flannel and the modernised grunge look now its like the 90's all over again!

Level 82

Apr 11, 2015

They just have to wait until enough time passes so the kids will be fooled into thinking that they're being original.

Level 55

Nov 6, 2017

I know I'm responding two years later but my tween daughter is wearing flannels,boots, ripped jeans and chokers. She looks just like I did in high school lol. Of course she thinks she's original lol. So the grunge look is definetly back!

Level 82

Apr 7, 2018

I remember when my generation tried to bring back bell-bottoms but it didn't really take.

Level 75

Jan 6, 2019

I wore bell bottoms in the '60s and one of my daughters made fun of the look when she saw some old photos. I told her they would come back again some time and she would wear them. She signed a paper stating that she would never wear bell bottoms as long as she lived, and told me to keep it in my desk drawer. The paper is still there, and to my knowledge she has never worn them. I suspect her children will, though.

Level 72

Jan 7, 2019

I remember when I was growing up in the 90s and all the fads from the 60s and 70s were becoming popular again. I guess it's time for the 90s to come back

Level 72

Nov 23, 2015

Are SUVs really a 90's fad? I don't think they've ever really gone out of style, except maybe briefly in 2008 when the price of gas spiked. Unless it's "crossovers" that have lived on rather than true SUVs?

(Also note the lack of an apostrophe in SUVs, since it's not possessive. One of my biggest grammar peeves.)

Level ∞

May 24, 2018

I removed that entry. If anything, SUVs are more popular now.

Level 82

Jan 7, 2019

But they were huge and trendy in the 90s and they did go out of fashion for a while.

Level 53

Jul 8, 2016

Wow, how had I missed out on the hypercolor clothing craze? Sounds like something I would've been all over back then. I remember some gimmicky things (other than mood rings) at the time that used that color changing effect, but not clothing.

Level 36

Oct 22, 2016

Air Jordans were the air pump shoe. Never heard of any other kind.

Level 76

Jan 9, 2019

Nope, Air Jordans did have an encased air bubble, but it was the Reebok Pump that actually allowed the wearer to inflate the sides and tongue to mold around their foot.

Level 84

Aug 11, 2017

Tickle-Me-Elmo. Shrewd adjustment to the lesser-known and ill-advised original Tickle-Me-Stalin doll.

Level 24

Apr 8, 2018

Dude I tried so hard to spell tamagotchi. I could have sworn I put the right one. Maybe accept a few close spellings...

Level 77

May 24, 2018

Inliners or inlines should work too? Rollerblades is just one brand. Or it should say you need a brand. (Inliner skates might work, didn't think of trying that.) Also I am pretty sure I tried harem pants and got it, are those similar to hammer pants AT ALL?

Level 75

Jan 6, 2019

Inline skates worked for me.

Level 72

May 24, 2018

Hampster dance? What the bleep? Just googled it, I do remember the music but i didn't know it had a name or was that famous. It really is awful. Lol

Level 81

May 25, 2018

Please accept dungarees for overalls!

Level 75

Jun 11, 2018

They are different - overalls have sleeves, dungarees don't. But I think that the Fresh Prince had dungarees and not overalls, otherwise there wouldn't have been a strap to leave undone

Level 75

Jan 6, 2019

According to Wikipedia overalls and dungarees are the same thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overall. In my area the ones with sleeves are called coveralls. Maybe it's different in other countries?

Level 75

Apr 5, 2019

Yeah, could be one of those things where it depends on where you're from.

Over here, overalls means the same as boiler suit whereas dungarees have the straps and don't cover your arms.

I guess overall means literally that - over all of your body.

Except your head.

And hands.

And feet...

Level 80

Jan 6, 2019

I add my vote for accepting dungarees.

Level 73

Jan 7, 2019

Yup, I'd like to add my support to this lobby, too.

Level 85

May 25, 2018

I loved the 90s.

Level 67

Dec 14, 2018

With the stuffed animals I thought wth?!? That became a hype... how?? I was thinking of taxidermy, they are stuffed (and otherwise expected the word pluche or toy). With the pictures to find a guy, I thought it had to be something to find dates. Like in some places (if I have to believe some movies ;) ) they had video (real video on videotapes) messages you d make to find a date. So why not a picture. With the doctors and drugdealers first things I thought of was syringe, then all types of drugs.. but didnt bother trying them all out. The question might be a bit more specefic. Like a new communicationdevice. And I cant be the only one that tried Nike air..

Level 48

Jan 6, 2019

Remember all these others, but don't remember the hypercolor thing. Guess I was either too old or not paying attention.

Level 67

Jan 6, 2019

Racking my brain for some others...there was "The Train" dance (from the Quad City DJ's song), pogs, Magic: the Gathering, Hanson, Total Request Live (and the Backstreet Boys/NSYNC rivalry along with it), Pauly Shore, blond highlights on men, "the Rachel," nu metal, and getting knobbed in the Oval Office.

Level 82

Jan 9, 2019

Magic: the Gathering is still going strong -- ask my nerd husband!

Level 55

Jan 6, 2019

I don't know how I got 12/20, considering I was born in 2005. I kind of expected to score lower.

Level 65

Jan 9, 2019

The beeper clue is a bit vague. I was trying to rack my brain to figure out what doctors and drug dealers have in common. I knew doctors had beepers, but I didn't know about drug dealers. Maybe a hint about it having to do with communication?

Level 80

Feb 16, 2023

Thanks for accepting "gigapets", for whatever reason they were the most popular at my school. Surprised pogs aren't here

Countries of the World Quiz

US States Quiz

Countries by Borders in 90 Seconds

United States Map Quiz

World Capitals Quiz

U.S. Presidents Quiz

NBA Teams Quiz

Random Capital to Country

World Map with Random Merged Countries

12 x 12 Multiplication Table in 2 Minutes