Cellphone-themed Olympic pin said to be most popular in China

On the streets of Beijing, the hottest game isn't an Olympic sport: it's trading pins. Ted Arthur, writing at Beijing Experience 2008, says this Samsung pin is one of the most popular.

Some people will physically try and take your pin from your lanyard! It's so fun to try and trade with people...you start to only look chest-level and ignore people's faces. We have entire strategies to get pins and it's always fun to see what new pins people got throughout the day. The most sought after ones: a Samsung pin that has a phone on it that actually slides open and closed. NBC pins are extremely valuable, too! It's an entire culture during the Olympics - and you have to learn the language if you want to collect!

2008 BEIJING OLYMPIC PIN SAMSUNG SPONSOR TEMPLE OF HEAVEN PIN [PinLink]
Day 46 - Pin Culture [via textually]

[#1 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator , August 20, 2008 9:22 AM]

No jello this time around -- too bad!

[#2 posted by randalll , August 20, 2008 1:58 PM]

I have always thought it was fun to look at chest-level and ignore people's faces. Unfortunately my co-workers did not agree.

[#3 posted by MadDuck , August 20, 2008 4:51 PM]

Pin traders scare me. I mean, what do they do with all those pins? Shouldn't they be watching the games?

[#4 posted by Not a Doktor , August 20, 2008 10:18 PM]

Oh god my mother got caught up in that during the 2002 Salt Lake games. She still has milk CRATES full of the things.