Games We Play in the Philippines

1. Tansan Blade Fight

Soda bottle caps are flattened, two holes bored near the very center and a 36-inch long string passed through both holes so as to produce a sort of necklace.

How to play: The idea is to make the circular blade spin as fast as it can in order to cut the string of the opponent while at the same time dodging the opponent's blade. Once you cut the opponent's string, you win. Congratulations.

Precautions: Because the edge of the circular blade is sharp (in some instances, it is sharpened even more by some children by honing the edge using a honing stone) care must be taken in order to avoid any cuts on the fingers or the hands or other exposed parts of the body. We suggest the participants wear gloves and shades/goggles. Jackets and helmets would be advisable too if we really focus on safety, but hey, where's the fun in that. When I was a child growing up somewhere in the mountains of Misamis Oriental, I used to play this all the time without any sort of protection at all.

2. "Luthang" (pronounced 'Loot-hang', say it very fast with the accent on the second syllable) or Bamboo Shooter or Bamboo Handgun also known as “Sumpak” in Tagalog

This toy is more complicated to make. Using a saw, we need to saw off a 15-inch long bamboo stem to be used as the barrel of our gun. The ideal hole of the bamboo stem only has a small diameter, say about one-third of an inch. Make sure to saw in between nodes of the bamboo so we have a nice barrel without any obstruction in the center. Next we make a stick pusher/plunger which is about a quarter-inch shorter than the bamboo barrel. The diameter of the plunger stick must be as close to the diameter of the barrel's hole as possible.

How to play: The 'bullet' that is used is a wet wad or piece of paper (toilet paper, yellow paper, newspaper, doesn't matter). We push the wet wad of paper into the hole using the plunger. Once the wad of paper is pushed up to the other end of the bamboo barrel, we then 'seal' the other end of the barrel using another wet wad of paper. Now the bamboo shooter is loaded and ready to fire.

We insert the end of the plunger a few centimeters into the barrel, pushing the wad of paper a few centimeters into the barrel in the process.

Now, point the barrel at your target (not necessarily your enemy) and push the plunger all the way, in a quick and forceful manner. Boom!

Precautions: Being hit with a wet wad of paper with this bamboo shooter does hurt and care must be taken not to hit the eyes. This is why the targets that will be used are inanimate objects like empty cans, bottles or something. Though when I was a child, we had these little wars with other groups of children where we really shot at each other using the bamboo shooters. Care must also be taken when holding the bamboo shooter since bamboo splinters might cause cuts on the hands.

Additional Information: There is a variation of this bamboo shooter which does not require manual reloading. Automatic reloading is achieved using an improvised magazine with papaya meat instead of wet paper as the 'bullet.' The magazine (basically another bamboo barrel with plunger having the same hole diameter but of lesser length) is attached to the side of the main barrel using rubber strips. The plunger is pushed upwards by the tension of the rubber strips thereby pushing the papaya meat into the main barrel, automatically reloading the bamboo shooter.

3. "Kasing" (pronounced 'ka-sing', say it very fast with the accent on the second syllable). Top (interestingly, kasing-kasing in Cebuano means 'heart' )

This game is pretty common worldwide (there are Indian, Jewish, Japanese and other variations). Here in the Philippines, gaming tops are called kasing in the Cebuano language and 'trumpo' in Tagalog. The top is made from a kind of hardwood. Where I came from, in Agusan del Norte, we usually use guava wood and a nail is used as the 'leg' of the top. Children sometimes have matches where the goal is to break the other player's top in two using one's own top. This is achieved by striking the opponent's spinning top (in some variations, the targetted top does not spin but is merely planted on the ground, the nail or leg buried in the soil.)

To determine whose top gets to be broken first, the players make a circular mark on the ground. One player targets the mark and the other targets the mark as well. Whoever hit the ground nearest to the mark gets to smash the other player's top first. The players then take turns making damages to each other's tops.

Precautions: The tip of the nail is sharp and can cause injuries. One must be careful when playing with these kinds of tops. Unlike the Jewish dreidel, Filipino tops are of the hardcore variety and takes months, even years to master or play skillfully and safely. Children usually practice daily and perform such tricks as 'catching' the top using the string, tossing it in the air and making the top spin on top of one's palm. Because of this, we will only teach the very basic skill of spinning the top. Basically it all just takes practice and lots of patience.

4. Takyan. Also known as “sipa” in Tagalog.

Sipa is a Tagalog word which means to kick. And as its name says, the idea of the game is to see how many times you can kick the toy in the air until you make a mistake and it falls on the ground. The toy used in sipa is called Takyan in Cebuano, thus the game is known as Takyan in Cebuano-speaking areas in the Philippines.

The game is commonly played by schoolchildren before and after classes and also during recess breaks in the morning and lunch breaks in the afternoon. Playing the game while classes are going on will lead

to a scolding by the teacher, especially if you play sipa inside the classroom while class is going on. So don’t do anything like that.

The sipa toy is made with a washer, which is a small round metal with a hole in the center. When the five-cent Philippine coin came out, it was used by the students as well because it has a hole in its center. A “tail” is passed through the hole so that the sipa becomes aerodynamic.

5. Tumbang Preso

Speed, agility, accuracy and strength will be tested in this traditional Filipino game. You might wonder how complicated this game could be as it requires such physical prowess; but, to tell you the truth, it is just so simple that it is played by children aging 4-15 years old in the wide streets of the provinces usually during a fair afternoon. If you are a man/woman of great daring, brace yourself to be tried in this really exciting game.

Materials:

- slippers or flip-flops

-empty tin can (must be clean and free from sharp and/or pointed

cuts)

-chalk or any ground marker

Procedure:

1. Prepare the playground markers using the chalk (see Fig. 1 for illustration).

2. Gather two or more playmates.

3. Select the “it” by doing hompiang.

4. The “it” takes the tin can and place it inside the circle while the rest of the players will be the “strikers” and will position on the safe line.

5. A. The players on the safe line will throw their slippers to topple the can and take their slippers back to the safe line without being caught by the “it”.

B. The “it” is in charge of keeping the can standing inside the circle and his/her main goal is to catch a “striker” who is holding his/her slipper while he/she is not over the safe line. The player who would get caught will eventually become the next “it”. Note that the “it” can only chase the “striker” when the can is standing inside the circle.

6. Continue doing step #5 until everyone agrees that they can hardly move a limb anymore. In short, keep playing until everyone gets exhausted at playing.

Note: It is more tiring to be an “it” than to be a “striker”. Being the “it” for the longest period of time in the game is synonymous to being a loser. Haha… Enjoy!

6. Hompiang

Can’t you decide who among you in the room would sweep the floor? Perhaps, you can’t think of any way you can find a volunteer to be the one to pay the bill in your group date. Hompiang might help you solve the problem.

In many traditional Filipino games, there is always that “it” who will be taking a painfully difficult role in the game. To start a game of that type, choosing the “it” is usually done by hompiang unless someone would volunteer to be the “it” to start the game (which rarely happens for the reason I think you understand).

Hompiang is done using only a few steps and a simple principle: to put the majority into safety by luck. Firstly, all the players gather around in a similar way a team huddles during a break. Then, they’d put their hands on top of the others’ and then shout “Hoooom-piang!” or “Hompiang, makulob, mahayang!” while releasing and deciding at the same time to hold their hands either palm-up or palm-down. If one happened to hold palm-up, for example, and at least 50% + 1 of the players chose palm-up then he/she is “safe”; otherwise, he/she would continue with the rest until only one is left. In the case wherein only two players are left to play, a player who is already safe will join the Hompiang again until one of the two players holds stops his/her hand in a different way. Finally, you have your “it”-the poor one.

7. Rizal-rizal

Judging by the name of the game, you might think of it as something very intellectual, nonviolent and mind-boggling. If you thought that way, you would have to rethink and look at the other things that happened to the Philippine National Hero Jose Protacio Rizal. I’ll give you 5 seconds … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 and time’s up! Have you got any idea? Well, the following steps on how this game is played might help you know why it is so called.

In this game, we will have to use a ball made from coconut leaves (please see Coconut Leaf Ball Making). Best played in an open ground, the game also requires an equivalent number of holes in the ground (see illustration) as the number of players. Each player would have to choose a hole. One of the players will then roll the ball to the holes. The player who owns the hole to which the ball rolled in will take the ball and throw it to one of the other players. If he/she hits one, then that player will be the ‘Rizal’; otherwise, he/she will be the ‘Rizal’. After having a ‘Rizal’, the rest of the players will then line up 4 meters away from the ‘Rizal’ to take turns at throwing balls to the ‘Rizal’. The number of throws per player will depend on the agreement between players.

Being a ‘Rizal’ in this game is like being executed by firing squad. Note that Jose Rizal died by a firing squad; hence, the name of the game.

Additional Information: In Philippine languages, repeating the word, as in ‘Rizal-rizal’ for Rizal, gives it a lighter and playful meaning though it maintains that it is similar to the original meaning in any way.