Traditional Filipino Games That I Miss in My Childhood

I thought of taking a break from writing the articles I used to share and just write something personal. Let's take a break from reading and writing crypto-related articles to breathe for a while.

So I saw this flower in the garden of my grandmother and I suddenly remembered the good old days.

We used to wear them as earrings every time we go to the garden of my friend's house.

Oh well, I feel so old but I'm glad I was born in the 90s where I was able to witness the transition from traditional activities and now where our lives revolve around our phones and computers.

I was born in 1995 and these are the traditional games that I miss and have no choice but just to look back on those memories:

1. Patintero

I grew up in a subdivision where the houses are closely built from each other. I easily made good friends in the neighborhood and I have been enjoying it a lot. I remember, during weekends at 4 pm, my friends come by our house and invite me to play with them for patintero. We play the game on the street and we just pause our game whenever a vehicle passes by. We use water to mark the lines as the streets were not yet cemented.

This game is super fun especially if there are many of you playing. However, there are some instances that a member of the team loses his/her cool and start a fight with the other team as they thought one was cheating. So that ends the game and results in not talking for days. Such a childish act! 🤦‍♀️😆

2. Tumbang Preso (Tumba Lata)

If not patintero, we used to play Tumbang Preso, we call it Tumba Lata in Bisaya. Before the game starts, to determine who's the tagged, the players will do "humpyang makulob mahayang". I'm not really sure what's the Tagalog term or English term of that. The loser gets to guard the tin can and catch the players who get their slippers from the other side. I hope I a making sense. It's really difficult to explain in English.

My father used to tease me this even up to now whenever he remembers the game back in my childhood. I was once the tagged player of the game and my friends kept on hitting the tin can and I can't catch them back by touching them. He saw me almost crying and felt pity for me. Who wouldn't feel hopeless when you can't catch them back right?

3. Tagu-taguan

This is my favorite game ever. The excitement and thrill when your friend gets close to you but had no idea where you are exactly at. The tagged player counts to 30 to 60 (this depends on the mechanics, I do not know about yours). My strategy of hiding myself is to climb up a tree or just hide in the house. What makes it more fun is sometimes, one would just stand behind the friend who's counting and when he's done, he just easily taps the surface and say "save". I know that's a form of cheating but it still fun though.

One time, the game has not yet ended as the tagged player was still searching for the remaining player. A parent approached us and discouraged us to stop the game because "the engkanto" will get us. We immediately stopped the game and went home so frightened. I know, that's a classic effective strategy that children would still fall for it.

4. Agawan Base (Sunog Bahay)

The game consists of two teams. The goal is to catch all members of the opposing team. When members of the opposing team get tagged, they will form a chain by holding hands and wait for their teammates to rescue them. The other team must guard the members of the opposing team to sustain their lead. The first team to tag all members of the opposing team wins the game.

My friends would call me "bantay pari" as I do not leave our base. I'm afraid to be tagged by the other team and just let my teammates do the work. Was I too competitive or too boring? I guess it's the latter. 😆

5. Buwan - Buwan (Bulan- Bulan)

This game is quite the same as Patintero. However, instead of drawing squares by 6 or 8, the game is formed by a circle like a moon. The group will stay inside the moon while the tagged player is only allowed to walk along the circle trying to catch one member of the group without entering the moon. If he succeeds, the tagged member will be in his position and resume the game.

6. Langit - Lupa

The game is simple. One should never stand on the ground or the floor because you will be caught by the tagged player. Langit is considered when you place yourself anywhere except the floor.

7. Kadang - Kadang

This is the hardest, dangerous, and most fulfilling experience I had in my childhood. I asked my father to make a kadang-kadang for me, and I spent days to practice and finally get the hang of it. It was nerve-wracking when you step on its pedal and balance yourself for you to walk using it.

8. Siato (Shatong)

You will need to dig a hole for the shorter stick to be placed over it so that you can hit it as farthest as you can using the longer stick. The objective is to get the highest score by hitting the stick multiple times. The highest scorer will hit the stick as far as he can and the tagged player will sing "sinsilyo pulgado and sukli bayncingko, siatooooooong". That's how we sing in our town, I'm not sure about your versions.

9. Luksong Baka

The tagged player will serve as the cow-like figure to be jumped over by the other players. If one player fails to jump over the tagged player then he will now serve as the "baka".

10. Bahay - Bahayan (Balay - Balay)

When the team is not available and doing personal errands or going on a trip, one fun activity to do is doing the bahay-bahayan.

To form a house, you will need rice sacks or if you're lucky and your parents do not find out that you took your blanket in your bed, then that would be perfect. But, I'm pretty sure you will get reprimanded for doing it so. 😆🤦‍♀️

We used to form a mini-house under a tree and build sticks on it for the blanket. Then, we put sacks and pillow underneath to let us sleep in our mini house. The mini house experienced wouldn't be complete without cooking using a tin can, with gumamela as the food. We place 3 stones so the tin can could stand to it.

Now the fun begins. One would portray as the mother of the family, the father of the family, and the rest would be the children of the family. If my memory serves me right, I once portrayed as the mother of the family, and my childhood crush portrayed as the father of the family.

As the group reaches teenage years, there begin asking who has a crush on who. The childhood games were no longer played as we started to feel conscious about ourselves when puberty hit.

We had to leave the subdivision after 12 years because we build our own house from the lot that my parents bought. From then on, I never had the chance to visit my childhood hometown and we only connect through Facebook. Some of them already got married.

Here is a group photo of my childhood friends before. Take a guess which of them is the child figure of Jeaneth. 😆

As we grow old and have our own families, the chances of getting together get slimmer because priorities are needed to take consideration first.

How about you guys? Do you still connect with your childhood friends? What game do you miss the most?