Tumbang Preso

Tumbang Preso is not just a game. It’s a fun outdoor physical activity that helps children players develop strategic planning skills and agility.

Long before the internet and gadgets were introduced to them, Filipino kids had already been playing this outdoor social game called Tumbang Preso.

Tumbang Preso or Tumba lata (Tagalog), or Bato Lata (Bisaya) literally means “Knock Down the Prisoner” or “Knock Down the Can” in English. This game is usually played in backyards, open fields, parks, or in the streets when vehicular traffic is minimal. While the game involves much physical activity like running, Tumbang Preso calls for skills in strategic planning and agility to avoid being tagged.

We don’t know when this game started. But for as long as I can remember, the generation before mine had already been playing Tumbang Preso.

The game’s primary objective is to knock down the guarded “prisoner” or “can” with a certain tool and retrieve the same tool without being caught by the guard.

Equipment Needed for Tumbang Preso 

• a small can (usually a milk can) or any small cylindrical object, and;

• a slipper or a small flat stone. This tool is called pamato

Ideally, this game involves a maximum of 9 players, although kids may decide on the number of participants. One of the players serves as the guard or “It”, and the rest are the hitters.

Mechanics of the Game

1. The players draw a toe-line at one point of the ground, and a small circle a few meters away on the other side. 

2. Then they decide on the first guard or “It” by throwing their pamato at the toe-line, trying as much as possible to hit it or at least make the pamato land closest to the line. Whoever’s pamato is farthest from the toe-line is the first guard or “It”.

3. The “It” places the can inside the circle and guards it. While the hitters stand ready behind the toe-line. 

4. At the signal of the “It”, the hitters start throwing their pamato at the can.

5. Once the can is hit and knocked down, the “It” must quickly retrieve it and put it right back up inside the circle. At the same time, he should be quick enough to catch and tag the hitters trying to retrieve their pamato. One important rule: the guard cannot tag a hitter until he or she makes the can stand in its place inside the circle.

6. When the can is thrown outside the circle, the hitters may kick it farther away from the circle to allow all of them more time to retrieve their pamato. But, if the pamato landed close to the can but did not knock the target down, the guard may “capture” the pamato by putting a foot over it while his/her other foot rested on the can. This is a signal for the owner of the pamato to take his/her turn as the next “guard” or “it”.

7. A hitter who fails to retrieve his or her pamato may stay close to it and waits for the other hitters to knock down the can again.

8. Unless a player is “captured” (rule #6), the hitter who has been tagged becomes the next “It” [or whichever comes first].

9. And the process is repeated for as many times as the players agree.

The players must be quick to think of a strategy to retrieve his or her pamato without being caught. The “It” must also be alert for any movement of the other players. The primary element required in the game is speed – speed in thinking of a strategy, and speed in running away from the “guard” or “it”.

Thank you for reading this article.