AGAWAN BASE (Capture the Base)

From:

Pronounced as: a-ga-wan base

Participants: As many as possible - the more the merrier.

Participants are divided into two teams with equal number of team members. The object of the game is for one team to try & capture the base of the other by reaching the other's home base first & tagging a pre-decided item (e.g., a tree trunk, a rock, etc) symbolizing the opposite team - without getting tagged by the defending members of the opposite team. A safety line is drawn between the two teams. A member of an opposing team who crosses the safety line into the territory of the other team can be chased & tagged by the team that owns that base. If the attacker gets tagged before he/she manages to get back to his/her safety zone or home base, he/she becomes a prisoner (POW) of the opposite team. He/she can be rescued by his/her teammates if one of his/her teammates manage to get close to the base & tag the POW without getting tagged himself/herself by the guard or one of the defenders in the opposing team.

The game ends when a member of an opposing team manages to tag the symbol of the other team or when all the members of one team are captured by the other leaving their homebase free for the opposite team to attack & capture.

This game is similar to the Capture the Flag game which is the basis for the 90s adult game called Paintball Combat Game which has gained popularity over recent years. Tagging has been substituted for airpistols/guns with water-soluble paint as ammunitions for the guns.

BANOG-BANOG (The Hawk & The Chicken)

From:

Pronounced as: bah-nog-bah-nog

Participants:

a. Banog or hawk, usually played by the biggest boy or girl in group
b. Mother hen, usually played by a girl
c. Chicks, played by any number of girls and boys

This game is a favorite among children aged 6 to 12. It is an imitation game, imitating the antics of the hawk who preys on chicken to feed their young. Before the game starts, the group selects a boy to play the banog and a girl to play the mother hen whose duty is to protect the chicks from the hawk's attack. The rest play the chicks. When the game starts, the hawk and the mother hen face each other. The chicks stay in one line behind the mother hen, each holding on to the waist of the person in front of him/her. This line is not supposed to be broken. The chick who breaks out of the line opens him/herself up to the danger of being caught by the hawk. The game starts after an agreed count, then the hawk begins to crack down on the mother hen's defense to get to the chicks. He runs hither & thither, generally trying to confuse the hen and the chicks as to his area of attack. When he cannot catch any chick this way, he suddenly swoops down at the very end of the line to get to the last chick who is usually unprotected. The mother hen dashes down the line to save her chick but this results in making the chicks behind her break the line and fall, thus making them easy prey for the hawk. The game continues until the majority of the chicks are caught by the hawk.

A variation of the game would be to allow the mother hen to get back her chicks. While the hawk is busy catching the other chicks, the mother hen will go to the hawk's camp & try to steal back her chicks. This makes the game take longer to finish & usually, the way it's ended is when everybody (especially the hawk & the mother hen) is too exhausted & everybody agrees to stop.
 

BORDON

Pronounced as: bor-don

Bordon is a parlor game usually played after prayers for the dead or during wakes.

Any number of players can play this game. The participants sit in a circle with both hands joined. A leader (IT) stays at the center. A ring is secretly passed around by a member as they sing the bordon (you can substitute a song of your own here if you don't know the bordon song). The leader tries to guess where the ring is. He continues guessing until he succeeds in pointing at the person who holds it. The holder of the ring guessed by the leader becomes the "it", and he takes the place of the leader.
 

BUWAN-BUWAN or BAKUNAWA

Number of Players: At least 8 - 6 for the circle & 1 to play the buwan (moon) & 1 to play the bakunawa (eclipse).

All the players except the buwan and the bakunawa stand in a circle facing in and holding each other's hands. The buwan stands inside the circle while the bakunawa stands outside. The object of the game is for the bakunawa to tag the buwan. The rest of the players try to prevent the bakunawa from doing so by holding on to each other & running around the circle as fast as they & not letting go.

For the bakunawa to get into the circle, the bakunawa asks one of the players, "What chain is this?" to which the player replies, "An iron chain!" An iron chain is supposed to be unbreakable so the bakunawa tries another player. A player who would like to let the bakunawa in could say, "This is an abaca chain" and lets go. This is done when the bakunawa is feeling tired from running around. Sometimes the bakunawa also tries to get in by going under the linked hands - if the player chosen as the bakunawa is fast & small enough, this can be easily accomplished. As soon as the bakunawa succeeds in getting in, the circle players will let the buwan out of the circle. The bakunawa then tries to break out of the linked hands again to try & get out to catch the buwan. When the bakunawa succeeds in catching the buwan, they exchange places or if both of them are too tired, another pair from the circle of players are chosen as the new bakunawa and buwan.
 

CHATO

From: Rick Nuqui

Chato is played by digging a small hole on the ground and using 2 sticks - a short and a long one. Put the short stick on the hole with one end protruding out; hit that end with the long stick and while the short stick is in the air, try and hit it again as far as it can go. Then measure the distance using the long stick as the yardstick. The winner then gets to hit the short stick, starting from the hole, as many times as his winnings. The loser has to run from that distance back to the hole, all the while shouting "CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATO"! If he/she loses his breath while running, the winner hits the small stick again from that point, and the loser has to run and shout again.
 

GAGAMBA

Pronounced as: ga-gam-ba

Played by two people, each having their own "champion spider". An arbiter will then conduct the spider match on a little stick. The victor will be the spider that eats-up the other one first. Similar to sabungan.
 

HABULAN ESTATWA

Pronounced as: ha-bu-lan es-tat-wa

Translated literally to English as "Chase Statue". The game is played by any number of players. At least 4 players will be fun enough.

HARANGANG TAGA or TUBIGAN

English translation: Three Nights

Number of Players: Six or More

Best Place to Play: Outdoors with Plenty of Space

This game is very similar to Patintero with just a slight variation in the number of squares that the two teams cover and it also has a slight variation in scoring. In certain regions of the Philippines though, harangang taga is the same as patintero. Some children also prefer playing this game on a dirt area and use water to make the lines. Thus it is usually played on a moonlit evening to prevent rapid evaporation of the water lines.

The players are divided into two teams of equal numbers. The ground is marked off in a rectangle about five or six meters, divided into four equal parts.

                                        t1 to t4 = taggers 1-4
                 t1 _ ________|________ B = base (starting point)
                      |       |       |
                      |       |       |                    
                 t2 --|-------+-------|
                      |       |       |                     
                      |       |       |                     
                 t3 --|-------+-------| H = halfway point

Winning the jack-en-poy or toss or "umpiang" entitles the players on that team to be runners. The taggers stand on lines 1, 2, and 3. Tagger 1 can go anywhere (that is, the inside & outside lines of the entire square whereas taggers 2 & 3 are only allowed within their horizontal lines) to tag the runners. The object of the runners is to get through all the lines: 1, 2, and 3 starting from the base across the halfway point & then back to the base without being tagged. Taggers 1, 2, 3 try to tag the runners as they cross the lines or as they get near them. As soon as one of the runners crosses line 3 & back to line 1 without being tagged, the runner calls out "tubig" (water). This means a "night" (point) is scored in favor of the runner's team. If a runner is tagged while crossing a line or while trying to cross a line, the teams exchange places and it becomes the turn of the taggers' team to run. The first team to earn three consecutive nights are the winners.

Consequence: The losers carry the winners on their backs to and fro or the winners slaps the hands or make "pitik" (a process wherein one uses the middle finger to hit as hard as one can the knuckles of another person) of the losers for an agreed number of times.
 

IRING-IRING

English translation: Dropping the Handkerchief

Any number of players form a circle. An IT is chosen via the Jack-en-poy or counting-rhyme method. The IT goes around the circle and drops the handkerchief slyly behind one of the players in the circle. If the person notices the handkerchief, the person picks up the handkerchief & chases the IT around the circle. The IT has to reach the vacant space left by the person chasing before IT is tagged, otherwise, the IT has to take back the handkerchief and repeat the process all over again. If the IT does succeed to claim the vacant space, then the person who used to occupy that vacant space (the person chasing the IT) becomes the new IT. If the IT succeeds in making one trip around the circle without the player in the circle noticing that the handkerchief was dropped behind him/her, that player becomes the new IT

A variation that we used to do is not use a handkerchief at all since it is so easy to detect the handkerchief. Rather, we just use our hands to tap lightly the chosen "victim" in the circle.

Also, sometimes to make it more interesting & lively, before the new IT starts choosing a new "victim", he/she is penalized by being asked to choose between doing "truth or consequence." The "truth" penalty would allow a member of the circle chosen by the person being penalized to ask him/her personal questions such as "Who is your crush?" or some silly question... The "consequence" penalty would include dancing or singing or reciting a poem, etc... The point to all these is to make the chasing more challenging since if one doesn't succeed in getting back to his/her place, one is surely going to get some kind of penalty. One has to be a good runner when one is playing this game :)
 

JUEGO DE PRENDA

English translation: Game of Penalty

During a vigil for the dead, juego de prenda is played so that people will not fall asleep while watching the dead.

Any number of players may play. The more the merrier. Players sit in a circle with the leader in the middle. Each player adopts a name of a tree or flower. The leader recounts the story of a lost bird that was owned by a king. He says, "The bird of the king was lost yesterday. Did you find it Ylang-Ylang?" The player who adopts the name of the Ylang-Ylang tree at once answers that she has not found it; so the leader continues to ask the other trees whether the bird has hidden in them. If a player cannot answer at once after the third count, he is made to deposit a thing he owns with the leader until the leader has many things gathered from the members.

The penalty begins. Each one can only regain his belonging by reciting a prayer or a verse. Once a player has complied with the penalty, what he has deposited is returned to him. A variation of the penalty might be truth or consequence.
 

PATINTERO

Pronounced as: pah-tin-teh-roh

This is played by an even number of people, at least 4 people, but a good number would be 6 or 8 (the more the merrier-but it gets more difficult to win). You must also have enough space to play this game--it is basically an outdoor game. Select a relatively flat area. Now, the example below is for 8 players. Divide these players into 2 teams. The position for the first 4 "(d)efenders" are designated below. The patotot [pah-toh-tot] or middle man (d4) is optional....but it's more fun to have one.

                             d4
                      ________|________
                      |       |       |
                      |   B   |   B   |         B = home base/start
                 d1 --|-------+-------|-- d1        for attackers.
                      |       |       |                     
                      |       |       |                     
                 d2 --|-------+-------|-- d2                     
                      |       |       |                     
                      |       |       |                     
                 d3 --|-------+-------|-- d3                     
                      |   H   |   H   |                     
                      |       |       |         H = halfway zone
                      ~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~
                             d4

All the defending players can ONLY move along their own lines (say, 15 ft in length). Each of the defending players (ie. d1-d3) MUST be spaced far enough from each other so that an incoming "(a)ttacking" player will not be TAGGED from the front or behind him while staying idle (resting) in the middle of 2 defending players (even 3 if the middle man is there). Depending on the agreed rules, defending players can only step on their lines and may or may not be allowed to step out to reach an attacking player. The defender must of course have at least one foot on his own line to reach out and tag an attacker. (something like a catcher in baseball should have at least one foot on the base).

The basic GOAL of the game is: to get one OR as many as possible OR all of the attacking players until the Halfway area and back to Base. Once an attacking player is tagged by any of the defenders, he/she is out of the game. It is up to the players to decide what the definition of a score is. Also, if the attacking player goes out of bounds (outside the game area), he/she can be considered out as well. Attackers and defenders then change roles after a score OR a player is tagged-out, it depends on what is agreed upon before the start of the game.

Variations of the game: Once you have mastered the idea of the game, simply change the rules to whatever you like... one variation is when a single attacking player is tagged, defenders and attackers switch roles (ie. strike out for the whole team). Score can be maintained for how many were able to return to Base, OR how many were tagged-out.

Summary:

 Have fun.

PIKO

Pronounced as: pee-koh

Is similar to hopscotch.
 

SABUNGAN

Pronounced as: sa-bu-ngan

Also known as "cock-fighting". This is played usually by breeders and gamblers. Two champion roosters are matched against each other. They are usually armed with sharp steel blades on their legs. The battle is fought to the death. There are special arenas that hold sabungan matches.
 

SIPA

Pronounced as: see-pah

Uses a coin-like object (washer) with colorful threads attached to it. This is then kicked (sipa) into the air by the player as many times as he can without the "sipa" falling on the floor.
 

TAGUAN

Pronounced as: tah-gu-ahn

This is also known as hide-and-seek. As usual, an "it" is selected and while he counts out loud (ie. 1-30), eyes closed on a "home base", the rest of the players find a place to hide. Once the time is out, the "it" tries to find the other players. If one is spotted, the "it" shouts "boong ". The two ("it" and player) races to the home base to touch it (shouts: "save" upon touching home base).

The first player that loses the race, becomes the next "it". The "it" can then continue to find the others, but a new "it" is already guaranteed to replace him. The other players, if they find out, can continue to challenge "race" the "it" to the base without getting spotted or just give themselves up.
 

TAKIP SILIM

From: Sonny Dionida

Pronounced as: ta-keep see-leem

First, remove the breakables (e.g. glass table, vase, art collection, etc.)

There is no set limit to the number of players allowed. The more, the merrier, but the game is better played when the place is not overcrowded.

Set the boundaries. No hiding in closets, bathroom, oven, refrigerators, etc. And to make it easier for the IT, you could limit the boundary to just one room like the living room.

Close the windows, drapes or sun shades to make the room dark.

Choose who will be IT or volunteer to be one. The IT will be blind folded and turned around 3 or 4 times and let go. Everybody will run around the room and the IT will try to catch somebody. When the IT catches someone, he/she will try to guess who the person is. If the guess is wrong, the IT will have to let that person go and try to catch another person and make another guess.

Usually, the IT tries to cheat by lifting the blindfold so he/she can see where he/she is going or who's being chased. People who are being chased run around the room, stepping on couches, hiding under tables or behind the curtains, whatever to avoid being caught.

The game ends when everybody becomes exhausted from all the running around.

Variation: This can also be played outside preferably on level ground with no obstacles like trees or protruding roots on the ground, etc. Also, to make it easier for the IT and harder for the runners, the area of movement allowed the runners is limited to a drawn circle. If a runner steps out of the circle, the runner becomes the IT. Of course the IT won't know when runners are violating the rule since the IT is blindfolded so it is up to the other runners to be vigilant of each other & watch who is stepping out of the boundary.
 

TUMBANG PRESO

Pronounced as: tum-bahng preh-so

This is a relatively simple game. At least 3 players are needed, although the more, the merrier. First, select the "it" or the defender. Next, find a can, or something that can be knocked over easily from a distance. Position this can in the center of the game area (this will be it's home plate or base). The game is played as follows.

The "it" will defend the can from being knocked down. While it is in the upright position, the "it" can chase anyone and tag him/her. When a player is tagged, and the can is still in the upright position, that player becomes the new "it".

The rest of the players must then see to it that the can is always knocked down. The "it" of course can always put it back in the upright position. The rest of the players usually use their slippers to knock the can from a distance. Or if one gets close enough to the can without getting tagged, he can kick it and pick-up the rest of the "weapons" or slippers used. Of course, it is usually up to the other players to get their own "weapons" or slippers. For fairness, it would be nice if the players had only two slippers to knock down the can, no more than that. Once all the players are out of slippers, this would be a major opportunity for the "it" to chase everyone before the can is kicked. The can has to be positioned in a particular area of responsibility.

From: Eric A. Gutierrez [email protected]