Before the advent of video games, smartphones, and tablets, boys and girls used to play outside with their friends. Children didn’t need fancy and expensive gadgets to have fun. For most games, all you needed were a few friends – if you did need some equipment, it was mostly things found outside, around the house, or were relatively inexpensive (if you needed to purchase them).
From the basics, like habulan, patintero, or tumbang preso, there’s a lot of traditional games Filipino children from around the country play. Nowadays, it seems like only the titos and titas are the only ones who remember these classic games and how to play them.
This is a series I’d like to call Games Children No Longer Play. Join me in this trip down memory lane, where we talk about the different Filipino games that are near and dear to my heart, with rules on how we used to play them in our part of the Philippines.
I have also used Google AI to generate the pictures for these articles.
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Every summer, during the time when video games, computers, and iPads were still a rarity, it was not uncommon to see children and even teens nursing bruised or swollen hands. They did not get it from fighting, nor were they involved in any kind of accidents. These bruised and swollen hands were the result of an intense game of Syatong.
Syatong may be a very simple game, but it is also one of the most intense. Nobody wants to lose, so players would do everything they can to win. Getting hurt is a price they are willing to pay to own the day’s bragging rights.
The game is played by two teams or individuals using two sticks — a longer one (2 to 2.5 feet long) and a shorter one called a balinsasayaw (about 3 to 6 inches long).
Before the game begins, both teams or players decide the number of points they have to score to win. The first one to reach the predetermined points wins.
To play the game, a small, shallow ditch is dug on the ground. This will serve as a launching point. The longer stick will serve as the lever that will catapult the smaller stick to the farthest distance that the player can. The opposing team will try to catch the smaller stick. If they catch it, the opponent loses a turn. If they fail to catch it, the player will get a chance to score.
There are two ways to score. The first one is to hit the balinsasayaw and drive it as far as you can from the ditch. If you hit it once, you use the longer stick as a yardstick to measure the distance. One yardstick equals one point. If you hit the balinsasayaw twice before driving it, then you use the shorter stick as a yardstick. One yardstick equals one point.
The player also gets another chance to add to his score. This is done by propping the balinsasayaw on the ditch and hitting it with the longer stick. The player once again has to drive the shorter stick as far as he can. The score is determined using the same measurement mentioned above.
At the end of the game, the losing team will have to endure a punishment. Each team member will take turns hitting balinsasayaw as far as they can. The losing team will then have to run the distance while shouting “syatong” in one single breath.
The game can get a little intense as kids can be overly competitive since nobody wants to lose. But no matter who wins, at the end of the day, everybody goes home laughing and happy.
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For the bona fide titos and titas out there – did you play this game in your youth? Maybe it was called something else, with a whole set of different rules? Let us know in the comments below, and let’s talk about it!