ASEAN Hive Community Challenge #71: Traditional Games (Games from my Childhood Days)

Hey friends!
I was sick for the past couple of days, so I didn't really feel like writing anything. I've fully recovered now, so I'm back to participate in yet another challenge. For this week's ASEAN Hive Community Challenge #71, we are tasked to write about the traditional games unique in our country.

Actually, I'm not sure if the games I'm about to talk about are unique or whether some of them are also played in other countries or not. There might be a similar game or the same game but with a different name.

For this challenge, I dug through my old photo albums to check if I have some photos and luckily I found some. They're mostly party games or those we played at school. LET'S START!!!

This is called PUKPOK PALAYOK or 'Hit the Pot' in English. This is often done in parties during my childhood days. I'm not sure if people still play it, but we enjoyed this a lot. Inside the pots are candies, chocolates, coins and many other things.

One person is blindfolded and turned several times... then, they'd need to break the pot by hitting it until all the things inside would fall down. All the other kids would then rush and gather as much as they can.

The little girl wearing shorts is me. hahaha

This was taken during my sixth birthday (I think?). We invited my friends from the preparatory class as well as my cousins to have a kid's party at home. This was in the basketball court near our house back then. :)

Can you find me in this photo? haha

I don't know the exact name of this game, but my older cousin was demonstrating it in this photo. It's a game played by group. The player would put a book on top of their head, then walk/run to one end and back. If the book fell, they'd go back from the starting point. If they succeed, they'd pass it to the next player who would also do the same. It's a simple, but very fun party game.

That's me in the silver dress... haha

This game is called PLANTING RICE. It's a team game just like the previous one I've introduced. Basically, some soda bottles are placed like in the photo and the players would carry some straws.

From the starting point, we need to put one straw in each bottle (planting rice)... and when we're on our way back, we need to get the straw from the bottles (harvesting rice) and pass all the straws to the next player, until every member has done the same thing. The fastest team wins! :)


There are a lot of games I and my cousins used to play when we were young. We did patintero, shatung, a bunch of slipper games, luksong tinik, luksong baka, and a whole lot more. It's sad that I don't have a lot of pictures when we played them, but it was so fun. I miss the days when kids stay outside to play and enjoy under the sun and under the moonlight. I was trying to find a certain photo where my cousins and I were playing outside at night, but I couldn't find it. T_T

Anyway, here are some bonus photos...

Obviously, this isn't only a Filipino thing, but I was quite good at it as a child. I wonder if I still now how to do it now. haha

It's me and my childhood friend. We were playing Chinese garter. It's supposed to be played in teams, but since there were only two of us, we just tied it in the chair and took turns jumping over it. I miss this human... when I went back to the countryside in high school, we became classmates for a year... and he's more feminine than I am. haha Well, perhaps you can already sense in the photo, I'm the tomboy one. ;)

This one is called NEWSPAPER DANCE. Do you play it in your country as well?

In case you don't, we play it by dancing outside the paper when the music is played. When the music stops, we have to get on the paper. If we pass one round, the paper is then folded. No part of your body/foot should ever touch outside the paper... so we ideally carry our partners and keep our balance.

Anyway, that's about it. I hope I was able to share some interesting games I've played in my childhood. These are the only ones I could document. It would have been awesome to keep more photos from back then... oh well, it's the memory that counts! <3

Thanks for checking and see you next time! (^^,)/