The Games We Played as Kids: Indoor Games Throwback Part III
Here are the final list of games under indoor category.
1. "I love you"
Many players could play this slipper game. The "it" which will be decided by either Ompyang, Jack-en-Poy, or Bunutan will turn his back from the players. He will throw the slipper backwards like that of the tossing of the bouquet in a wedding. The other players at the back will catch the slipper.
The goal of the game is to catch the slipper thrown. If the slipper is caught, the players will shout "I". The act will be repeated until the words "love" and "you" are screamed. If the slipper is caught until "you" is reached, the "it" will not be replaced or he can be punished. Otherwise if the players were not able to catch the slipper, they will stop on their final position (on the act of catching the slipper) and will not move. (Do you know stop-dance? It's something like that except there is no music.) Nobody should move even an inch. Anyone caught moving will replace the "it" and the game will start all over again. This game could also be played outside.
2. Jackstone
This game is usually played by girls. We played it much different from the traditional Jackstone of Koreans. If Koreans uses 5 stones, we used 10. The minimum players are 2 while the maximum can be 4. The order of who'll go first is decided by the throwing the stones in the air and catching them using the back of the hand. The one who gets the most number of stones will go first.
Rules can be discussed before the start of the game such as:
- The number of acts to be done (can be 10, 15 or 20) before earning a baboy (Translates to pig which is the price after finishing the acts and will be taken from the stones of the game).
- The player is out if stones that aren't supposed to be touched are touched.
- Follow the leader. (Whoever advances first after the 10th move will decide what act is to be done for the rest of the game.)
The goal of the game is to execute the acts without failure and to collect all the baboy as much as one can. The one who has the most baboy wins. The game is played by tossing the ball in the air then, letting it bounce once only. By the time the ball bounces, the player should collect the stones in his hand depending on the number he is in and catch the ball before it bounces for the second time. For example, he's in stage 1, then he is supposed to collect the 10 stones one by one. If he's in stage 5, he should gather the stones by five. After stage 10, tricks on how to collect the stones is devised.
The Jackstone is sold to us before for P 10. This one is the best because the stones are light and the ball bounces well. If we can't afford it, we improvise by using jolens (marbles) and real stones particularly the pebbles.
3. Pick-Up Sticks
This fun game is for the whole family. Anyone can play it except maybe for toddlers. These sticks are available online; however, when we were little we just use a stick from the broom and break it into pieces of same length. Our broom in the Philippines is made up of coconut leaf stick. We would also cut a longer one for picking up the sticks.
The goal of the game is to remove sticks from a pile one by one without moving the others. Many players can join in as long as there are also a lot of sticks. The player who moves other sticks that are not being picked loses his turn. On the other hand, the player who successfully isolates a stick from the pile without moving the others earns another turn. Lastly, the player who gets the most number of sticks is the winner.
The pick-up stick online or in toy shops may be different. They have designated points for each colored stick and sometimes doesn't use a master stick for picking up the other sticks. They just pick up the sticks using their hands. This is the pick up stick that I haven't tried.
4. Card Games
These are the games that I still play until now because they are not actually for children. I learned how to play cards when I was in elementary. I learned to play Tongits, Lucky 9, Pusoy Dos, Unggoy-unggoyan and Pares-pares. I also learned how to play solitaires such as Klondike Solitaire, Pyramid Solitaire or commonly known as Solitaire 13, and the solitaire which collects the 4 suits of a digit before the King is collected.
I play this not only with my cousins and classmates but with my family as well. It wasn't encouraged much to be played inside the house because as my parents often say, "Never gamble." I only play card games for fun but if money is involved, I immediately leave the table.
When I went to college, I learned more card games such as In-between, Pusoy-All-the-Way, King's Cup, Chena, 'Go, Fish!' and Bullsh*t. We also played other card games such as Uno Cards and Magic. Now, this card games are usually played when drinking.
Lots of love 💗
I only played the card games, not really familiar with the rest of them, I guess they were just not a thing where I'm from, or it's just me haha
We all have weird games. And different versions depending on the region. 😊 I'm just glad I was able to experience these games before gadgets and technology take over.