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Traditional games in the Philippines


Traditional Filipino Games or Indigenous games in the Philippines (Tagalog: Laro ng Lahi) are games commonly played by children, usually using native materials or instruments. In the Philippines, due to limited resources of toys of Filipino children, they usually come up on inventing games without the need of anything but the players themselves. Their flexibility to think and act makes their games interesting and challenging.

The Indigenous games or Laro ng Lahi was coined and popularized by the Samahang Makasining (Artist Club), Inc. (commonly known "Makasining") with the help of National Commission for Culture and the Arts and being used by the other Philippine Local Government Unit, other organizations and other institution. Imparting of these Filipino games to the youth is one of the main objectives of the organization. The Makasining also created time based scoring for five (5) selected games (Patintero, Syatong, Dama, Lusalos and Holen).

Dickie Aguado, Executive Director of Magna Kultura Foundation (a Philippine NGO for Arts and Culture), confirms that the Traditional Filipino Games are "very much alive in the Philippines". It is not true that the Filipino Street Games are no longer played, as some would say that it has vanished in Philippine society in the age of computers and technology. In many urban and rural areas, a great majority of Filipino children still play outdoor street games as most of them are still unable to own expensive technology. Games such as Patintero, Tumbang Preso, Piko, Sipa, Turumpo, and many others, are still played daily in the neighborhood. One of the main reason why some children stop playing the Filipino games is because Western sports activities (i.e., basketball or volleyball) are more prominently organized in local Barangays and in schools. With lack of organized sports activities for Filipino street games, children can only move on leaving the games of their childhood in the streets.

There are over thirty-eight (38) known Filipino games, and many of these are as challenging and competitive as Western games. A non-exhaustive list of Traditional Filipino Games include the following:


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