My favorite childhood games
Twenty-some thirty-some years ago, growing up in the Philippines meant that I could play outdoors all the time. Especially on weekends and summer, my siblings and I hardly ever stay inside. So my childhood memories of games were those of patintero, chinese garter, and pretending to be superheroes – Voltes 5, Mazinger Z and Super Friends.
Patintero was a favorite of the neighborhood kids. We need at least 4 players to make it work, but more makes it really fun and challenging! Larongbata explains the mechanics of patintero, but the object is for your whole team to pass through all the enemy lines and go back to starting position.
Chinese garter was so popular that all the kids in school were doing this right after classes. I never was quite good at it, because I (still) can’t jump too high and hook the garter through.
Pretend-play is something that every child loves to do. Back when I was young my playmates and I loved to imitate the cartoon superheroes on television – Voltes 5 and Superfriends were our favorite. And of course, we had to sing the Voltes 5 theme song while we hunted down the enemies. I think there is still a cult following of this anime, which goes to show how hooked my generation was to this show! When we played Super Friends, there was always a clamor to get to be Wonder Woman, with the golden bracelet, crown and lasso!
Such fun! Now it’s your turn – what is/was your favorite childhood games?
5 Comments
Time really changes. When I was very small, I also used to like patintero a lot. Now, however, you’ll see a lot of kids inside computer shops, playing online games.
i really love patintero in those good old days.
We loved superheroes too…I think I always wanted to be Super Girl.
I love to play Bioman when i was young,,i remember,,despites of my brown color,,i quarreled my playmate because i want to be at the place of Pink 5which has a fair skin .They told me hey gelan u must be yellow 4 and i said no i want pink 5 otherwise i will not play hahahah!!verryy funnyy,,and we love playing this game at the beach or in the forest,,kicking,,shouting “Bioman” red one,,green 2,,blue 3,yellow 4 and pink 5,,
And also,,i love to play pinoy football..
[...] playing piko, patintero, luksong-tinik, tumbang preso and Chinese garter? These are some of the favorite street games that my neighborhood and classmates used to play. We used to play out on the middle of the streets [...]