Traditional Pilipino Game

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Palo Sebo (Greased Bamboo Climbing)

Palo Sebo or Palosebo (Greased Bamboo Climbing) is a traditional Filipino game that involves climbing a greased bamboo with ones bare hands and feet to get the flag atop of it. The player who reaches the top, gets the flag, and brings it back down to the ground, is declared the winner and will be given a prize. This game is usually played by two (2) or more boys during town fiestas and other celebrations in the provinces of the Philippines. It may use only one pole or multiple poles, and may be played individually or as a team
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Before the game starts, a long, straight and well-polished bamboo pole, with a small flag or bag at the top, is lavishly greased to make it very slippery. The pole is then set upright in an open area, commonly in town plazas, and then planted securely on the ground. Colorful strips of paper are attached to the pole to match the festivities. In most areas, a town brass band usually provides musical background on the event.

The participants are asked to gather around the bamboo pole to determine the order of climbers. The first climber will position himself at the foot of the pole, while other participants stand behind him and wait for their chance to show their individual climbing skills. At a given signal, the first participant will scamper up the pole, using only his bare hands and feet, to try and reach the flag as fast as he can.

In case the first climber fails or slides down to You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public dom the ground without the flag, he is immediately replaced by the player next to him. The game will continue until a player reaches the top of the pole, unties the flag, and reaches the ground with the flag on his hand. The declared winner will then be given a prize by the town officials or the organizers of the game
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public dom HISTORY
The more popular version of this Filipino game is the individual event, where only one bamboo pole is used and only contestant is declared winner. In some provinces, the palo sebo is played by using two or more bamboo poles where participants compete with each other by climbing simultaneously. This version is usually practiced in the northern parts of Luzon.

The palo sebo can also be played in teams, where three (3) to four (4) boys help one of their teammates reach the flag faster than the opposing team. The first team to reach the flag shall be declared winner. In case the entire team slides down the ground without the flag, a new team shall be organized until a winner is declared.

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You should hold the ball called holen in your hand then throw it to hit the players ball out of the playing area. Holen is called marble in USA. It is played a more precise way by tucking the marble with your 3rd finger, the thumb under the marble, the fourth finger used as to stable the marble. You aim at grouped marbles inside a circle and flick the marble from your fingers and anything you hit out of the circle is yours. Who ever got the most marbles win the game. You can also win the game by eliminating your opponent by aiming and hitting his marble. You have to be sharp shooter to be a winner.

Another version of this game requires three holes lined up in the ground with some distance. Each player tries to complete a circuit of travelling from the first hole to the second then third and back to the second again and finally back to the first hole. Players decide on where the starting line is and the distance between holes. The first to complete the circuit wins the game. They are also able to knock other player's holen(marble) away using theirs. Generally the distance between holes allows for several times of shooting to arrive at the next hole. The players next shoots from where the holen landed. The players take turns of who is shooting. A variant of this game needs players to requires their holen to pass back the starting line.

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Piko

'Piko' or buan-buan is the local equivalent of hopscotch, a playground game involving a diagram divided into sections, drawn on the ground with usually chalk or charcoal. Players hop from section to section. The game is for two to eight players.

Rules
The succession of turns is determined by aiming markers (usually a flat stone or a fruit peeling) at the center of the diagram. The player whose marker lands closest to the center will go first, followed by the second-closest, then the third-closest, and so on.
The diagram varies. Usually, the more players there are, the more complex the diagram and the sections are numbered or labeled to indicate the correct order in which the players are to hop. The first player starts by throwing his marker at the initial section. He then hops onto the section and kicks his marker to the next designated section. The player continues this process until he gets to the final section. Some games require the player to retrace his hops back to the start or for players to hop across other players' paths. At any time a player's marker touches a line, or when any part of his body touches a line, he surrenders the turn to the next player. The first player to complete the diagram wins.
Some games have another part after the first, apparently to extend playing time. This part has the players looking towards the sky then throwing his marker on the diagram. Without looking, he must walk across the diagram to fetch his marker without touching any lines. This stage is intentionally more difficult to give the other players a chance to catch up.

Penalty

The game penalizes losers with the same choice of punishments shared by many street games, such as putting powder, liptick, or charcoal on the losers' faces, slapping the palms of the losers, or having the player who performed the worst look for his marker after the others have hidden it.

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Luksong-Baka

Luksong-Baka (lit. jump over the cow) is a popular variation of luksong-tinik. One player crouches while the other players jump over him/her. The crouching player gradually stands up as the game progresses, making it harder for the other players to jump over him/her. A person becomes the "it" when they touch the 'baka' as they jump. It will repeat again and again until the players declare the player or until the players decide to stop the game. It is the Filipino version of leap frog.

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Luksong tinik

'Luksong tinik is a children's game usually played in backyards and playgrounds. It involves jumping over a fence made from the other players' hands and feet. The game requires at least three players.

Etymology

The game's name comes from the Tagalog words lukso, meaning “jump”, and tinik, meaning “thorns”. The imagery of thorns is evoked by the players' hands and feet, which are vertically arrayed, end-to-end, with fingers splayed.

Setup

Two players are assigned to serve as the fence over which the other players will jump over. These two form a base by placing the soles of their feet together, A distance from the fence is then designated for the jumping players as a runway. In some games, the best jumper is designated as a “mother”.
Initially, the players who will act as the fence are determined randomly with a coin toss or jack-en-poy (rock-paper-scissors)

Rules

The players are to jump over the fence without touching it. As each round is cleared, the fence gets higher as a hand is added. This continues until the players who act as the fence run out of hands and feet to add. If any part of a jumping player's body or clothing touches the fence, that player is out. In variants of the game with a designated “mother”, that player has a chance to save a failed jumper by attempting the jump herself. If she fails, the game resets with the failed jumpers forming the fence.

Consequences

Apart from playing as the fence in the following game, the failed jumpers can also be asked to play a round of “truth or consequence”, giving them a choice to answer a question honestly or undergo a task given by the other players. These questions and tasks are usually harmless but embarrassing, such as revealing who one is infatuated to or rolling in the dirt.
'Luksong tinik is a children's game usually played in backyards and playgrounds. It involves jumping over a fence made from the other players' hands and feet. The game requires at least three players.
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Patintero

Patintero, also called Harangang Taga or Tubigan (in English try to cross my line without letting me touch or catch you) - There are two teams playing: an attack team and a defense team; with five (5) players for each team. The attack team must try to run along the perpendicular lines from the home-base to the back-end, and return without being tagged by the defence players.

Members of the defense team are called it, and must stand on the water lines(also "fire lines") with both feet each time they try to tag attacking players. The player at the center line is called "Patotot". The perpendicular line in the middle allows the it designated on that line to intersect the lines occupied by the it that the parallel line intersects, thus increasing the chances of the runners to be trapped, even only one(1) member of a group is tagged the whole group will be the "it". In some instances, the tagged players are blamed and bullied.

Patintero is one of the most popular Filipino street games.
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Tumbang preso

Tumbang preso or Presohan in the Luzon, or Tumba-Lata in most Visayan regions (in English Hit The Can). This also one of the popular Filipino street games played by children using their slippers to hit a tin can at the center.

Like other Filipino traditional games, members take the following roles: one as the “taya” (it), someone who takes the role of a-player-at-stake and holds the responsibility of the Lata (tin can), and; the two others as the players striking. The game is performed by having the players use a “pamato” (which is one's own slipper) to strike the tin that is held beside the taya.

As to how the game cycles, the taya, is obliged to catch another player to take over his position of running after the tin that keeps from throwing away by the strikes of the players. Nevertheless, the taya is only privileged to do so only if the player is holding on his way a pamato and when the tin is on its upright position. Hence, running after another player is keeping an eye to the tin can’s position. As for the players, they have their whole time striking the tin can and running away from the taya keeping themselves safe with their pamato since making the tin fell down helps another player from recovering. Instance like having everyone had their turns over is one big climax of the game that leads them to panic since case is that taya has all his rights to capture whether the player have a hold of their pamato or not.

However, mechanics also give each side privileges. With the roadway or streets as the area being performed, the taya take its place on one side held its tin centered on the ground while on the other end is bound by a line that limits the player when throwing. Breaking rules to the players give way for the taya to have his overturn, like: stepping on or outside the boundary line when throwing; kicking the tin; striking the tin without having oneself reaching the line; or even touching it.

In other versions, especially those in Visayan regions and Southern Luzon, is of complexity for the part of the taya. The latter has to make the tin can stand upright together with its own “pamato” on the top of it which also adds up to the mechanics of the game. The tendency is that even when the taya has already made everything stood up but when the slipper will fall from the tin, he is not allowed catching anybody unless he hurriedly put it back to its position.

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