Harang-taga

Perhaps one of the most common games here in the Philippines, harang-taga or popularly known as patintero. It is also referred to as "tubigan" for the reason that the land area where this game is held is often poured off of water to draw line demarcations.

There are two groups in this game, the group which will be the runners(bangon) and the other is the taggers(taya). The objective of the game, for runners, is to surpass all line demarcations from the starting area up to the end and back to starting area again without having tapped or touched by the taggers in order to get one home run or score. For the taggers, they should prevent their opponent to get back at the starting area and tap any of its members so that they can have their turn to be the runners. The game proper will start after the leaders of the two groups did the "Jack-en-Poy". Who wins will be the the runners and the other will be the taggers.

When  I was a kid, we often play this game at night (when the moon is shining brightly). We play this at the middle of a dusty parcel of land beside anybody's home. Running as fast as each of us could, shouting to irritate the taggers and making some tactics to get a home run. Simple tip to win the game? You should  be good in mocking up the taggers to surpass each of them.