Better than Sudoku.

Toyz was not doing crosswords although the booklets were blended with the glossy magazines. So I finished them all.

Then when I ran out of crossword puzzles and sudokus to solve, I hied to National Bookstore to purchase more. I promised myself to buy thicker booklets on my next trip to Canada.

This weekend past, we drove to Bulacan to visit an ailing relative and played mahjong with some "hustlers." I was posing as a "miron," because I've forgotten how to play the game; in the first place, I never really played mahjong as an ace, but only as a tyro.

I first sat at a mahjong table in the 80's, and as I was learning the basics of the game, it was time to work in the U.S. I was able to play some mahjong there because the family I lived with in Jersey City, them young fellows, were all mahjong babies. There was even a time when I played mahjong in Queens, New York when a cousin from Manila visited. This cousin and the hubby of another cousin were all pros and I lost big time.

Then last April when we vacationed in Baguio, mahjong became a part of killing time, this time with my sisters and her pals. Pros as they were and "toddlers" as we were, they taught us some strategies of winning.

Back in Bulacan, I decided to play on my own. The stakes were low, so I took time to polish my sword. Little by little, I went for some "ambisyon," and won some.

Now back in Manila, we started to further hone our games. Toyz set up the table yesterday morning and we played till early afternoon. Today, we're back at the table.

I'm not abandoning my puzzles and sudoku, though. These are my brain teasers, plus this mahjong.

Tumbang Preso.

LEFT - Some schools try to revive and include "tumbang preso" in their sports curriculum.

When we were kids we played a game called "tumbang preso."  

The object of the game was to tag opponents so that they wouldn't be able to get to the home plate where a tin can stood and guarded by the IT, or

defender.  The opponents used  "pamatos" (stone, slippers, piece of wood, etc) to knock down the tin can.  If a player had been tagged by the "IT," (defender) while the tin can was still upright, he became the new IT.

My team, composed of older siblings, competed against the team composed of our second cousins. When our playtime extended beyond the "oracion," or Angelus, or when one of my cousins had been summoned by our Lola or Tia and didn't answer the call, my cousins would all get a "palo," or belt whipping, while our Team watched in fear. 

Children's games played physically were in abundance during my childhood.  Now, kids play bad guy, good guy, warrior, etc using two hands, either on a  PSP or a Nintendo. 

At parties, grown ups play parlour games.  Pictionary and Charade are the more popular ones. 

In social networks, young and adults play FarmVille.

In other settings, people play games to spice up drab lives.  Housewives hide from husbands, using spas or dermatological clinics as hideaways while husbands use the team-building meeting as excuse to hop into a karaoke bar or a date with the extra missus. 

Some lovers-to-be play the hard-to-get game, or create intricate maze. But the object of the game is to still get into the lover's arms. 

The sorry game playing now is the blame game over the Quirino Grandstand hostage taking.

Finally, it's open season - new season for football, hockey, television. I love that very much.