Games We Played (The Thank You Chronicles: Jan 6)

Electronic games stunt one's mental acuity, not to mention the havoc they wreak on one's physical well-being: staying too long in front of a computer damages one's eyes.  Carpal tunnel syndrome becomes an inevitability. So does bad posture. And increased dependence on junk food.


At least, I had always thought so, until about ten or so years ago, when I was first introduced to the PlayStation, and the myriad games available for the choosing. Oh, that was the time when I could get glued to the controller for hours at a time. And not just on the arcade-type games like Bubble Breaker, or the somewhat nerdy ones like Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit (I like them as well -- sue me!). I surprisingly enjoyed playing RPGs (role-playing games) such as Suikoden!


PS3. PSP. Wii. DS-Lite. GameBoy. The kids of today have numerous choices in games, what with the variety of game boxes and hand-held devices available. Nothing better to do? Grab the PSP, choose a game, and get lost in the alternate worlds offered by RPGs.


When I was young and we got bored on a lethargic summer afternoon, we'd just call our neighborhood friends and engage in a series of games that involved slippers, bottle caps, a bit of chalk, and just running around the streets. The electronic games we were familiar with then were the Game & Watch hand-helds (remember the ubiquitous Parachute, Popeye, and Mickey Mouse games) and Atari games (Pac-Man's hungry mouth chomping away on the zombies around the maze).


Ahh, those were indeed the days.


The recent Metro Manila Film Fest entry "RPG: Metanoia" was supposedly the first Philippine 3D animation movie. I've yet to watch it, but I've heard that it's actually quite good, with the storyline resonating with the Filipino viewer, while the graphics are not to be looked down on either. Too bad the title seemed to have alienated some potential viewers who were not familiar with computer game lingo -- what the heck was RPG supposed to mean for them?


With this brief reminiscence about games, both graphics-based and good, old-fashioned sweat-producing ones, I'm happy that I was able to enjoy the carefree times of my youth, when times were good enough that we could play safely on the streets.

1. Patintero. Which child of the 80s does not know of this much-loved game? A piece of chalk or a clay pot shard, wide enough streets, and a rabble of youngsters with pent-up energy like geysers about to erupt are enough to kick-start the game. Kids who could run like the wind and with arm-spans like eagles were prized team-mates. The triumph of being able to go through several "guards" and reaching home base without being tagged was simply exhilarating.
2. Dr. Quack-Quack. No, this did not involve any form of imitation of ducks or any fowl. I'm unsure why it was called thus, but by golly, this was one of my favorite games ever! A whole host of kids tangling themselves up with one another: step between the arms of these two kids, go behind the others, turn around and go under the legs of another. These were the kinds of instructions the team leader spouted, at the end of which, "Dr. Quack-Quack" would then try to figure out a way to untangle the whole bunch. When the last kink was straightened out, it was a free-for-all race to the safe base! Hmm, even then I liked solving puzzles...
3. Football. We called it football, but it was a mixed-up version with baseball rules as well. There was a diamond-shaped playing field, with a ball being kicked instead of being batted. It was always a grat joy to see the result of one's kick go sailing off into the distance, while keeping fingers crossed that the opposing team would not catch it while you were still running around the bases.

Sure, there were scraped knees and shins, an assortment of bruises running the gamut from red to purple to yellowish green, nasty cuts and wounds, childish anger and huffy moods. But the experience of running around without a care, with like-minded friends, working out a good sweat and deciding which games to play next -- these were what we all looked forward to during weekends, vacations, even during ordinary evenings when the moon was full and shone forth with an enticing glow.


Technology has indeed grown exponentially, and most of the things we take for granted today like mobile phones, tablet computers, wireless Internet, and email were not even in our radar screens then. We now have a whole host of entertainment options at our fingertips -- convenient, on-demand, high-tech. But the games of my youth still have their own special charm that cannot be easily replicated.