If you grew up in the 80s, you are probably familiar with turumpo. Trumpo or turumpo is a game that 80s kids can play in their backyards. Turumpo is made of wood. It is skillfully designed to have a perfect sphere shape on top and a perfect conic shape at the bottom. A nail is attached in the middle of the conic (bottom part).
Size and Strength
The size of turumpo doesn’t matter but its strength matters to most players. A turumpo can be as small as 4cm in height up to 6cms. The length of the nail at the bottom can also go as long as 4cm.
For strength, the guava tree is used often used. The guava tree is known for its hardness and durability. Since one of the best games involving turumpo involves damaging your opponent’s turumpo, its strength matters. If guava tree is not available, turumpo is also made from tamarind (Sampaloc) or ipil-ipil tree.
How to Play Turumpo
To play, you will need a turumpo and a thread. This thread is called ‘tyate’. It comes with a bottle cap on one end. The cap serves are your stopper (as to when to stop twirling).
First, twirl your thread around your trumpo, starting from the top. Once properly twirled around the trumpo, release your trumpo from the twirl, into the ground. Your trumpo should hit the ground with the nail first while spinning.
Note: playing a turumpo is easier read than done. Trust me, I tried playing this game before, and learning to twirl the thread alone takes time. Releasing the turumpo is also tricky because you need to learn how to control your throw for the nail to land first. This will ensure that the turumpo will spin smoothly.
Playing Turumpo
There are two popular ways of playing turumpo. First, the last turumpo spinning, and second the last turumpo standing.
Last Turumpo Spinning
The last turumpo spinning is simple. It is basically about who will have the turumpo with the longest spin. You can play it as a group, release your turumpo at the same time and wait for the last turumpo to stop spinning. The last one wins.
Last Turumpo Standing
This can be played as a group as well. First, you will have to identify who will be the ‘taya’ or the ‘offering’. The last turumpo spinning game can be used in choosing the offering (it will be the first turumpo to stop though). Once the offering is chosen, the offering’s turumpo will be placed inside a circle and the group will a few meters away from the circle.
The team will now start to hit the offering’s turumpo with their turumpo’s nail. The goal is to make as much damage as possible to the offering’s turumpo. Once everyone is done hitting the offering’s turumpo, the group will again choose who will be the next offering.
Note: the rules involving these games change from time to time, depending on the players. However, the mission remains the same – either to be the last turumpo spinning or last turumpo standing.