Tapatan; a game from the Philippines

Tapatan is a simple game that people in the Philippines play. Although beautiful wooden boards can be found there, other families have the board marked on the doorsteps of their homes. Usually the game pieces are round wooden counters made of dark and light wood. We drew our board on some cardstock and used some of our Othello pieces for the game. We found the rules for how to play in Math Games & Activities from Around the World.

To Play the Game:
Players take turns placing their pieces on the game board. Once they are placed, they move the pieces along a line to the next empty point. Jumping over a piece is not allowed. Players continue taking turns. The winner is the first player to make a row of three counters in their color. A row can be made horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

My youngest has some trouble seeing things diagonally. We first noticed it when we played Othello and again in this game, so we decided that we might practice that skill with some Tic-Tac-Toe. I kept playing, trying to force him to make three-in-a-row diagonally. After several games he became a little better at seeing them.

Then this book tied in nicely and is a reader at his level. It has interesting game variations in the back.