Traditional Game Guide: Teks/Tex

Version (1.0)

Note: We'll make Tex the canon spelling for this game in this blog. Rules written here are only from the Parañaque style of playing and do not reflect all playing regions. This is by no means the final version. If you have anything to add, change, or mock, leave a comment. :)

Tex, or Teks is basically a cardgame that serves as an early introduction to gambling for kids. In this game, kids place their playing cards as bets against each other in a semi-complicated heads or tails game using the cards.

Equipment:
The only thing required to play this game are playing cards, preferrably as much as you have, if possible stored in SkyFlakes tin cans or plastic bags. Cards used for the game range from roughboard cutouts depicting Tagalog movies in comics format to amazingly accurate reproductions of SkyBox Marvel/DC cards. Important factor is that the players should be using the same series of cards for fair gameplay (or something like that)

Players:
Number of players is 2-3 people. You can play this game alone, but everybody will agree, doing so will be pretty fucking retarded. Nobody plays pokers alone. That's why we have solitaire. Also, masturbation. Anyway, in the event only 2 players are available, a pananggulo card is added, to be given by any of the players (more of this later).

Premise:
While the cards played for the game are always different,the logic of the game is pretty much the same always. The game is divided into rounds. Each round has two phases: Bet phase (tayaan), Game phase (tirahan). For every round, there will be a winner of the game phase and whoever wins the game phase, he takes charge of the next game phase (card handling etc).

Every player will have a card called a "pamato". This card will serve as representative of his entry into the game. Usually a pamato is chosen by some ad hoc force that dictates that some cards are luckier than other cards. Panday #1 of the "Filipino movies" series is said to be one of the luckiest cards ever (though it wasn't lucky enough to warrant FPJ who was depicted in that card to win Presidency. Also, he's dead.) A player can have more than one pamato but he can only have one at play at a time, which he can switch by saying "palit pato".

Bet Phase details:

Counting in Teks is slightly different from how we count in school. In teks, cards are counted in twos. Here's a basic rundown of the count system.

1 card - Cha
2 cards - I-sa
3 cards - I-sa Cha
4 cards - Da-la-wa
5 cards - Da-la-wa Cha

When counting cards, the count is chanted while leafing through the cards with the thumb. (e.g. "I-sa, da-la-wa, tat-lo cha~!) Using this count system, a player sets a bet. The betmaker is sometimes the losing one, sometimes whoever lost the previous round. The betting is actually more of arbitrary, so whoever feels like it can just set the bet. As long as everybody is agreeing, it's all good.

A player can always protest the amount of cards being played. As a rule of thumb, no bet can be larger than the stash of the player with the smallest number of cards.

When the bets get bigger however, it would be retarded to still use the dual count system. (Dalwandaan-Dalwampu't-Pito Cha sounds fucking stupid and it'll take forever to count). This is where "dangkalan" sets in.

In Dangkalan, bets are made by stacking cards against one another to ensure they are equal. Cardcounts usually miss by one or two but when you're dealing with hundreds, those really dont matter much anyway.

protip: Dangkalan is a very quick way to lose (or gain) a lot of fucking cards (and street cred)

Game Phase details:

Winner of the last round will throw the cards in the air. After landing, the cards are either smooth side up (cha) or smooth side down (chob). The owner of the card that's in a different positon wins. In the case nobody is different, cards are recast. For the case of two players, if the pananggulo (third card nobody is using) is the odd one out, cards are recast.

"Tira" is the term used to describe the way the cards are cast. Every "pamato" has a theoretical "tira" that will increase its chances of winning. Don't ask about the logic of that, it just works that way. Also there are some "pananggulo" that almost always appears opposite of certain "pamato". These cards are combo cards, which players should be wary of when selecting pananggulo.

There are different types of "tira". The only commonality of them is that the cards should be spinning at least half the time they are airborne. Here are some of the variations:

Click - a very short and weak throw that lands the cards no higher than a child's waist and no further than half a feet away from the thrower.

Haba - a strong throw that lands the cards more than a feet away from the thrower with a vertical projectile path height no higher than the caster's height.

Taas - a strong throw that lands the cards no further then half a feet away from the thrower but is designed to make the cards fly much higher than the caster' height.

Click-Haba - a moderately strong throw that lowers the vertical projectile height of the tirang haba.

Taas Haba - you probably get what I mean by now

Classic - Cards are thrown the way Two-face of batman would a coin. Pretty cool, but overall, fucking pointless.

Plasta - when a tira goes wrong, cards dont spin. They just go randomly in the air. That also means the caster fucked up. Players can call this a bad shot and the cards can be recast if moot is achieved.

"Pektus" can also be added to a "tira". A pektus will cause the cards to spin in a different direction. Practitioners insist control of this can increase chances of winning.

At the end of the game phase, a winner will be declared and he will get all the best for that round. Next round, the winner will be the one to cast cards.

End Game:

The rounds are usually played over and over. Game ends when a player quits by saying "ayawan na", runs the fuck away, or loses all of his cards (also known as the state of "Tubol"). At the end of the game, it is only courteous for the victor to either give away "balato" (think of it as partial gifts to whoever significant is watching, or to the losing parties) or a "paagaw". A paagaw is when a player throws away part of the winnings for the spectators to scramble on.


---
Other Terms:

Palagong pepot - the phenomenon of starting out with just one card and ending up with a truckload of cards after a series of amazingly lucky games.

Shoot - term when placing a bet that means you're placing a bet equal to whatever the opponent has remaining.

Shoot pati pato - term when placing a bet that means you're placing a bet equal to whatever the opponent has remaining, plus the card included in the throwing roster. Usually pamato's are valued, so including them in bets add pressure to the gameplay.

Shoot pati pato, pananggulo, at nanay mo - Same as above, but in most cases, the mother of the opponent will not be included in the bet, and is mentioned for the sake of fucking around with the opponent.

Bakas(pronounced Baa-kas)/Ansi/Asi - Request by a non-player to add some of his cards to the bet (usually smaller than the actual bet) and then get part of the winnings in case he wins. I believe the formal gambling term for this is "riding".

"Shoot-chumiyayob-amen", "cha-chub! ak-kEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!" - chants usually said by a player to increase his chances of winning. I think they're supposed to invoke favor of the god of teks. If ever there is one, he's very lazy because nothing ever happens.

--------------------------
--------------------------
Term requests:

Ive forgotten what you call dilapidated cards. They're usually banned from games as they are hard to throw and look hella ugly. Does anybody remember the term?