Taksi is a local game which can be likened to ten pin bowling (“bowling” for short). Whereas bowling needs a bowling lane, taksi needs only a dry and solid ground; whereas bowling needs ten pins and a special ball to knock the pins out, taksi needs only coins and a cue coin with which to take the bets off. Needless to say, taksi  requires much lesser space than the area used for bowling.

The players agree on the value of the coin bet, draw a square on the ground, place the bets at the center of the square, draw a big letter “H” with a long horizontal but with shorter vertical lines few feet away from the square. Each player stands as near as the bets and toss the cue coin to the letter “H”. The player who can land his cue coin (ball) at or nearest to the center of the vertical line of the H will start the game by throwing at the bets in the square to remove  at least one coin (pin) out of it. The act of successfully removing a bet (pin) from inside to outside the square with the use of a cue coin (ball) is called “punggit”. The usual rule is, when a player shoots out a bet from the square at the start of the game, he gets all the bets. Game over for that set. The players would again put bets on the square and start the same process.

The player who starts the game aims to punggit the bet. The next players have the option to either punggit the bet or hit the first player’s cue coin to eliminate him from the game.

When the second player, for example hit’s the first player’s cue coin, the 2nd player eliminates the first player, removes the 1st player’s bet, and starts punggit-ing the bets even before other players have not started yet. This time, the second player can get close to the square and therefore has a more accurate shot at the bets, and the freedom to choose whichever direction he wants his cue coin to go to. Players however may agree on the rule that each player may only approach the square and attack the bets from the direction of his cue coin.

Any player may not aim at the bets in the square or at the other players’ cue coin. Instead, he may toss his cue coin in a spot where the cue coin of a player who could not hit and remove the bet from the square would go.

Like any other game, taksi needs accuracy and planning. Because it is a game played by children who cut classes, or by drop-outs, taksi has become associated with them and earned its notoriety as such. But as taksi become known it will also someday have the respect it deserves. Like Billiards. Before Efren “Bata” Reyes, it used to be a game played only in stalls inside wet markets.