Paro: A Bohol Town’s Top Game

DID you ever see or hear a top played like bowling?

In West Poblacion, Garcia-Hernandez, Bohol, a top (trompo) game called paro is played and is a well-loved sports especially in Sitio Bitaugan. This barangay sponsors tournaments every April 27, the feast day of the Mother of Perpetual Help and during Christmas. The local government of Garcia-Hernandez also sponsors tournament especially during summer coinciding the foundation anniversary of the town.

Long before I was born, the string-wound top was already a favorite toy of my elders. This koti, as we locally call it, is an improvised version of the kasing, which until now no one knows its origin.

According to my Lolo Enrique, before World War II erupted, playing kasing was their entertainment with a little betting, which Manong Emong Abucejo usually sponsored.

At that time, village folks were crazy of the game. Because of the popularity of the game, cockfighting aficionados no longer went to the cockpit arena on Sundays. Cockpit owners protested and the game and betting in kasing were stopped.

After the controversy, Alipio Ranoco made what is now known as koti. This copycat of the kasing has no sharp point; instead it has a head. It is made of the bark of a guava tree and it is larger than it predecessor.

The koti Ranoco made was duplicated. It became an alternative toy for the young and adults in the barangay.

Koti players later on invented paro, whose objective is to earn points by hitting the stationary top using another top. After its invention, the game became popular and spread to the neighboring barangay and to the whole town. Barangay and town officials saw the uniqueness of the game. They joined hands to develop and popularize the newfound game, and sponsored tournaments throughout the past years.

How to Play Paro
In a paro game, two opposing team play in five innings. Every team has eight to more that ten throwers, who bring their own top to the game. In every inning, only eight throwers are allowed to throw their top and vice versa. The objective of the game is to hit as many tops as much as possible in five innings.

Before the game starts, a referee will toss a coin to determine who will be the first team to throw. On the other hand, the opposing team who will not throw will put their tops on the cemented floor in a straight line called the top line. The top line, where tops are spaced evenly, is almost 30 meters away from the foul line or the thrower’s line.

An announcer will then call the name of the thrower before he can throw his top. The player earns points when his top hits the opposing top, respective of how many tops it hits. As a bonus, the referee will give back his top and he can throw it again until he fails to hit a top in the top line.

In the game, a thrower will not earn points in the following circumstances:

• When his top did not spin while standing on the floor after it hit the opponent’s top
  
• When the top goes back to the top line after it pass and comeback towards its path
  
• When the top stops after hitting another top
  
• When the top hit a wall or an object and bounces back and hit another top
  
• When the thrower steps on the foul line while throwing his top
  

After five innings, the team that garners the highest points wins the game.

If after five innings they are tied, the competing teams will play another inning until the highest pointers emerge as winners.

A paro tournament gives an alternative entertainment for the young and old alike in the barangay and to the whole town. As a physical activity, it needs certain exercise of concentration in throwing the top.

As one onlooker says, "There’s no other top game that gives thrill and excitement to the players and audience alike than the paro tournament."


(This article was published in Philippine Panorama, March 21, 1999. Today, the koti used in paro tournament is made of ipil-ipil bark. Though, many prefer to use jackfruit bark for its lightness. The biggest koti used to play in a paro game now weights almost a kilo.)