The Games of Bacolod and Silay

Life in Bacolod and Silay cannot be told in its entirety without the passion and humor that come with the stories of panggingge and mahjong. Panggingge, a game using tarot cards, introduced by the Spanish in the Philippines in the late 1800s, is no longer played. What people can remember is how it affected their forebears. Historian Roque Hofilena reminisced that he was born in the middle of a panggingge game that his mother refused to abandon.

Mahjong, introduced sometime in the 1960s, took over where panggingge left off and is firmly entrenched in Philippine society today. Although other forms of gambling such as monte, poker, blackjack, and baccarat took hold after the war, mahjong is still the game of choice for many Filipinos. Beneath its simple-sounding rules lies a daunting world of mind games. A master mahjongera or mahjongero can smell fear and can detect the slightest hesitation, wobble, indecision, or for that matter, any sense of satisfaction with one’s cards.