The games of Juan (not) Tamad

MANILA, Philippines – Juan Tamad’s lazy ways are legendary, but they have lost their reach these past few years.

Today’s generation of tech-savvy, cartoon-bombarded, superhero-admiring children won’t recognize him nor the tales about him, unless the stories about him are included in the class curriculum.

Like many Filipino traditions, folk stories have been disappearing quickly as the wonders of the 21st century besiege the media from all directions.

For Teddy Catuira and his business partner Sandy Lichauco, the near-forgotten Filipino ways are worth keeping.

More so, they’re worth updating. 

Relevance, after all, is a matter of context.

Reintroducing Juan

“We realized that the things we take for granted, the stuff that we grew up with, all the Pinoy games — the patinteros and tumbang presos and all those stuff — are probably not familiar to the kids now,” Teddy shares. 

It was that realization that led the two to reflecting upon the old folk characters and legends of their youth. 

“I’m sure they have no idea who Juan Tamad is,” Teddy states. “We thought: What if we find a way to introduce precisely authentic, original Pinoy folk stories to kids?”

Teddy and Sandy run TOOCH Inc., a digital solutions company that has recently ventured into the realm of game apps.

They recently launched their first venture into the storytelling and educational forum by releasing The Adventures of Juan Not Tamad in the App Store for the iPad.

“We know for a fact, in the 70s or 80s, that the character Juan Tamad got a bad rap.

“He reminded people of the accusation that Filipinos are lazy. The indolence of the Filipino people, as Jose Rizal put it,” Teddy ventures.

“If we will use a Filipino folk tale guy like Juan Tamad,” he continues, “There should be a way to flip it around, to positivize the whole thing.”

Puzzles and solutions

Each level of Juan Not Tamad begins with a story.

Each story retells a popular account about Juan’s lazy days, but spins them around and puts the power in the game player’s hands.

“You see Juan Tamad and his legendary laziness,” Teddy points out, “But the point is to help him get over it by bridging him and his objective.”

Right now, the game has 12 puzzles spread out across 3 levels or story premises. The puzzles involve spatial challenges, designed for children ages 4 and above, that need to be solved so that Juan can do his chore. 

Whether it’s collecting guavas from a tree, buying the crabs Nanay tasked him to do or courting his dear Maria Masipag, Juan is now out of excuses.

It looks simple on the surface, but trying the actual game proves to be a mental workout for both young and old.

“Surprisingly, the kids are better at it,” Teddy reveals. “When we did beta testing, the kids were more intuitive, more instinctive with the puzzle games.” 

Pinoy design, worldwide enterprise

Juan Not Tamad is charming.

The artwork is clearly directed to reflect Filipino cultural facets, and the music is unmistakably of folk influences. 

Though both visual and sound design enhance the app experience, neither get in the way of the gameplay itself. TOOCH’s strategy is one that exploits the borderless nature of the digital arena. 

Hence, waving the Filipino flag is unnecessary, no matter how proudly Pinoy their product is. 

“If you hope to conquer the world,” Teddy posits, “waving your ethnicity may not be the way to go. It may be a little too peculiar for Filipinos.

“The Pinoy factor can come in and make you stand out, make you unique; but the gameplay, the back story, the motivation, the whys — they need to be as universal as possible.”

This insight has proven to work. Analytics have shown encouraging results.

Within 10 days of the app’s release, they recorded more than 10,000 downloads! Besides the number, the actual countries who downloaded the game were surprising.

“We cannot imagine how we have downloads from Senekal, — I don’t even know where Senekal is! — a country called Moldova, the Ukraine,  Czech Republic, France, Italy, China.

“But of course, majority of downloads come from the Philippines.”

This has made TOOCH very optimistic; they are currently planning for updates, in-app upgrades (more levels!) and a release for Android as well. 

It has also proven to be a good sign that a project that essentially began as creative — something that is unhindered by client demands or other external pressure — has received such emboldening feedback. 

In fact, the app has not even made any rounds in traditional or extensive marketing.

If anything, it took some emails, tweets, conversations and requests from friends and families to blog, tweet, download and share the information.

Word of mouth can only do so much. Juan Not Tamad’s early success can’t be pinned on personal relations alone.

Teddy agrees, laughingly. “No, I don’t think I have 10,000 friends!” – Rappler.com

 

Juan Not Tamad is available at the Apple Store. For updates about the game and TOOCH, check out their Facebook page.