TABI-TABI

About TABI-TABI

TABI-TABI is a trait-based seating puzzle by alrdaeds, made for the Game Jam Los Baños 2026.
You play the dispatcher — “kasya pa isa!!” — of a jeepney that is full of personalities,
hidden rules, and passengers who will absolutely give you attitude if you seat them wrong.
The objective is simple to state and hard to master: hit the quota before the rush-hour timer
runs out, if you can figure out who is willing to sit next to who first.

The game’s humor is in the passenger design. The jeepney is a microcosm of commuter life:
seniors and PWDs who want the door, employees who cannot stand sitting next to anyone wet or
sweaty, lovey-dovey couples who refuse to be separated. Each passenger comes with a comic-panel
monologue that is your only clue to what they actually need.

The presentation is a light pixel-art comic style, with dialogue bubbles full of “very real
commuter energy” — the game is as much a comedy about Filipino commuting as it is a puzzle.

How to Play

A run is a rush-hour shift with a quota:

1. Watch the queue. Passengers wait in a queue bar; each one has visible traits and a
   story you can hear.
2. Read the clues. Click any passenger — seated or waiting — to hear their side of the
   story. Their monologue is the only reliable hint about who they can sit next to.
3. Drag to seat. Drag passengers from the queue into open seats, matching them by their
   unspoken rules.
4. Beat the clock. The countdown (“ORAS NA NATITIRA”) is the pressure — hit the quota
   before it runs out and keep the passengers from yelling at you.

The difficulty comes from stacking rules: a couple needs to sit together, a senior needs the
door, an employee cannot sit next to someone wet — and the seats are shared, so each
placement affects what the next passenger can do. It is a logic puzzle wearing a comedy mask.

The Dispatcher’s Puzzle

What makes TABI-TABI work as a puzzle is that the rules are only ever implied. Nothing is
written on a passenger card; the game expects you to infer each rule from the monologue and
from trial and error. That keeps the information loop honest: you are not solving a grid, you
are learning a cast of characters and their grudges.

The rush-hour timer stops it from becoming a pure logic exercise. With a quota to hit and a
clock running, the game rewards pattern recognition and speed, not just careful reading — the
same “read fast, act fast” pressure that runs through the best of the Filipino everyday-life
game cluster.

Tips for New Players

• Listen before you drag. The monologue is the clue; a passenger who mentions being wet
  or sweaty changes what you can place next to them.
• Seat the picky ones first. Couples and seniors have the hardest constraints, so place
  them while you still have flexible seats available.
• Use the click-to-chat freely. It costs little and refreshes your memory of the rules
  mid-run.
• Do not chase perfection. The quota is the win condition; a slightly imperfect seating
  that hits the target beats a perfect one that times out.
• Learn the cast across runs. Rules repeat, so the second run is noticeably easier than
  the first.

The Setting

The jeepney is the backbone of Philippine public transport, and “tabi-tabi” is the commuter’s
call for space — roughly, “make room, please.” The game turns that everyday squeeze into a
puzzle: everyone wants a seat, everyone has a reason, and somebody is always about to be
offended. It is a small, funny love letter to the most recognizable commute in the country.