Congkak - a traditional game
Do you know what is Congkak? I believe many doesnt if I didnt show you the picture of it. May be when you see it you will go "Oh... this is call Congkak!". The newer urban generation may not come across this toy and probably thinks it is a big saucer plates or a starter plates use by some Balinese restuarant.
I was walking around Jonker street in Melaka on Thursday morning hoping to get some wooden souvenior back home from this trip. I spotted a colorful and decorated baskets that I wanted to get during my last trip but didnt.
This time I was quite determined to get my hand on it. I visited a few shops and finally settle for one when they offered me RM50 for the basket I wanted and I was looking ard for a gift for a little friend when I spotted the Congkak. I rbr I brot one home many years back from Melaka too, that was my 1st Melaka trip with Law but I couldnt rbr if the Congkak still at my mum place. But I guess it is ok to have two Congkak when there are 3 kids, nobody will be left out.
At 1st I wanted to get a set for the kids but later asked the shop assistant to get me 2 as I wanted to get it as a birthday gift for my little friend which I think will serve a very unique Bday present to her.
Still rbr playing congkak with my neighbours when I was still in Malaysia. One of the neighbour jie jie who will always come and fetch me over to her house and taught me many kampong games like Zero-point, five stones, congkak.
Before we go into the rules, let have some background of this traditional Congkak from Wikipedia.
The congkak game is often played by girls and it has simple rules, which allows the boards to be widely variegated with more or less holes. Congkak boards are often made of teak or mahogany wood. These boards are often elaborately carved into various shapes such as naga or birds.
The word congkak is believed to originate from old Malay "congak", meaning "mental calculation"[2] which is mainly practiced in this game. It is regarded that an efficient player who calculates well will have an advantage in collecting points to win the game.
The mancala traces back to ancient Egypt as among the world's oldest known games. The game is likely introduced to Southeast Asia by the Indian or Arab traders.[4]
It is believed to have spread throughout Malay world through merchants via Malacca, a glorious trading post in the 15th century.[2] In the early days, it was thought that this game was for the king and family and palace residents, however later it spread to the general population of the kingdom.[5] Beside the Malays, the Indian Peranakan also enjoy playing Congkak.[6]
In Java, the term "dakon stone" refers to the similarly pitmarked stones from the bronze-iron age period of Indonesia. These stones have rows of 4 or 5 cup-shaped holes and two holes at each end, a formation which has much in common with that of the similarly named game in Java. This prehistoric dakon stones is unrelated to the game and were probably employed in ceremonies to propitiate ancestors. Such stones can be found around Java.[7][8]
Rules of the game
The Congkak board has fourteen holes in two sets of seven (some have ten holes in two sets of five, some have eighteen holes in two sets of nine), plus two additional bigger store-holes for each player. Each player controls the seven holes on their side of the board, and their score is the number of seeds in their left-hand store. In Indonesia, the holes are called anak ("child"), while the larger store holes are called indung ("mother").
A total of 98 pieces are used in the two sets of seven board version. In Southeast Asia, cowrie shells and tamarind seeds are the most common.[10] Seven seeds are placed in each hole except for the players' store. The objective of the game is to capture more seeds than one's opponent.
Players take turns moving the seeds except in the first move which is performed simultaneously, beginning with the hole closest to his/her own store. After this first simultaneous movement, once the last seed falls into an empty hole, the players' first turn is over and the opponent of the player who reached an empty hole first commences his/her turn after the other player has finished his opening move too. On a turn, a player chooses one of the seven holes under their control. The player removes all seeds from this hole, and distributes them in each hole right-to-left or clockwise[11] from this hole, in a process called sowing. Sowing skips an opponent's store, but does not skip a player's own store.
If a player is unable to fill a hole with seven seeds that hole is considered sunog ("burnt"); all excess seeds are returned to the store. The round begins with the player with no sunog holes taking his/her turn sowing first.
If the last seed falls into an occupied hole, all the seeds are removed from that hole, and are sown starting from that hole. The process continues until the last seed falls into a player's store, or an empty hole.
If the last seed sown falls into a player's own store, they immediately earn another turn, which can begin at any of the seven holes under their control.
The round ends when all the seeds are in the player's stores.
It is not a hard game but a game that need careful planning so you wun end up ur last seed on hand on an empty anak and give the chance to your opponent.
I was walking around Jonker street in Melaka on Thursday morning hoping to get some wooden souvenior back home from this trip. I spotted a colorful and decorated baskets that I wanted to get during my last trip but didnt.
This time I was quite determined to get my hand on it. I visited a few shops and finally settle for one when they offered me RM50 for the basket I wanted and I was looking ard for a gift for a little friend when I spotted the Congkak. I rbr I brot one home many years back from Melaka too, that was my 1st Melaka trip with Law but I couldnt rbr if the Congkak still at my mum place. But I guess it is ok to have two Congkak when there are 3 kids, nobody will be left out.
At 1st I wanted to get a set for the kids but later asked the shop assistant to get me 2 as I wanted to get it as a birthday gift for my little friend which I think will serve a very unique Bday present to her.
Still rbr playing congkak with my neighbours when I was still in Malaysia. One of the neighbour jie jie who will always come and fetch me over to her house and taught me many kampong games like Zero-point, five stones, congkak.
Before we go into the rules, let have some background of this traditional Congkak from Wikipedia.
The congkak game is often played by girls and it has simple rules, which allows the boards to be widely variegated with more or less holes. Congkak boards are often made of teak or mahogany wood. These boards are often elaborately carved into various shapes such as naga or birds.The word congkak is believed to originate from old Malay "congak", meaning "mental calculation"[2] which is mainly practiced in this game. It is regarded that an efficient player who calculates well will have an advantage in collecting points to win the game.
The mancala traces back to ancient Egypt as among the world's oldest known games. The game is likely introduced to Southeast Asia by the Indian or Arab traders.[4]
It is believed to have spread throughout Malay world through merchants via Malacca, a glorious trading post in the 15th century.[2] In the early days, it was thought that this game was for the king and family and palace residents, however later it spread to the general population of the kingdom.[5] Beside the Malays, the Indian Peranakan also enjoy playing Congkak.[6]
In Java, the term "dakon stone" refers to the similarly pitmarked stones from the bronze-iron age period of Indonesia. These stones have rows of 4 or 5 cup-shaped holes and two holes at each end, a formation which has much in common with that of the similarly named game in Java. This prehistoric dakon stones is unrelated to the game and were probably employed in ceremonies to propitiate ancestors. Such stones can be found around Java.[7][8]
Rules of the game
The Congkak board has fourteen holes in two sets of seven (some have ten holes in two sets of five, some have eighteen holes in two sets of nine), plus two additional bigger store-holes for each player. Each player controls the seven holes on their side of the board, and their score is the number of seeds in their left-hand store. In Indonesia, the holes are called anak ("child"), while the larger store holes are called indung ("mother").A total of 98 pieces are used in the two sets of seven board version. In Southeast Asia, cowrie shells and tamarind seeds are the most common.[10] Seven seeds are placed in each hole except for the players' store. The objective of the game is to capture more seeds than one's opponent.
Players take turns moving the seeds except in the first move which is performed simultaneously, beginning with the hole closest to his/her own store. After this first simultaneous movement, once the last seed falls into an empty hole, the players' first turn is over and the opponent of the player who reached an empty hole first commences his/her turn after the other player has finished his opening move too. On a turn, a player chooses one of the seven holes under their control. The player removes all seeds from this hole, and distributes them in each hole right-to-left or clockwise[11] from this hole, in a process called sowing. Sowing skips an opponent's store, but does not skip a player's own store.
If a player is unable to fill a hole with seven seeds that hole is considered sunog ("burnt"); all excess seeds are returned to the store. The round begins with the player with no sunog holes taking his/her turn sowing first.
If the last seed falls into an occupied hole, all the seeds are removed from that hole, and are sown starting from that hole. The process continues until the last seed falls into a player's store, or an empty hole.
If the last seed sown falls into a player's own store, they immediately earn another turn, which can begin at any of the seven holes under their control.
The round ends when all the seeds are in the player's stores.
It is not a hard game but a game that need careful planning so you wun end up ur last seed on hand on an empty anak and give the chance to your opponent.
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