Congklak

Congklak board (source)

Congklak is one of Indonesian traditional games. The people live in Java should know what congklak is, or at least ever saw the congklak board.

Congklak game uses congklak board – could in form of one long board with some holes in the middle – and also the congklak seeds that usually use some shells or small rocks.

This game is a very casual game that can be played by two players. First we will place the congklak seeds in the holes except the two holes in the corners, same number of seeds in each hole. After that the players will in turn take the congklak seeds from one hole and put them in the next holes in sequence, except the opponent’s base hole.

If in the last hole he / she put the seed there are still some more congklak seeds, then he / she could take the seeds in that hole and do the same again, put the seeds on the next holes. If he/ she ended in an empty hole or in his / her base hole, then the turn is ended and now is the opponent’s turn. The winner is the one who get the most congklak seeds in their base hole.

This game is actually very simple, but I didn’t know why when I was little I could play it for hours. I never have a congklak board; instead I just drew it on a paper or use the tiles of floor to act as the holes of congklak board. As for the seeds, I could use anything: from the small rocks, marbles, candies, or even just a paper torn into small pieces and squeezed into small balls.

Too bad that most of nowadays kids are prefer to play the electronic games rather than the traditional game that other than it’s cheap, it also could emphasize the creativity, just like what I did, I could experimenting changing the tools with anything available around me. Oh, I miss my childhood games…

(FK)