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By: [[User:Mr Mancala|Ralf Gering]]<br />
 
By: [[User:Mr Mancala|Ralf Gering]]<br />
 
Under the [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ CC by-sa 2.5 license].
 
Under the [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ CC by-sa 2.5 license].
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'''Rules starting with''' ''"Players take turns moving the seeds ..."'' were adapted from the Wikipedia article, "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congkak ]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congkak , used under the [[GNU Free Documentation License]].
 
[[Category:Traditional_Mancala_Games]]
 
[[Category:Traditional_Mancala_Games]]
 
[[Category:Asia]]
 
[[Category:Asia]]

Revision as of 10:02, 16 March 2010

Congkak → German, Italian, Portuguese.


Congkak
Other Names: Congklak,
Main Congkak
First Description: Stewart
Culin, 1894
Cycles: One
Ranks: Two
Sowing: Multiple laps
Region: Brunei, Indone-
sia, Malaysia, Singapore

Congkak is short for Main Congkak (in Indonesia also: Congklak; Indonesian for "cowrie shell"). It is a mancala game which is popular in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Indonesia. It is usually played by women. Congkak was first described outside of Asia in 1894 by the American ethnographer Stewart Culin.

Many Congkak tournaments are organized for children in Malaysia, e.g. in Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Terengganu, Pekan and Seremban. Several hotels in southern Borneo offer Congkak courses to tourists. Since 2004, the Malaysian Embassy and the Malaysian Association in France sponsore each year a Congkak tournament to spread Malaysian culture in Europe.

In Brunei, Congkak is also played during the night of royal ceremonials such as the Istiadat Malam Berjaga-jaga at the palace or nobility's residence.

Rules

Congkak employs an oblong game board called papan congkak, which has two rows each one with five to ten playing pits. These pits are called lubang kampung ("village") or lubang anak ("child") in Malaysia. Most widespread are boards with 2x7 playing pits. In addition, there is at either end a large store hole, called lubang rumah ("house") for the captured counters. Each player owns the store to his left.

Congkak

Congkak Board, Malaysia

Each of the small pits contains at the beginning of the game as many counters (usually cowrie shells or tamarind seeds called anak-anak buah in Malaysia) as each row counts small pits.

Players take turns moving the seeds except in the first move which is performed simultaneously. On a turn, a player chooses one of the holes under their control. The player removes all seeds from this hole, and distributes them in each hole clockwise from this hole, in a process called [sowing (game mechanism)|sowing]]. Sowing skips an opponent's store, but does not skip a player's own store.

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 holes under their control.

If the last seed sown falls into an empty hole on the current player's side, then the player captures all the seeds in the hole directly across from this one, on the opponent's side. If the opposing hole is empty, no seeds are captured.

The objective of the game is to capture more seeds than one's opponent.

Comparison to Other Games

YosriCongkak1

Traditional Congkak board

Congkak is very similar to other Mancala games playerd in South Asia, e.g. Naranj (Maldives), Dakon (Java), Sungka (Philippines) and Chongka' (Marianas).

The game differs from Kalah in being a multiple lap game. More differences to Kalah is that Congkak is played clockwise and that the first move is made simultaneously.

Sungka has a different cultural background, but is otherwise almost identical.

See also

References

Alifia, Ariani, F. & Krisanty, T.
Pencarian Solusi Optimal Pemilihan Lubang pada Permainan Congklal dengan Algoritma Greedy dan Program Dinamis. Laboratorium Ilmu dan Rekayasa Komputasi, Departemen Teknik Informatika, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung (Indonesia) 2006.
Anonymous.
Congklak: Traditional Game of Indonesia. Expat Web Site Association, Jakarta (Indonesia) 1997-2006.
Culin, S.
Mancala: The National Game of Africa. In: Report of the National Museum (Philadelphia (USA)) 1894, 597-611.
Hellier, M.
Notes on the Malay Game Jongkak. In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Straits Branch) 1907; 49: 93.
Lim, R.
Gateway to Asian Games. Asiapac Books Pte Ltd, Singapore 2006. ISBN 9812294457.
Overbeck, H.
New Notes on the Game of Chongkak. In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Straits Branch) 1915; 57: 8.
Skeat, W. W.
Malay Magic. London (England) 1900, 485.
Wilkinson R. J.
Papers on Malay Subjects. Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) 1915, 57.

External Links

Copyright

© Wikimanqala.
By: Ralf Gering
Under the CC by-sa 2.5 license.

Rules starting with "Players take turns moving the seeds ..." were adapted from the Wikipedia article, "[1]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congkak , used under the GNU Free Documentation License.