Congkak

“CongKak”
Group No. 1(Hanif, Habiba & Firdausi)
Malaysian Society & Culture Class, UTM.
Supervised By
Assoc. Prof. Dr Rozeyta Bte Omar

Introduction
 Congkak or Congklak is a mancala game of Malay origin
played in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand,
and some parts of Sumatra and Borneo.
 Close variants are:
 Dakon or Dhakon (Java),
 Sungka (Philippines),
 Chongka' (Marianas),
 Jogklak (interior of Java);
 Dentuman Lamban (Lampung),
 Mokaotan, Maggaleceng, Aggalacang or Nogarata
(Celebes),
 Chonka (Sri Lanka) and
 Naranj (Maldives).

Congkak Game
 The word “congkak” is believed to originate from old
Malay "congak", meaning "mental calculation" which is
mainly practiced in this game.
 It is regarded that an efficient player who mentally
calculates a few steps in advance will have an
advantage in collecting points to win the game.
 The word congkak or congklak also means cowrie shells,
used in the game.
 In Indonesia, the holes are called anak ("child"), while
the larger store holes are called indung ("mother").

Congkak Game
 Congkak, which is often considered a game for girls, has
simple rules that allow the boards to have different
numbers of holes.
 Congkak boards are often made of teak or mahogany
wood are often elaborately carved into various shapes
such as naga or birds.

History of Congkak
 The oldest mancala game boards were found in a
ruined fort of Roman Egypt and date back to the 4th
century AD. The game was likely introduced to
Southeast Asia by Indian or Arab traders in the 15th
century.
 It is believed to have spread throughout Malay world
through merchants via Malacca, an important trading
post at that time.
 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.
 Beside the Malays, the Indian Peranakan also enjoy
playing Congkak.

How To Play
 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 an additional bigger store-hole 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.

Congkak Game’s Items
Fig: A congklak with two sets of nine instead of seven

Congkak Game’s Items
 A total of 98 pieces are used in the two sets of seven
board version.
 In Malaysia & Indonesia, cowrie shells and tamarind
seeds are the most common.
 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.

Rules & methods of Congkak
1. 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 clockwise from this hole, in
a process called sowing. Sowing skips an opponent's
store, but does not skip a player's own store.

Rules & methods of Congkak
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. The game ends, when a player has no seeds in his holes at
the start of his turn. The remaining seeds are awarded to his
opponent.

Congkak, The Traditional Game of Malaysia

Congkak

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Congkak