Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Traditional Childhood Games-Batu Seremban and Congkak

When I was recalling some childhood games in one of the meme question, it was fun to remember those games again. I don't really depend so much on computers or the television in my younger days.In fact I only started using computers in my 30s. I would like to share some not so common games with you. I think they are local games to Malaysians.

Batu Seremban or five stones is a game originally played by the girls either individually or in a group. This is a game that needs five stones or five round objects to play with. I remember sewing these small pillows and filling them with rice. The objective of the game is to throw one of the stones one at a time and sweeping another on the floor simultaneously catching the one you threw earlier on. The steps get more complicated as it gets through the stages. As kids it is easier to observe and learn than to read the steps here. (It is in the Malay language)

Congkak is a game suitable for two players using a board which has several houses and storehouses. I actually bought a congkak board. Not sure what happened to it in the end. The objective of the game is to gather as many congkak seeds into the storehouses on the player's side. It is a game which is played during one’s free time and is normally played by the women, especially liked by the youths. I won't attempt to list the steps to play this game. The rules are here.

I have fond memories playing these games with my sister and school friends.


6 comments:

  1. HI!The second game,we call it sungka in Filipino.

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  2. Hey, i'm trying to look up for more info on batu seremban and i came across your blog which is fantastic! However, i wanted to check out the step by step link but it's no longer there. Can you help to provide me the resources. Feel free to contact me at my email at aira.abdrahim@gmail.com. I'm at current in NC, USA.

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  3. Batu seremban/Batu serembat/Main Selambut(KELANTAN; one of state in northeastern part of malayan peninsula)
    it is a historical and legacy kind of traditional game,unique,fantastic and universal,.. Inherited all the way from great grand generation of ancestors long before world of civilisation. believed to be found and practiced or popular in area of malaya(malaysia),philiphines and all part of malay archipelago;indonesia and it's sorrounding islands, palau (ori:"pulau"),micronesian,far east pacificvislands;vanuatu,tuvalu,fiji,cocos island and guam and so on, southern asia plate and indian continent,indochina and northern pacific area, by burma,Laos and cambodia aborigines,also being played and popular by inuit and eskimo in northern part of canada,east and west siberia and shakalin island,found evidence in southern and eastern part of africa,played by nomadic;taureg and badwin, central america;by inca and maya inhabitant,by the red indian on top of andes plattue of southern america;chile,bolivia and peru tribes.
    it would rather played then by female or old women as way of life or entertainment wihthin thier group ethnic and community and neibourhood as past time activity in their elderly and early ethnic generation before passed down to the young female children specificaly.
    It was then played in by 5 or 7 pieces of object; made of (usually)small stone, beads, fruit seeds; beans,nut or nutshell, or even bones and hard wood(originaly)but not until today, still and popular by marble or small bag of sand/stone or beans
    a self regulated game imposed by the oldies with regards to thier local ethnic group understanding pertaining to the rules and regulation in each and every round of match,
    a studied found a differ match and rules in each and every ethnic respectively.
    played by any numbers of players as to grab the highest score in every round with resulted of discard the players after each round as panelty or fine for losers untill last two and of course one would come out as champion and rewarded accordingly.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Batu Seremban/Batu Serembat/Main Selambut (Selambut Game)KELANTAN; one of state in northeastern part of malayan peninsula)

    it is a historical and legacy kind of traditional game,unique,fantastic and universal,.. Inherited all the way from great grand generation of ancestors long before world of civilisation.

    believed to be found and practiced or popular in area of malaya(malaysia),philiphines and all part of malay archipelago;indonesia and it's sorrounding islands,palau(ori;pulau),micronesian,far east pacific islands; vanuatu, tuvalu, fiji,cocos island, guam and so on, southern asia plate and indian continent,indochina and northern pacific area, by burma,Laos and cambodia aborigines,

    also being played and popular by inuit and eskimo in northern part of canada,east and west siberia and shakalin island,found evidence in southern and eastern part of africa,played by nomadic;taureg and badwin, central america;by inca and maya inhabitant,by the red indian on top of andes plattue of southern america; chile,bolivia and peru tribes.

    it would rather played then by female or old women as way of life or an entertainment wihthin thier group ethnic and community and neibourhood as past time activity in their elderly and early ethnic generation before passed down to the young female children specificaly.

    It was then played in by 5 or 7 pieces of object; made of (usually)small stone, beads, fruit seeds; beans,nut or nutshell, or even bones and hard wood(originaly)but not until today, still and popular by marble or small bag of sand/stone or beans

    a self regulated game imposed by the oldies with regards to thier local ethnic group understanding pertaining to the rules and regulation in each and every round of match,
    a studied found a differ match and rules in each and every ethnic respectively.

    played by any numbers of players as to grab the highest score in every round with resulted of discard one players after each and every round as panelty or fine for losers untill last two and of course one would come out as champion and rewarded accordingly.

    ReplyDelete
  5. nice there, i remembered seeing this game being played when i was in malaysia ages ago!

    ReplyDelete
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