Congkak

Congkak, completely Main Congkak ( in Indonesia also. Congklak; indon for Cowry, also Dakon ) is a mancala variant, which is common in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

This game is played by two players, mostly women played. Outside Asia Congkak was first described in 1894 by the ethnologist Stewart Culin.

To play an oblong wooden board is used Papan Congkak on which two rows are with five to nine small hollows game. You are in Malaysia Kampung called Lubang: ( 'child' dt ) ( dt "village" ) or Lubang Anak. The most common are boards with two seven- game hollows. In addition, one large storage tray, Lubang Rumah is located at the two ends ( dt, " house" ), in which the captured stones are collected. Each player is one of the memory dump lying to his left.

In each game trough are at the beginning of the game so many game pieces (usually cowrie shells or tamarind seeds, in Malaysia Anak - anak buah called ), as has each row playing pits.

You win if you catch the most stones.

Comparison with other games

Congkak has great similarity with other Mancala variants in South Asia, as Naranj (Maldives ), Dakon (Java), Sungka (Philippines) and Tchonka ( Mariana Islands).

The game differs from the well-known in the U.S. and Europe Kalaha primarily by the fact that the train will resume when the last stone falls into a trough filled game. When this happens, the contents of this dump is taken and redistributed. A train does not stop until the last stone is placed in an empty bowl game. Other differences to Kalaha are that Congkak played clockwise, and the first train is running simultaneously. This is to compensate for the first-move advantage.

Congkak differs from Sungka fact that Sungka is played counterclockwise and has a different cultural background.