Congkak is believed to originate from the word ‘congak’ which in old Malay Language means count. It is believed that the game originated in Malacca Kingdom where it became very popular and spread to the South East Asia region. This spread was due to the many travelers who visited the kingdom because it was a trading city. 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. As the congkak board is shaped like a boat it is believed that it is based on the legend of a fisherman unable to go to the sea during rainy season who lost his income during this time. To prevent boredom he created this game which is similar to his boat. However, on the island of Java, the board always has a dragon head at each end and the sides of the board (which is made of wood) are carved to look like reptile scales.

Rules

[edit] Equipment

The Congkak board has fourteen holes in two sets of seven, plus an additional store 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.

The pieces are 98 undifferentiated seeds.

[edit] Setup

Seven seeds are placed in each hole except the stores, which remain empty.

[edit] Objective

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

[edit] Sowing

Players take turns moving the seeds except in the first move which is performed simultaneously. 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.

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 seven holes under their control.

[edit] Capturing

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.

Traditional mancala boards come in all different shapes and sizes - some are designed in the shape of fish, boats, dragons, crocodiles or even wheelbarrows! And although the boards are usually wood, other materials used have included metal, pottery, clay, stone and dung

General Rules

Mancala games are usually played on wooden boards with rows of cups or holes which contain seeds or similar pieces. In most games, there are 2, 3 or 4 rows of holes. There are generally two players, and the board is placed so that the rows of holes run from left to right (not up and down) as each player looks at the board.

The West African game Oware uses a board with two rows of holes, so it is often referred to as a form of "two-rank mancala". The East African games of Bao and Omweso are examples of four-rank mancala. Each player may also have a larger hole which acts as a store for captured pieces. There is a generally a fixed arrangement at the start of the game as to how many seeds there should be in each hole, although in some games each player can choose the starting arrangement on their side of the board.

The usual way that a move is carried out is this. A player lifts all the seeds from one of the holes on their own side of the board, and they sow them one by one into the other holes. They start by putting a single seed in the hole next to the one they have just emptied. Then one seed goes in the hole next to that, and so on until all the seeds are used up. In some games the sowing is always clockwise, in some counter-clockwise, and some games feature sowing in both directions. In two-rank mancala games, the seeds will generally be sown round the whole of the board. In four-rank games, the rule is usually that a player sows seeds round their own side (nearest two rows) of the board only.

The store holes, in many games, do not have seeds sown into them during the course of a move. But in other games, the player's own store hole (but not the opponent's) is part of the circuit when they are sowing the seeds. However, it is not allowed to sow seeds out of a store hole. Often there is no other restriction on which of their holes a player starts sowing from; but in some games there are extra rules, for example that the hole must contain at least two seeds, or it must be in an inner row (if the board is a four-row one).

In some games, called "single-lap games", the move ends after the seeds from one hole have been sown, and any resulting captures have been made. In others, sowing the seeds from one hole may lead to another sowing by the same player and so on. The most usual arrangement is that the player will get to carry on if the last seed falls into a hole which already had seeds in it. In this case the player may pick up all

these seeds and sow them, in the same direction as the original sowing. Some four-rank mancala games have a different mechanism, used for sowing captured seeds back into the board.

Different games have different ways of capturing seeds. Often these relate to the number of seeds in the hole where the sowing ends, or to the number of seeds in the hole opposite to that one. In two-rank mancala games, captures are usually taken and put in the player's store hole. In four-rank games, a capture often involves taking seeds from the opponent's side of the board and sowing them in one's own.

There are some technical differences in how the sowing works in different games. For example, there is the question of what happens if the player is sowing a lot of seeds and comes all the way round to the hole that has just been emptied. In some games, a seed is sown into this hole, in others it is skipped.

Games also have special rules about situations where a player has no legal moves. Sometimes a player must avoid leaving the opponent in this situation if at all possible.

Finally, there are mancala games where the contest does not usually end after a single game, but after a linked series of games. The starting situation for each game may depend on how many seeds the player captured in the previous one. Of course this leaves scope for a long sequence of games, with fortunes ebbing and flowing between the two players!

Traditional past times

A number of games that are of Brunei Malay origin are found in Labuan, and in Brunei Malay areas of the west coast of the mainland.

GasingTop spinning is very popular in Labuan. A length of rope is skillfully wound around the carved wooden top which unwinds quickly as it is thrown to the ground. The object of the game is to keep the top spinning as long as possible, lifting it from the ground onto a small flat wooden base. In competitions, opponents strike each other's tops and try to hit them out of the game. Even very young children have shown great skill in this traditional game of gasing.

KuitOne simple but very entertaining game is kuit, played with a broad band of a coconut shell cut from its mid section. Each team consists of three players, and they are expected to show their skills in different ways of moving the shell. One way is by kicking it backwards using the heel and also kicking it forward. The kuit can be picked up and thrown or be made to bounce several times while moving towards a target. The most difficult manouver involves bending the body backwards like doing the limbo, and trying to touch your opponent's shell with yours. Broken shell are allowed to be replaced!

Layang-LayangLayang-layang or Kikik are kites. Bamboo frames are covered with thin kite paper and can measure anything from 18 inches to 4 feet in length. During competitions, contestants take turns to fly their kite. Points are given to the quality of the kite, its decorations, flying techniques and aerial manouvers. It takes skill to handle a kite, especially when the wind is high.

Kasut GergasiSplit wooden planks are fastened to the player's feet. Every team has 5 contestants and they have to race a distance of 60 metres each, changing players as each one completes his turn. The team that finishes first is the winner.

SimbanThis is another popular game and is played by many people with slight variations. Stones are thrown down randomly on the ground in front of the player and he has to pick them up in seven different ways. The player who makes the least fumbles is judged the winner.

Gusti Lengan (arm wrestling)There are three to a team. Each one challenges a single opponent and the winner from that round will go on to the next. There are three weight categories - up to 50 kilos, 51-70 kilos and 71 and above. The elbows of each player rests on the surface of a table and they grasp each other's palms in a tight hold. The objective is to see who can lower his opponent's arm onto the table surface.

Berambit (sickles)This game is also played by teams of three and have the same weight categories as the above game. Two competitors sit facing each other on the floor, with legs out stretched. The soles of their feet are separated by a block of wood and their arms are also out stretched, gripping onto a wooden bobbin. A line is drawn between the two men. The object of the game is to force the opponent's elbows beyond the line, by strong tugging. The team that wins in at least two categories are the champions.

Nasi lemak

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Nasi Lemak is commonly found in Singapore and Malaysia.

Nasi Lemak is traditionally sold wrapped in banana leaves.

Nasi lemak is a dish sold in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Southern Thailand. In Kuala Lumpur, it is called the national dish, a national heritage of Malaysia. The version sold in the east coast of Malaysia, Terengganu and Kelantan is called Nasi Dagang although both dishes can usually be found sold side by side for breakfast. However, because of the Nasi Lemak's versatality in being able to be served in a variety of manners, it is now served and eaten any time of the day. There is a similar dish in Indonesia called nasi uduk.

With roots in Malay culture, its name is a Malay word that literally means 'rice in cream'. The name is derived from the cooking process whereby rice is soaked in coconut cream and then the mixture steamed. Sometimes knotted screwpine (pandan) leaves are thrown into the rice while steaming to give it more fragrance. Spices such as ginger (common in Malay cuisine) and occasionally herbs like lemon grass may be added for additional fragrance.

Traditionally, this comes as a platter of food wrapped in banana leaf, with cucumber slices, small dried anchovies (ikan bilis), roasted peanuts, hard boiled egg, and hot spicy sauce (sambal) at its core. As a more substantial meal, nasi lemak can also come with a variety of other accompaniments such as chicken, cuttlefish, cockle, stir fried water convolvulus (kangkong), pickled vegetables (achar), beef rendang (beef stewed in coconut milk and spices) or paru (beef lungs). Traditionally most of these accompaniments are spicy in nature.

Nasi Lemak is widely eaten in Malaysia, even as a dish served in Malaysian schools. Nasi lemak is a common breakfast dish, sold early in the morning at roadside stalls in Malaysia, where it is often sold packed in newspaper, brown paper or banana leaf. However, there are restaurants which serve it on a plate as noon or evening meals, making it possible for the dish to be eaten all day. Nasi lemak panas which means hot nasi lemak is another name given to nasi lemak served with hot cooked rice.

Contents

[hide] 1 Different versions

o 1.1 Malaysian Indian version o 1.2 Malaysian Chinese version o 1.3 Vegetarian version

2 See also 3 External links

4 Notes and references

[edit] Different versions

Other ingredients such as fried chicken wing and sliced cucumber are often added to Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak, here served with fish cake, ikan bilis, egg, and buah keluak chicken

Nasi Lemak comes in different versions if prepared by different chefs. Hotels have nasi lemak on their menu with elaborate dishes, such as beef rendang and the addition of other seafood, while humble roadside stalls sell them ready packed, known as "Nasi Lemak Bungkus", meaning "Wrapped Nasi Lemak", with minimal additions that costs between Ringgit Malaysia 1 to 7 per pack. There are Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indians versions.

[edit] Malaysian Indian version

The Malaysian Indian version is similar to the original version but as Hindus do not eat beef, it is skipped while preparing Malaysian Indian version of Nasi Lemak.

[edit] Malaysian Chinese version

Although it is not common to see Malaysian Chinese stalls/restaurants selling nasi lemak, there is a non-halal version containing pork sold in towns and cities such as Malacca and certain parts of Kuala Lumpur. Some Malaysian Chinese hawkers are known to make minced pork sambal.

[edit] Vegetarian version

In certain parts of Kuala Lumpur some Malaysian Chinese and Malay hawkers offer vegetarian nasi lemak.