While kids these days love to play on their smartphones and video games, there are some traditional Indonesian games that children love to play with their friends. Most of these games require two or more people; the more, the merrier!
As technology is not that common given to children back then, here are some traditional games that Indonesian children tend to play with their friends during their free time or after school!
Congklak / Dakon
Congklak is introduced to Indonesia ages ago by either Arab or Indian traders. It’s one of the most popular traditional games in Indonesia. What you need is two players, congklak board and beads. There are 16 holes in the board with 98 beads that are divided into 7 and then placed in each hole. Players then take turns taking all the beads in one hole and filling the holes from left to right with one bead until it’s finished. Players who have the most beads in the end win.
Kelereng / Gundu
Kelereng or Gundu, which is marbles in English, are popular mostly among boys. There are a lot of variations played in Indonesia. One of them is where you draw a circle on the ground and each player put one of their marbles on it. Then there’s going to be another marble outside of the circle that tries to knock the marbles out of the circle in which, the marbles are theirs to claim if they succeeded.
Gangsing / Gasing
Gangsing refers to a spinning top made from bamboo from Indonesia and is most popular among the boys too. There’s a small hole on the side, which makes a distinct whistling noise when it spins. Two children will spin their gangsing to see which one will be able to last longer or knock the other down, the one who stays spinning the longest will win. You can buy a gangsing in the traditional markets though gangsing is very common in the markets around temples or other tourist spots in Yogyakarta.
Layang-Layang
Layang-Layang or kite is one of the favourite past times for children. They can either be a leisure kite flying or you use them to compete with your friends. For normal kite flying, they usually attach a tail to it and make it fly. But for competing with your friends, the kites are usually more complex. The goal is to cut your friend’s string; thus the string is usually a special one that has been dipped in a crushed glass solution, thus making it sharp and capable to cut your opponent’s string.
Bekel
Bekel is a game that’s taken from the Dutch game that’s called bikkelen or bikkelspel which is equivalent to knucklebones or scatter jacks in the west. This game requires great dexterity as you’re supposed to take the bekel one at a time before the ball bounces twice. Once a player successfully picked all the bekel they’ll have to pick two at the time before the ball bounces twice and so on.
Ular Naga Panjang
This game doesn’t require anything else except people and this time, the more the merrier. Ular Naga Panjang is translated to Long Dragon, which is more fun if played by more people but at least, it’s usually played by seven people. Two people are required to be the guard and connect their hands together. The rest will hold each other’s shoulders and go through under their hands while singing the Ular Naga Panjang song. When the song ends, the guard has to lower their hands and whoever got caught in between is eliminated.
Engklek
Engklek can be played by one person however, it’ll be more fun if you play together with your friends. Engklek is essentially a hopscotch game, where you’ll have to hop with one leg over some blocks that have been drawn on the ground. If they’re unable to balance and hop using one leg, they have to mark the block they last stepped on with a rock.
There you go, some of the most popular traditional games in Indonesia! Which one intrigued you the most? Have you played any of these before? Share this to your page or your friends if you find this article interested! Do check out our quiz regarding traditional toys if you want to test your knowledge!
