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Malaysia, Indonesia and their neighbours

Congkak

Also called congklak, dakon; a mancala game

Congkak is a sowing game of maritime Southeast Asia, often played on a boat-shaped wooden board with cowrie shells or seeds.

It is a cousin of oware in the mancala family, and many families play it at festivals and on long afternoons.

The rules, briefly

• In one common version, each player has a row of seven small holes and a large store at one end, with seven seeds in every small hole.
• Scoop the seeds from one of your holes and sow them one by one round the board, into your own store but never your opponent's.
• If your last seed lands in your store, you go again. If it lands in a hole that already has seeds, many families let you scoop that hole and keep sowing.

Try this: Aim for your store

Count the seeds in each of your holes and find one whose last seed will land in your store. That earns another turn.

Play on AtlasTales (two players, one screen)

Read more: Congkak on Wikipedia. Written from published sources; if your family plays it differently, write your rules down in Heirloom Rules, and if something here is wrong, tell us: hello@sparkanvil.org.