Conglak

Opening Position

Alternate Names

Congkak

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

A Conglak board is traditionally made from wood, with variations from island to island in the number of holes on each side, either 5, 6, 7 or 9 holes. All the boards have two stores, one at each end. The design varies from simple, unadorned woods, to boat-shaped boards, to highly decorated playing boards. In Central Java, elaborate designs utilizing the Javanese naga (dragon) are common. Dragons face out from both ends, with their tails decorating the side of the boards and legs suspending the board up off the floor. Congklak boards can be elaborately carved and painted, with gold and red being popular colors. Most, however, are made of relatively plain wood. Additionally, 98 undifferentiated counters are required for play. Traditionally, seeds, stones, and shells have been used for counters.

History

Conglak is of Malay origin and is played in Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, and Southern Thailand.

Objective

Each player controls the store at their right side, and achieves victory by collecting more seeds in their store than their opponent.

Play

The board is setup by counting seven stones into each hole on the board, excluding the stores at the sides. If the board has more or less than seven holes on each side, fill each hole with stones equal in number to number of holes on one side of the board. After deciding which player will go first, turns alternate. A player scoops up all of the counters from any hole on their side of the board and sows them, one at a time, moving clockwise around the board. Sow into every hole including your store, but not your opponent's store. If the last hole is your store, you get another turn. Take all the stones out of any hole on your side of the board and continue to play as before. If the last hole that you sow into is empty and is on your side of the board, you may pick up your last stone and any stones on your opponent's side, exactly opposite and place them all in your store. If the last hole into which you dropped your stone is empty and on your opponent's side of the board, leave your stone there and your turn ends. The first round ends when one player runs out of stones on his or her side of the board. The player that still has stones on their side of the board, collects all remaining stones on his side to his store, is the winner of this round, and plays first in the second round.

To start the second round, both players take all of their stones out of their store. Each player counts seven stones into each hole on their side of the board, starting with the hole nearest his own store house. If one player has leftovers after putting 7 stones into each hole, they are menang biji and put all the extra stones back into their store house.

Since the losing opponent will not have enough stones to put seven in each hole, they must ngacang, have some holes with less shells. This is done by filling in as many holes as possible with seven stones, and splitting the remaining stones up amongst the remaining holes on their side of the board. The ngacang holes are the holes closest to the opponent's home. The number of ngacang holes will depend on the number of stones remaining after the previous round of play, but should never be more than three holes. Some ngacang holes may even be empty if you're really low on stones.

The ngacang holes become protected from your opponent in this round. As your opponent goes around the board, they must skip these holes, not dropping a stone in them. Neither player can take stones from these holes, but they can drop stones in their own ngacang holes. Ngacang stones are also protected from being taken if your opponent ends up in an empty hole across from them.

This is an important, strategic handicap, as the player who has at least one stone in her rightmost hole can always continue the jalan on her side of the board.

End of the game

Play continues with successive rounds until one player loses all of their shells, or both players wish to stop playing, at which time you would count the shells to see who has the most, and is thus the winner.

While the game is simple enough, strategies develop with practice and skill that enable the player to maximize the chances of having at least one shell left in a position to carry on the journey and to create the opportunity to harvest the opponent's shells in a tembak.

Players with mathematical talents have an advantage, for the rules enable the player to determine in advance whether she will win or lose before selecting an odd or even numbered pile of playing pieces.

Play resumes in the second round with players redistributing seeds from their own storehouse to their own houses. Beginning from left to right, seven seeds are placed in each house. If a player does not have sufficient seeds to fill his own houses, the remaining houses are left empty and are considered 'burnt'. The leftover seeds are deposited into his own storehouse. The opponent deposits excess seeds he has won into his own storehouse.

The loser gets to start the second round. Play is continued as before but players will bypass 'burnt houses' for instance no seeds are to be dropped into these houses. If a seed is accidentally dropped into a 'burnt house', it is confiscated and stored in the opponent's 'storehouse'.

Play continues until one player loses all his 'houses' or concedes defeat.

Strategy

Variations

Using the rules above, a player may collect his opponent's stones from the exact opposite side of the board after sowing his last stone into an empty hole on his side. Some versions of this rule, however, state that a player is only allowed to collect his opponent's stones from the other side of the board after having "gone around the board at least one time". It is then unclear if this means making a complete circuit around the board or just coming back into any hole onr side of the board after having traversed the opponent's side, i.e. going from your side of the board, completely across the opponent's side and then not necessarily all the way back to the starting point on your side.

There are also 2x5 Conglak boards and 2x9 Conglak boards.

Sources

1. Conglak, A Traditional Game of Indonesia. https://www.expat.or.id/info/congklak.html