Dam Aji & Congkak

We went to Kampung Baru to have our late dinner. It was 9 o'clock. Not exactly supper. I've noticed the famous Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa has a new signboard. NLA is now a francise. They opened one in Ampang Point. Soon, there'll be another one in Ampang Park. Business must be very good. In Kampung Baru alone, I estimate the owner will get around RM10 000 - 15 000 per night. Well, it is the best Nasi Lemak I ever tasted so far. I wonder if they give out the recipe to the cook, or they cook at home and send it to their francise.

Anyway, that's not the only thing I've noticed tonight. Take a look at this picture. It says "Kejohanan Dam Aji & Congkak (Terbuka) Wilayah Persekutuan 2009". Yes, there is such things. Malay traditional games tournaments. I never knew there's even such things. I mean, I know the games, but a tournament for it? Well, now I know. Nothing is impossible.

For those of you who don't know, dam aji and congkak are traditional games. Farmers play them as past time while waiting for their crops to harvest; Fishermen play them when they are not able to go to the sea. Nowadays, majority who play congkak are females; while dam aji is also known as checkers.

Congkak is believed to originate from the word ‘congak’ (which I thought means look up before) which in old Malay Language means count. It is believed that the game originated in Malacca Kingdom, a kingdom that was built by people migrated from Java Indonesia, 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 is thought that this game was for the king and family and the 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.

The congkak board has fourteen holes in two sets of seven, plus an additional home for each player. Each player controls the seven holes on their side of the board, and their home is on the left-hand. The pieces are 98 undifferentiated shells (nowadays we use marbles). To set up the game, Seven shells are placed in each hole except the home which remain empty.

Players take turns moving the shells 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 shells from this hole, and distributes them in each hole clockwise from this hole, in a process called sowing in English. Sowing skips an opponent's home, but does not skip the player's own home. If the last shell falls into an occupied hole, all the shells are removed from that hole, and are sown starting from that hole. The process continues until the last seed falls into the player's home, or an empty hole. If the last shells sown falls into the player's own home, they immediately earn another turn, which can begin at any of the seven holes under their control.

There's two ways to declare the winner in this game. First, who ever empty his/her turf first. Second, whoever has the most pieces in his/her home.

I think I do not need to explain how to play dam aji as it is very similar to checkers. I'm sure you know how to play checkers.