congkak

Congkak is a traditional two-player board game of the mancala family, widely played in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Brunei, with similar variants in the Philippines under the name sungka. The game is typically played on a wooden board featuring two rows of seven small pits (often called holes) and two larger pits at the ends serving as stores. Seeds, shells, or small stones are used as playing pieces. The objective is to collect more seeds in one’s store than the opponent through strategic sowing and capturing.

Each player sits opposite the other and controls the seven pits on their side. At the start, a uniform number of seeds is placed in each of the 14 pits. On a turn, a player chooses a pit on their side and distributes its seeds counterclockwise, placing one seed in each subsequent pit, including their own store but skipping the opponent’s store. If the last seed lands in the player’s store, they earn another turn. If the last seed lands in an empty pit on the player’s side and the opposite pit holds seeds, the player captures those seeds along with the last seed and moves them to their store. If neither captures nor extra turn applies, the turn passes to the opponent.

The game ends when one side’s pits are empty; the remaining seeds on the other side are captured by the player who can then tally their stores to determine the winner. Rules and details vary by region, leading to several local variants. The Congkak/Sungka tradition is part of the broader Mancala family of strategy games and is commonly taught and passed down within communities.