February 27, 2008

Childhood games

When I was a kid, my friends and I played a lot of board games. Ludo board, monopoly game, snakes and ladders, and chinese checkers game.
Those are games that every child enjoyed back then. I remember I had a set of each of the board game and would play them either with my sisters or my friends after school. The game of snakes and ladders for example is one of my favorite because the board is colorful and have a lot of snakes...LOL! The rule of the game is the first person to reach top left square is the winner. Each player will throw a dice and count their way up the board. If you land at the foot of a ladder you climb it, but if you land on the head of a snake you slide down it. Some snakes and ladders are higher than others and I hated it when I hit the longest snake and had to go down to the bottom square again. But I like this game because it is fun, entertaining and suitable for every age range.


My other favorite game is "Congklak" or the Javanese called it "Dakon" game. It was said congklak, or dakon board game was brought to Indonesia by Indian or Arab traders centuries ago. Congklak is played on a board with circular indentations along both sides and a home indentation on each end of the board. The game is played with 98 small markers such as shells or beads, which are divided evenly between all the indentations. It is quite a challenging game and takes a lot of practice before a player becomes skilled. And it led to interesting games as the kids learning basic math in an enjoyable way. To learn more how to play congklak, please read here.

Too bad this kind of games can rarely be seen being played anymore. The kids today seem more interested in electronic gadgets than board games...but sadly that's the direction the world is taking now.

**picture of snakes and ladders courtesy of Wikipedia, the dakon picture taken from Yogyes.**

5 comments:

Anna Rochanti Madden said...

I used to play those games, except the chinnese checkers one. I want to learn to play it though.

I have Dragon Dakon at my house, made in Jepara. We need to get the shells or seeds to play. It will fun to play with the kids.

Anonymous said...

elyani, i was a pro in congklak when i was a kid. i could beat an opponent in two rounds..hehe.

Rita said...

hihihihi jadi ngingetin mainan jaman dulu...tapi aku masih suka lho main congklak...seru banget...anw apa kabar El??????

Anonymous said...

wuaaa jadi kangen congklak neh.. sering maen itu kalo masa kecil.. :)

btw hepi belated bday ya mba.. maaap telaaat... :) baru BW neh.. :) moga hepi, panjang umur dan sukses selalu yak :)

Beaman said...

I adored snakes and ladders. The board I had was just like the one pictured.