This game is played with cowrie shells (though you can use anything round and small such as marbles portrayed in the first picture)


There are seven holes on each side and one at each end. Each player controls the row of holes in front of them, and the goal is to gather as many seeds as possible in their "nest" hole (the one at the end on their left). They sow the seeds in each hole with each turn, moving clockwise (they can start at whichever one of their seven holes). Sowing includes filling the player's own "nest" but not the opponent's. If the last seed falls into an occupied hole, all the seeds are removed from that hole, and are sown again starting from that hole. The process continues until the last seed falls into a player's store, or an empty hole.

What happens next depends on where their last seed is sown (so you have to count the pieces in each hole and think where the last one will end up ahead of time to strategize). If the last piece ends up in an empty hole on your opponent's side, it becomes their turn. If the last piece ends up in your "nest", you get another turn. If the last piece ends up in an empty hole on your side, you get to take all the seeds on your opponent's side in the hole directly across from it.

The game ends when all the seeds have been put into the "nest" holes. Whoever has more seeds in their "nest" wins.

The rules are pretty simple, so it can be played by kids of all ages. This used to be one of my favorite games when I was little.



This is another simple game; the goal is to bounce the ball once on the ground and perform a series of tasks with the little gold colored pieces before you have to catch the ball again. You have to play this while sitting on the floor. The more tasks you can perform (flipping the pieces, putting them on their sides, etc) while the ball is bouncing, the better. The person who finishes all their tasks first wins.

I was pretty good at this when I was little xD


This is kind of like jump rope, except with a slightly different modification.


This was a very popular game in primary school in the 90s. We don't really have a name for it except what literally translates as 'jumping rubbers'. Mainly girls would play it. Made from a loop of rubber bands, two of the players will first act as the ones holding them up by wearing the loop around their bodies (as opposed to just holding one piece of rope as you might be more accustomed to). This creates a space surrounded by the loop of rubber between them. The other players then have to jump within that space, jump again so they have both legs outside, back inside, then jump out. The second series of moves are a bit more difficult; they have to jump while carrying one side of the rubber across the other, creating a crossing pattern with them trapped in the middle. Then jumps free of it so their legs are both back outside, back inside, and out.

The game starts with the rubber around the two wearer's knees, then goes up to thigh, waist, and finally chest. Sometimes when we feel like living on the edge, we try playing until we hold the rubbers above our heads as well. The team that completes all the moves after it reaches the highest point wins!

I've always been the tallest girl at school so the ones wearing the rubber would always have to adjust (my waist high would be their chest high, etc) and the opposite happens when I'm the one wearing it. There was some fierce competition back in the days and the ones best at this game were always kind of revered by the other girls I had my own loop of rubber too. You wouldn't believe how many rubbers it takes to make one complete loop.

Oh, we had something similar to Congklak, it was called Mancala I think. It was imported for us of course, now I know where it probably came from. I loved to play it when younger (we played with small false precious stones). But Bekel seems interesting to try, even for older people, maybe by making it more challenging.

Yeah I put this up last year too and people were saying they were familiar with a version of it called mancala. It's pretty amazing how some traditional games could get "imported" to various places far away!

I played Congklak (MANCALA YES EK) on the computer as a kid and I hated it because I had no idea what was going on xD But now all of a sudden it makes sense xD Bekel reminds me a lot of 'Jacks', which is basically the exactly same concept, but instead of gold pieces we use these weird plastic things xD

! I remember we played a variation of the Jumping Rubbers game when I was little =) Congklak/Dakon also sounds familiar.