New notes on the game of “chongkak”
H. Overbeck’s 1915 note in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society documents the rules of the Ceylonese variant of the mancala-family board game known as “chongkak” (or “dakon” in Java), drawing on first-hand experience playing the game aboard a mailsteamer and from a carved Balinese board acquired in Java.
Summary
Overbeck’s account begins with the acquisition of a dragon-shaped board in Java, where he observed Madurese coolies playing the game. He notes that the Javanese servants he consulted were reluctant to explain the rules, as “dakon” was considered a women’s game. The substantive content of the article, however, derives from a period aboard the mailsteamer to Colombo, where Singhalese passengers taught him the Ceylonese version, which he judged to be more complex than the Malay variant previously described by Mr. Hellier in the same journal (No. 49, December 1907).
The article then provides a full set of twelve rules governing play, covering the initial simultaneous opening move, the sowing and capturing mechanics, the conditions under which a player’s turn ends, the procedure for refilling holes between games using seeds held in one’s “rumah” (store), and the termination condition for a “set.” Overbeck appends a short section of strategic hints, including a systematic opening sequence for the player who begins with all nine holes filled.
The piece is notable primarily as an early ethnographic record of the game’s cross-cultural distribution across the Indian Ocean world, linking Javanese, Malay, and Ceylonese traditions and noting the claim that the two-row hole pattern appears in the rock carvings of India’s oldest temples.
Key Findings
- The board Overbeck acquired was a carved Balinese piece shaped as a two-headed dragon with four wheels, bearing two rows of nine holes and two “rumahs” (pp. 7–8).
- The Ceylonese variant uses the same name “chongkak” and is described by Singhalese players as one of the oldest games of India, with the characteristic two-row hole pattern found cut in the rocks of the oldest temples (p. 7).
- A “set” consists of multiple games; the set ends when one player has fewer than nine seeds and cannot fill even one hole (p. 9, § 12).
- Between games, players refill their kampong holes from their rumah stores; a player with fewer seeds fills only as many holes as his seed count permits, leaving the remainder empty and unused for that game (p. 9, § 11).
- Overbeck provides a fixed opening system for the player with all nine holes filled: begin with hole 1, then the hole opposite the opponent’s last landing hole, then the second hole to the right of the previously emptied hole (p. 10).
- The Javanese form of the game was considered a women’s game, and local servants were reluctant to explain the rules to a European (p. 7).
Conclusion
Overbeck’s note serves as a compact comparative record of a mancala-family game as it was played across the Straits Settlements, Java, and Ceylon in the early twentieth century, preserving a Ceylonese rule set that he considered more sophisticated than the Malay version already published in the journal. Its value lies in documenting the game’s wide geographic reach and the continuity of its core mechanics across culturally distinct communities.
Context
- The article reflects the casual ethnographic practice of colonial-era Europeans who recorded local customs encountered during travel, here on a mailsteamer route between the Straits Settlements and Ceylon.
- The piece builds directly on Mr. Hellier’s earlier description of the Malay variant (JSBRAS No. 49, December 1907), positioning the Ceylonese rules as a more complex supplement to that account.