Dakon board game suffers from influx of high-tech games

Dakon board game suffers from influx of high-tech games

By A. Ariobimo Nusantara

JAKARTA (JP): Modernization has brought a lot of changes, not only to big, important issues, such as a nation's economic policies but also to small, seemingly unimportant matters, like toys and games.

In place of traditional toys and games, today's children, particularly those living in big cities, are more familiar with modern toys and games. Many of today's toys are high-tech, such as computer games or sophisticated battery-operated toys. Few metropolitan children know of the games and toys their parents and grandparents played with in their childhood; many of the traditional games and toys have been replaced by manufactured ones.

One of the popular traditional games which is becoming obsolete is dakon, which, according to Indonesian archeological records, is a very ancient game. This game has been played in various parts of Indonesia since prehistoric times, in particular during the megalithic era. Dakon was found among megalithic artifacts in South Sulawesi, Ciampea (Bogor, West Java) and Matesih (Solo, Central Java). However, its role in the Stone Age remains a mystery.

In olden days, dakon boards were made of andesite, with holes carved in the surface to serve as receptacles. In archeological terminology, this object is referred to as the dakon stone. Today's dakon is vastly different from the old one; most are made of wood, others of plastic or other materials.

A wooden dakon board measures 50 centimeters long, 20 centimeters wide and 10 centimeters thick. Holes with a diameter of 5 centimeters and a depth of 3 centimeters are carved in the surface of the board. The minimum number of holes is 12. Two of the holes, one at each end, are bigger and serve as a barn for each player. Sawo kecik (Manilkara Kauki) seeds, or marbles are used as dakon pawns. If wood is hard to obtain, the game can be played on the ground using pebbles. The minimum number of players is two, each taking turns according to the players' agreement. The number of pebbles or sawo kecik seeds is not limited but is decided according to need.

The game is rarely played today but can still be found in all its variations in many parts of Indonesia. In North Sumatra, it is called congklak with sea shells used as the pawns. It is also played by adults.

Friendship

In South Sumatra (Lahat and its surroundings) the game is often played during the fruit season. Returning home from school, children pass their leisure time with various games using fruit seeds, including the setembak or dakon. In rural communities the game is sometimes played on the riverside while children wait for their buffaloes to finish bathing. The setembak game indirectly promotes friendship among children.

In Java, the dakon is not a monopoly of the villagers. The game is frequently played at the royal courts, hence the various forms and types of dakon boards. The game is usually played in the afternoon after school hours, or in the evenings during a full moon.

A toss-up decides who starts the game. The winner of the toss begins by taking the pawns from one of the receptacles and dropping them clockwise, one by one, into the other receptacles. If the last pawn reaches the barn, the player starts again with pawns from another receptacle. The last pawn dropped is decisive because the player is entitled to take all the pawns from the receptacle across the last piece. The player stops when the last pawn falls into an empty receptacle.

This simple game has many benefits. First, the players are trained to be accurate in planning and playing the game, and fast in calculation, for example they must know beforehand into which receptacle they will drop the last pawn. Second, the barn will always remind players to save, little by little. Third, indirectly, players will become familiar with the environment, such as getting to know the sawo kecik plant or sea shells.

Marginalized

Even in rural areas, dakon is rarely seen being played by either children or adults. It is being replaced by modern games available in the market, such as Lego, Fischer Technik, Tamiya, Barbie dolls, video games, and Nintendo, with its various cassettes ready to feed the fantasy needs of children.

Not only dakon is suffering form the influx of modern, high- tech games and toys. Other inexpensive and creative traditional pastimes, such as playing with automobiles/carts made from the skin of a jeruk Bali (Citrus maxima), shaping forms out of glagah (a kind of small bamboo), games using play guns and toy horses made of banana leaves, rolling along discarded bicycle wheels with a stick and marble games are passing into oblivion. It is not impossible that, some day, games requiring children to use their creativity to make their own toys will become history.

The revolution in children's toys is not without impact. Many predict that the creativity of children is being reduced because of battery-operated toys and toys which are not conducive to stimulation.

R.E. Williams, a children's toys consultant, said that stuffed toys -- ready made and used without requiring any or little creativity of the mind -- constitute 80 percent of the total amount of toys children now play with, while wooden toys make up 10 percent of today's toys.

The influx of modern toys is also alienating children from the natural environment. Few children know the names of such trees as sawo kecik and the banana tree, let alone see them, or play with sea shells. Communication among peers is also on the decline.

A waning concern for the environment by children can be seen by the way they accumulate, and then discard in garbage dumps, plastic and metal toys. There seems little sign of any knowledge of the 3R Concept (reduce, reuse and recycle) among today's children.

We cannot possibly ignore this phenomenon. It is only proper that parents study and choose toys for their children with great care. At the very least, they should not let their children get used to throwing away used toys. They must teach them to be creative in the concept of reuse. In this way, progress will always have a positive impact on children.

-- The writer is an editor of educational books.