A Beginner's Guide to Playing Sungka or Congkak

Congkak is a fun two-player game where each player tries to get more shells into their home than their opponent. To set up the game, place the Congkak board between you and your opponent, and place 7 shells in each hole on the board, not including the two homes at the ends. Then, choose one player to go first. On a player’s turn, they scoop up all of the shells in any one of the holes on their side and drop one into the next hole to the left, followed by the next hole to the left, and so on until they run out of shells in their hand. Players always drop a shell into their own home (the home to their left) when they pass by it, but they skip their opponent’s home. If a player's last shell drops in an occupied hole, the player picks up the shells in that hole and continues around the board. If a player drops their last shell into their own home, they take another turn and choose another one of their holes to grab shells from. If a player drops their last shell in an empty hole on their side, they collect all of the shells in the neighboring hole on their opponent’s side and put them in their home. Then, their turn is over. If a player drops their last shell in an empty hole on their opponent’s side, their turn is also over. The game continues until there are no shells left in any of the holes on the board. The player with the most shells in their home wins! To learn more, including how to play different variations of Congkak, scroll down!