KL Meet-Up

So, this the 1st post of 2011. The 1st cards of the year arrived today but i still have a few from 2010 to post. One of them is this one from a meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, sent by Lyan "imajica" in December 19th. The postcrossers at this meeting were "imajica", "Lim8", "lalander", "Verlustangst", "Tjclassic8482", "vin_ann" and "newrule".

The postcard and stamp shows Konda-Kondi, a malay traditional game.

"Konda kondi is also known as Perik Mata, and it requires a player to be sharp minded and physically strong, because the game requires the player to preplan a safe direction to flip a piece of wood, and chase the flipped wood to strike out the opponent. This game requires a wide playing field.

The required equipment needed is made of two pieces of stick measuring 15cm and 30cm in length. The sticks are cylindrical and measure 2cm in radius. The shorter stick is called ‘anak’ and the longer stick is called ‘ibu’. A hole 15cm deep is made in the ground to place the longer stick.

To begin the team selection and to determine which team begins first, each team captain adopts the ‘rock-paper-scissors’ duel, and winner begins.

First Round : The first player begins the game by placing the shorter stick across the hole. The longer stick is used to flip the shorter stick into the air, upon which the longer stick will be placed across the hole to replace the flipped shorter stick. Whilst the shorter stick is flipped into the air, the opposing team will attempt to grab the shorter stick before the stick touches the ground (similar to a home run concept in baseball). If the opposing team succeeds, the entire starting team is considered struck out, and the opposing team gets its turn. However if the opposing team fails to catch the flipped stick before it touches the ground, the opposing team member must quickly retrieve the stick and throw the stick with the aim to get the stick into the hole or to touch the longer stick that is now across the hole.

If the thrown stick manages to get into the hole or touch the longer stick, the starting player who originally flipped the stick is consider struck out. But if the thrown stick did not manage to get into the hole or touch the longer stick, the starting player gets points by measuring the distance between the thrown stick’s landed position and the hole, using the longer stick as a measure. For every length of the longer stick, the starting player gets 1 point.

Second Round: From the restart, the starting player will retrieve his shorter stick and gently lobs it in the air, with the aim to hit the shorter stick as far away as possible with the longer stick. He is given three chances, if his first two attempts fall short.

Again, the opposing team will attempt to catch the stick and repeat the earlier process. If unsuccessful, the starting player will again accumulate points, measured as before. The points received in this round are added to previous round.

Third Round: Next, the players will move on to what is called ‘patuk ular’. The player will place the shorter stick against the sides of the hole, and then hit the top portion of the shorter stick with the longer stick so that it flips. If done correctly, the shorter stick will flip in mid air, and the player will attempt to hit the shorter stick as far away as possible with the longer stick. The distance will determine additional points to be scored, measured using the same methodology as before. The team with the most points at the end wins." - in: http://www.johordt.gov.my/bi/pelancongan/page/permainan_tradisional/