Ingkling, Occupying Rice Fields on a Jetplane!

Is it possible to occupy rice fields on a jetplane? This is only possible to achieve in the cheerful ingkling game. Look how children in some kampongs in Yogyakarta play the game.

Ingkling, Occupying Rice Fields on a Jetplane!

Throw the gacuk and leap with one of your feet. Leap on selected squares and occupy as many fields as you can in order to block the movement of your opponent. What kind of fame is that? You might have forgotten it since it must have been years that you never play it. Or else, you even do not know it at all since you were more familiar with such modern games as basketball, skateboard, or may be playstation.

YogYES will explain further about the game. The game is called ingkling, which means walking or leaping on one foot. Where you have to leap over are the squares drawn on the ground or cemented place. In order for you to be able to play the game you have to own gacuk that is a flat thing that is thrown to the squares; it is usually made from fragment of broken tile.

The gacuk must be thrown to all of the squares, beginning from the first square until later back to the first square again. The square where the gacuk lays on it cannot be stepped on; thus, the player must leap over it. You cannot step on your opponent's gacuk either. Otherwise, the turn will go to other player. Gacuk cannot be thrown to wrong square or fall on the line bordering the squares. If the gacuk touches the lines, the turn will go to other player.

Each player will compete for the first turn to throw his or her gacuk. The player who gets the first turn will have the right to occupy certain field to be his or her rice field. However, before occupying the rice fields, the player must leap on his or her foot or ingkling passing each of the squares with the gacuk being placed on his or her upper palm with no allowance for it to fall down. After returning to the starting point, the player throws the gacuk to a certain square by turning his back on the game arena. The square on which the gacuk falls is marked to be the occupied rice field.

Some children in some kampongs in Yogyakarta still play this game in the afternoon at around 03:00 p.m. until Maghrib when Moslems say their prayer. Children also play this game during break time in schools. For you who played this game in your childhood might remember your experience when you sweated after playing this game and you bought the soda pop in front of the school fence and then continued the classes with wrinkled clothes and smelly body.

In fact, the game that is usually called engklek or engkling varies. One of them is the ingkling with the squares that are composed in the shape of an airplane. The others are the mountain ingkling and windmill ingkling that form like mountain and windmill respectively. Another one is ingkling saruk that is played with the squares forming an airplane but the gacuk is kicked by using the toe tips. Please see the picture.

Ingkling is usually played by two or more players. To determine who will play first, the players raffle off the turn with hom pim pa, namely selecting the winner who opens different palm from others. If there are only two players or two players left, they do ping sut, namely confronting two different powers represented by fingers. Usually, each player will try best to get the first turn so that sometimes they are dishonest by turning the open palm or changing the competed finger.

Some players also play foul in the game. For example, the player withdraws his foot that already touches the line in order to maintain his turn. In ingkling saruk, the player may withdraw the gacuk that is exceeding the line, also in order to maintain his or her turn. When there is a player playing foul, the others will cry, "Hey, you play foul!" while laughing mockingly to him or her.

The game becomes very interesting when there is a dominant player with many fields located in sequential squares. A burst of laughter will be heard since many players cannot leap over opponent's fields. Afterwards, many players will show sullen faces, except the winning player who will grin.

Through ingkling, children will learn to love something valuable. Sometimes, players will keep and use the same gacuk that is believed to bring luck to him or her. However, sneaky behavior begins to exist. Intentionally, a child throws his opponent's gacuk. Hence, little quarrel exists among the children, which sometimes ends with cries.

Isn't that exciting as well as touching? If you want to see this game, please visit some kampongs in Yogyakarta. One of them is in Sewon area, Bantul, where YogYES saw it including the happiness of the children playing the game. Are you going to try to play it during your leisure time after your tour? Please do. It will certainly be exciting and will reopen your beautiful memory of your childhood. You will be able to construct the rice fields on the plane. What is meant here is of course the ingkling squares in the form of a plane.

Text: Yunanto Wiji Utomo
Photo & Artistic: Agung Sulistiono Mabruron
English Translation: Emanuel, Downhill English Services