Today many people, children and adults alike, have the opportunity to play with automated or computerised games ranging from toy cars and robots to Play Station. But in Sumbawa regency on Sumbawa island, the invasion of modern toys and games has not entirely displaced traditional pastimes that have been part of the local culture for hundreds of years.One such game is Balogo, traditionally played when the rice harvest is over. “Old farmers in Sumbawa, once they have finished harvesting the rice and have stored it in the Lumbung (rice barn), will enjoy leisure time playingBalogo,” said A Latif HS, chairman of the traditional arts associationSanggar Kesenian Pelat.
“Balogo is a simple game that is easy to make and easily played by anyone,” he said. “It uses coconut shell cut into triangles and placed on the ground and a 50-centimetre-long bamboo stick.”
The coconut shells, known as logo, are lined up in pairs about 1.5 metres apart. Players then throw their bamboo sticks from about five metres away, aiming to hit a logo.
The idea is to hit a coconut triangle without dislodging it. If this is done the player gets another turn. But a player whose throwing stick shifts one of thelogos must forfeit the next throw to his opponent.
The winner is the player who hits but does not move the most coconut shells.
The game is not unique to Sumbawa. It is also played in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. Latif says no one now knows where Balogo originated but points out that there were close historical connections between Sumbawa and Banjarmasin.
“Maybe that relationship led to communities in both places developing and playing the same kind of traditional games,” he said.
source:enchanting-lomboksumbawa.com
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