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ally regional differences –
gasings
in
Kelantan are called
gasing
uri
, a saucer
shaped
gasing
, while
gasing toyol
, shaped
like the fruit of a
berembang
tree (called
‘Mangrove Apple’), was often played in
Malacca.
Gasings
are either spun (with a string
or cord) or thrown. Spun
gasings
require a
tightly-woven string around the top while
the player throws or launches it away
from him while holding the exposed end
of the cord. For thrown
gasings
, the player
launches it directly to the floor using a
variety of launching methods – a good
spin is when the
gasing
spins upright for
a long time. It’s not very easy to spin a
gasing
, so it’s a game that tests one’s skill
and dexterity.
Batu Seremban
Batu Seremban
,
selambut
or five stones, is
a game of dexterity, agility and hand-eye
coordination. Traditionally played with
five little sewn sacks of crushed pebble,
it was a popular game with children and
women.
Played individually or in groups of
two to five people,
Batu Seremban’s
older
variants utilised rubber seeds, pebbles
or other round and small objects. The
allure of the game lies in the dexterity
and agility challenge that it poses – one
has to be not only quick with one’s hand,
but accurate as well.
Players may sit on the floor with legs
crossed or it can be played on a table,
standing up. The game is incredibly
simple without any complicated steps and
has layers of challenges to be achieved.
The player starts by holding all five sacks
and throwing it onto the ground, catching
one stone using the back of the hand. She
then throws that caught stone up (called
the “mother stone”) and picks another
stone off the ground, setting it aside in
her other hand.
This repeats for the first round until
all stones are gone. The second round
follows the same steps, but this time, she
has to pick two stones up simultaneously
and the pattern continues. There are other
advanced steps beyond the fourth one
that require ultra fast tossing and picking.
It is a classic and timeless game of
agility for anyone and can really keep
you entertained for hours on end on
top of improving fine motor skills and
hand-eye-coordination, so there’s little
wonder why it was incredibly popular
in schools and at home.
Cover
STORY
Gasing
A Malay variant of the spinning top, the
word
gasing
also refers to the game of top
spinning unique to Malaysia and Singa-
pore. It was very popular back then in the
kampungs
(villages), especially amongst
the members of the Malay community.
While native and unique to Malaysia,
humans have been entertaining and
amusing themselves with the wonders
of spinning top physics for centuries, so
the invention of the gasing was probably
an evolution of a more rudimentary toy
in older times. In the past, it was usu-
ally played at the end of the rice harvest
season as farmers would have more time
on their hands, the same way it is with
the flying of
waus
.
Gasings
can come in a variety of
shapes, sizes and colours, with child-
friendly variants smaller and typically
heart shaped. Technically there are actu-