Batu Seremban

I savor and relish this traditional childhood game I used to enjoy in elementary school, way back. I have a feeling that almost every culture has its own version of this game. Jacks is probably the American version of Batu Seremban.

There are many versions of this game in Malaysia too. The one that I'm used to is the one using 5 buah (direct translation : fruit, but in context, it refers to one beanie bag). I have made it for the kids couple of years ago, but since they couldn't master the skills needed for the game, it didn't stay long in our household. Recently, I made it again, this time, one set for each child. S made some of her own too. We used uncooked lentils for the filling.

It can also be played with pebbles, but I prefer the soft version. They look real cute too. When I played it, if the one you're not picking even slightly moved, you're out. With this soft type, it's even more difficult than the pebbles, since sometimes, they would lie on top of one another, and even if you pick the top one, the one under it would move too, even if it's just the fabric that moved.

The kids still haven't yet mastered the skills needed to play the game, but they're still working on it. In fact, even Baby Z tried a hand at playing it, much to our surprise. We had just finished our salat, and were sitting down doing zikr. As usual, Baby Z roamed about the room, weaving between us, smoothing out our prayer rugs, messing it up again, and climbing on hubby's stretched legs.

When he saw his sibs tossing the buah in the air and catching them, he took one buah in his chubby hand, grasped it tight, and started to shake that hand left to right, as if shaking a rattle. I suppose he was trying to toss it into the air like his sisters and brother. As he observed the buahs being tossed about, he suddenly opened that hand, releasing his grip on the buah, and tilted his hand so the buah fell to the floor.

All of us broke into laughter. It was really amusing to see Baby Z trying to imitate his sibs playing Batu Seremban. After a while though, the game no longer fascinated him, and he moved on to trying to close and open the bedroom door, eating the buah, much to our collective gasps, and trying to pull out my pendrive from the tower.