BORNEO
around the world in 80 plays
Words by Chad Wilkinson
Back in 2023 we covered the tiny nation of Brunei, the smallest country we’ve visited on our tabletop tour. This month we’re heading back to the island of Borneo - of which Brunei constitutes a small portion - to see what else we can find.
Whilst technically a shared territory between Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia - all countries we’ve previously covered - the inevitable cultural crossover, and Borneo’s status as third largest island in the world, makes it worthy of a closer look. This is most prominent when examining Borneo’s traditional games, which, whilst having their origins, permeate between borders in interesting ways. The mancala-style game of Congklak, for example, may utilise different playing materials (shells, seeds, beads), rules variants (typically concerning the number of pits or holes), and design choices (ranging from plain to various Naga serpents and birds).