'CAPLONG' OR BAMBOO TOY GUN

Bedil Buluh is a traditional game of the folks in Terengganu and also in northern states of Peninsular Malaysia known as ‘Caplong’ that resembles a warfare or combat. Usually played by two to ten players, its main item is guns (bedil) made from bamboo. Bedil is a Terengganu word for gun and buluh is bamboo.  To make the gun, the bamboo is cut into three parts which make the gun barrel, the trigger and the trigger guard. While the bullets are made of hard fruits such as the penar, mengkirai (cenerai), senduduk or pellets simply made from wet paper from old newspaper.

Players stand in two teams, the attacking and the defending.  Before playing, both teams will test their guns by thrusting the ‘bullets’ into the barrel. Then the battering ram is inserted into the barrel to shoot the bullet out with an explosion.

The attacking team begins by searching and shooting the defending who are hiding. Meanwhile the defending will counterattack by trapping and shooting back the attackers.  Any player who is shot is considered ‘dead’ and the shooting goes on until all players in one of the teams are shot.  Shots are only valid if they hit the body of the players, not the head.

The winning points are counted based on the number of players in the team who are not shot in a round of a game. 

As each round of a game is completed, the teams will switch role to being the attacker or the defence.  

Translated by Dr. Megawati Omar, PhD.