FOLKS GAME - TOR DUDUK

Tor Duduk is a Terengganu folkgame.  It is usually played by children on the lawn or areas in front of the house, thus, categorized as ‘pemainan laman’, or a Lawn Game.

Tor Duduk is played by five to eight people, and one of them is the ‘head’ player or ‘ibu’.  To start playing, all players cast lots to select the ibu.  The role of the ibu is to chase and touch (‘kill off’) the others to oust them from the game.  Any player who is almost or in danger of being touched (‘killed off’) needs to shout sit or ‘duduk’ full squat (thus the game named Tor Duduk) to save himself.  As he sits, the ibu then touches or taps him as a mark that the latter is not able to run anymore.  The ibu then continues chasing the others to sit them.  If the ibu manages to tap a running person (before sitting), the latter then is considered ‘killed off’ and thus ousted from the game.

The other players who are still not sitting and managing to escape the ibu can enable the sitting ones to run again by tapping them.  Hence the ibu has to chase and kill them again – a hard job indeed.

The game completes when all are ‘killed off’.  And the first to be ‘killed off’ will be the ibu in the following game.

Source : Permainan Tradisional Negeri Terengganu, Terbitan Lembaga Muzium Negeri Terengganu.

Translated by Dr. Megawati Omar, Ph.D.