A classic Indonesian game, simple but unique. Each player controls a group of 12 pins and may move them in any direction on the board. When capturing, though, you are allowed to move your piece as many spaces as you wish and go through the loops on the corners of the board. Attacks can come from anywhere so you must be careful!
A game for two players, with an approximate duration of 20 minutes.
Too little is known about the history of this game. We know it is a traditional game played in the island of Java, in Indonesia, and that it is almost unknown outside of it.
It is not easy to find Permainan's place among other board games, because its common features, like a board made up from crossing lines and the simple orthogonal or diagonalmovement are too common and were reinvented several times across the globe.
On the other hand, the way the pieces are captured and the loops that extend from the board are almost unique, making comparisons difficult. We do know, however, that a few variations of Permainan do exist in rural places in China and Korea.
The game was named "Surakarta" by foreigners, after an ancient city of Java. It was afterwards called "Roundabouts", so it sounded less exotic to English speaking people. It's native name, Permainan, simply means "the game".