Some locals call it “Kon Koul Game (ល្បែងកូនគោល)” and it is a game played by young men, women, or teenagers in their free time during the dry season or the New Year season.
The playing equipment consists of two types: a stick or hook for hitting or knocking, and a ball (Kon Koul). The stick or hook is made of a bamboo stem, the size of a child’s wrist, with a smooth handle and a wooden base. The ball or Kon Koul is made of various types of wood, called Rolous or Kor tree, etc.
There are two types of ball, one type for playing during the day and one type for playing at night. If playing during the day, they take Rolous or Kor tree and cut them into circles, remove the corners to make them round, dry them in the sun, and then play.
If playing at night, they take Rolous or Kor tree and cut them into circles, light a fire to make it burn and then play with it to see the fire, bouncing up and down through the hit. Fireballs are played in some areas as entertainment, in some areas as a way to drive away demons when the locals are sick. The place to play is often a large field or farm, or if there is a large, wide, quiet road, sometimes they use some other place to play.
This game, the players are divided into two groups, with an equal number of at least 2 to 4 people. If there are both men and women playing, men can play with men, women can play with women, and they can mix. When playing, they mark the center of the ground with a marker and use a rice field dike or a stick the wood as a dike on each side of their left hand as a marker. If the players are all male, two men stand on the marker. If the players are all female, two women stand on the marker, facing each other. One of the two players holds a ball and places it in the center of the marker. Then the two players hold the end of a stick or hook and raise the stick up and hit each other, called “kai.” They hit each other from right to left and left to right three times. The two players all sneak up on each other to hit the ball from right to left so that the ball always runs to the left, which they keep their respective places.
This game is very intense. When fighting for the ball, it is forbidden for the players on both sides to grab the ball and throw it to their own place. They can only kick it with their feet. If one of the players grabs the ball, it is considered a loss and star over again. Another rule is that neither side can stand or run to grab the ball. Players are very careful about this rule because it is dangerous.
The opponent who manages to grab the ball to reach their end spot is called the winner and the game is played again. Only when it is time to stop playing, do they count the number of wins and losses to know how many times the team has won and how many times the team has lost. It is just a matter of honor and there is no reward.
According to some reports, in some regions, this game is played by rolling coconut shells into balls and kicking them with the feet. The method of winning and losing is similar to that of wooden balls that are hit with sticks. This game is an ancient Khmer game that is considered to be a kind of football, basketball, volleyball.
