[1] The object of this game is to acquire the most points by capturing black and white tokens on the board.
[1] The board is initially laid out with all 120 black and white tokens in one of over 30 traditional patterns.
Players choose a piece called a "ka" which is used to capture the tokens on the board.
Each player's "ka" moves around the board capturing as many tokens as possible As a note, the "kas" are the only mobile pieces in the game.
In the first phase, each player must choose a column of tokens to capture on their side of the board.
The "ka" then enters the passage and captures any odd number of tokens of the same color that it forms a line with from any orthogonal direction.
If the "ka" is moving vertically (up and down), it can only capture tokens in a horizontal direction that it forms a line with.
Likewise, if the "ka" moves horizontally (left and right), then it can only capture tokens in a vertical direction that it forms a line with.
Stewart Culin in his book "Chess and Playing Cards: Catalogue of Games and Implements for Divination" (1898) describes a Malaysian game called Chuki (on pages 871-873)[3] whose board resembles that of Pasang's.
Only one intersection point is not occupied by a game piece, and that is the central point of the board which is occupied by a small raised square (called a "tempat mangkok" which translates to "place of bowl") much like that of Pasang.
Due to the bowl (represented by a relatively large white circle) occupying the central point, the four orthogonal line segments next to the central point are omitted from the board on Figure 175; and on Figure 174 which depicts a table game board version of Chuki, the square bowl blocks the central point and the four line segments next to it.
Therefore, both figures of Chuki show that the central point of the board and the four line segments next to it are not playable just like in Pasang.
Other descriptions of Chuki which were written as footnotes by other writers on page 872, describe a game called Chuke or Juki as a game resembling draughts, and this was from an 1852 Malay and English dictionary (pages 39, 62) by Crawford.
[3] An earlier account in 1835 describes Chuki or Tjoeki as resembling checkers with a 120 small squares with 60 black and 60 white pieces (1835, Roorda van Eysinga, Algemeen Javaansch en Nederduitsch woordenboek, p.
[3] There are other footnotes saying that Tjuki resembles draughts played with white and black beans.
The diagonal lines have no structural relevance to the game, they are just an aid in setting up the pieces on the board in one of over thirty possible patterns.
The game pieces are traditionally stored in a cup or bowl (called a "gadong")which sits on the central point of the board.
Once the pattern is agreed upon, and the pieces are laid out on the board accordingly, players then decide who will start first.
For their first move, each player must choose a 5 piece column to capture on their respective half of the board.
Remember, the "ka" no longer represents any color, and is essentially a non-colored piece.
A "ka" that moves horizontally (in a row) can only capture vertically (pieces on a column), and vice versa, a "ka" that moves vertically (in a column) can only capture horizontally (pieces on a row).
Therefore, a "ka" that moves horizontally must land on a space that it can capture vertically, and vice versa, a "ka" that moves vertically must land on a space that it can capture horizontally.