It never fails to amaze me how many fantastic tag game variations exist worldwide, and Gobak Sodor is no exception. Gobak Sodor is a traditional Indonesian game that dates back at least to the Majapahit Kingdom (around the 13th to 16th centuries), but the exact origins are unclear. The game was most popular on the island of Java, which shares its name with the popular coffee bean. While this children's game appears simple at first glance, a lot of strategy can be involved with how the offense and defense play the game.

The game is played by two teams; one team is the invading team, and the other is the defending team. The game is played on a grid that can be made by making lines in the ground or using the court lines of a gym. The defense must stay on the grid lines and cannot switch lines. The offense team is trying to invade through the grid to make it to the other side without getting tagged by a defender. Speed is not enough to be successful in this game, but teamwork. The offense wants to advance in waves, making it difficult for the defense to target a specific person. The defense wants to "trap" whenever possible by using players to corner invaders into getting tagged. The movements of the offense and defense become rhythmic when it is played at an advanced level.

Whenever I research traditional Indigenous sports, I'm always looking for the story's origins and what the sport might reflect of the culture that invented the game. Watching the coordinated movements of the offense and defense made me think that this game would have been an excellent training tool for the military. Besides working on cardiovascular conditioning and quick reflexes, it is the strategy that the teams must employ as a collective, which resembles successful army formations moving in battle. These tactics manifest in the game, whether piercing a defensive wall or trying to surround the enemy army.

Many consider the Majapahit Kingdom the “Golden Age of Indonesia.” Before the kingdom properly established itself, it was expelled by the rising power of the Singhasari kingdom. However, the Signhasari kingdom made a fatal mistake when they refused to pay tribute to the Mongol Empire under the reign of Kublai Khan. The Majapahit Kingdom allied with the Mongols to crush the Signhasari but then double-crossed the Mongols and expelled them from the area. The Majapahit kingdom continued to expand to surrounding islands, gaining power. If the game had been indeed invented around the time of the Majapahit Kingdom, it would have made sense that it had started as a military exercise because this was a time of conflict.

While there is no substantial proof that this was the game's origin, the "battle-like" movements of the offense and defense so closely mimic military strategy that I think it has to be more than a coincidence. Many games and sports across the world originated as some sort of military training, so this game might be a remnant of a time a more martial culture of the past. Still, it equally could be a traditional game with practical life skills baked right into the game. Speaking of tradition, Gobak Sodor is a favorite game played during various Indonesian festivals, especially August 17, their Independence Day.

Nowadays, children (but anyone can play it) are encouraged to play Gobak Sodor because it emphasizes cooperation, agility, and strategic thinking. Because it requires almost no materials, it is very accessible for anyone to play, regardless of socioeconomic status. All one needs is a large playing space where it is easy to make some lines, and you have a Gobak Sodor game! My students, ages six to twelve, have loved this game because Gobak Sodor combines some of their favorite games: Pac-Man Tag and Sharks and Minnows!

If you are interested in other lesson plans for traditional Indigenous sports from around the world, click here!

Materials: 

• A gym or sizeable outdoor play space

  • If you are outside, you will need something to make playing lines, like rubber disc dots, cones, or even spray paint, to make the necessary grid.

  • Jerseys and pinnies are optional but help eliminate confusion.

Prior Knowledge: This lesson could be taught when your students are doing studies on the continent of Asia for lower elementary. Upper elementary students may benefit when they are doing their Imaginary Islands. If a child’s island is located near Indonesia, they would probably know about this game if the people who migrated to their island came from Indonesia.

Presentation 

• If you are playing the game in a gym, you have the volleyball court lines and some of the basketball lines as your playing lines for the defense. This will save you a lot of setup time. If you are playing this game outside, the benefit is you can make the playing field as big as you want and play the game more traditionally. However, you will have to make the grid for the game, which you can use cones, rubber disc dotes, or even spray paint.

• I introduce this game to my (American) students by describing it as a combination of Pac-Man Tag, Sharks, and Minnows.

  • The Pac-Man tag component refers to the defense's movement restrictions, and the Sharks and Minnows dynamic is how the offense plays to get across without being tagged.

• Divide the class into two even teams, trying not to overload one team with all the faster children.

• One team will start the game on defense, and the other team will be the invading team.

• The defense team chooses a line to defend and can only move up and down that line. Their job is to tag the invading team players as they try to advance through the playing grid.

  • If a defender steps off their line while making a tag, it does not count.

• If an invader player steps on the sideline of the playing area, that counts as a tag because they didn’t stay within the boundary.

• Defensive players are not allowed to switch lines. They can only move back and forth on their line.

• A good strategy is to have your fastest students, or ones with the most endurance, be the sideline players if you are playing in a gym or the middle player if you are playing outside. These defenders have more area to defend, so you want to maximize their ability with players ready to work.

·      Here is a diagram of the playing area in a gym.

• The offensive team is trying to get past the defenders without being tagged. It behooves them to work together as a team to get as many players across as possible. A fast player running ahead of everyone might get them across, but it helps no one else. A good strategy is to run in pairs or groups, forcing the defender to allow some runners to go while they focus on one.

  • This is like a zebra strategy. When zebras are in a herd, it is difficult for the lion to distinguish one target to attack. The lion wants to isolate the zebra the same way that defenders want to team up to tag invaders. The zebra that strays away from the herd is usually the one that gets eaten first.

• If you have basketball teams, this game is excellent for working on trapping concepts for defense. It trains the defenders to work in pairs to block a runner's path. The defenders must move together in a coordinated pattern. If one gets there too soon or too late, there is a gap for the invader to fit through.

• Here are some concepts for running and trapping.

• When I play this game in the gym, I have the invaders only run one way. In the traditional game, the invaders run through the left side and can turn around and use the right side as soon as they reach the end. However, in a gym, for safety, I limit the running to only one direction at a time to limit accidental collisions.

• There are various ways the game can be scored. For example, one tag means the teams switch offense and defense; if one invader makes it through, the offense team wins. I use a different scoring method.

• The invading team tries to make it to the other side when I say go. Any tagged invader has a seat, and any invader who made it across waits until all teammates have been tagged or made it across. I then count how many players made it across, and that is the score for offense, and then I look at how many students are sitting down, and that is the score for defense. The students who made it across try to go back to the original start point, and any player who makes it back safely scores another point. Any tagged player joins their tagged teammates. We play until everyone is tagged, or it is mathematically impossible for the defense to win because the offense scored too many points.

  • The maximum number of points the defense can get is the number of invaders they are playing. Therefore, if the offense team has nine players and after a round or two has ten points, it has defeated the defenders.

  • I don't know if it's a brain development or a cultural phenomenon, but the defense almost always wins when we play the game. I don't know if this is due to the defense's better understanding of how to play as a team to stop the invaders or the propensity of invaders, especially the fastest ones, to sprint through without helping anyone else. The fastest players usually make it through in one pass, but then most of their teammates who they didn't help get tagged, so it becomes far trickier to make it across the second time with only one or two players. The defense can easily target them.

    • With more playing time, I wonder if this playing dynamic would start to change, and the invaders would begin understanding that it’s not the fastest team that wins but the one that best creates and takes advantage of opportunities to advance as a collective.

• This is the more traditional way that Gobak Sodor is played. This version seems very interesting because it's hard to make it through the first pass, but when someone does, the defense line player becomes conflicted about which path to guard.

Aims:

Direct:    For the students to play a dynamic tag-style game emphasizing teamwork and cooperation.

Indirect:  

Listening to directions

Teamwork and team building

Communication

Strategy

Sportsmanship

Physical skills practiced: 

·      Running at different speeds

·      Quick lateral movements

Control Of Error: 

The teacher should focus on watching the boundary lines and calling invaders who accidentally stepped on or over them. The students will have to judge whether a tag was made or not. If both parties disagree, one game of rock-paper-scissors can be a quick tool to settle the dispute.

Points of Interest: Because this game resembles so closely the movements that armies use to advance and retreat, it will be especially interesting to any student who enjoys studying ancient battle tactics.

Age: All Ages

Bibliography:

Dharma, D. A., & bssc. (2017, April 28). Let’s preserve “gobak sodor” an Indonesian traditional game. BINUS Square Student Committee. https://student-activity.binus.ac.id/bssc/2017/04/lets-preserve-gobak-sodor-an-indonesian-traditional-game/

Irfandi. (2024, February 22). Gobak Sodor: A spirited dive into Indonesia’s traditional game heritage. Medium. https://medium.com/@dq_irfandi/gobak-sodor-a-spirited-dive-into-indonesias-traditional-game-heritage-b3d6e256cbed

Wikimedia Foundation. (2024, January 5). Gobak Sodor. Wikipedia. https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobak_sodor

Wikimedia Foundation. (2025, February 3). History of Indonesia. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Indonesia

YouTube. (n.d.). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBh7pUKY9Wo