Spinning Tops (Gasing) The Forgotten Game

Gasing or tops spinning, is a traditonal games popular among Malay(Native people). Especially amongst the villagers in the State of Kelantan and Melaka. Each season after the rice harvest,several villagers will come together to challenge each other in an ultimate test of skill. The villagers believed that the spinning tops would help bring good harvest.

Both adults and children can play the game. But bigger or giant top spinning is more of a games for adult than children. the one used by adults are much bigger in size and can spin for a period of time whereas the one played by kids are much smaller.

The Gasing or top spinning is usually made of wood or hard fruit, iron and lead. One of those huge top from Kelantan actually weighs about 4 to 5 Kilograms while a smaller top is about 0.1 to 0.5 Kilograms.

Gasing or top spinning is split into two categories. One is for ornamental purposes and while the other is for playing.

There are many types of spinning tops available here in Malaysia. The following may give you an idea;

Images Source: Google Images

But as kids in Malaysia, The throwing top is the most common type of top today.

Image Source: Google Images

History

Spintops are among the oldest toys ever discovered by archaeologists. A clay top unearthed in Iraq was dated to 35th century BC—nearly six thousand years ago. The wooden top below was carved circa 1300BC and later discovered in the tomb of King Tut!

Tops made from fruits, nuts and seeds have been discovered amongst indigenous tribes throughout the world.  

Archeologically speaking, tops made of clay have been found in Iraq dating from 3500 B.C. In China, so-called whip tops have been found dating from approximately 1250 B.C. And, the ancient Greeks enjoyed tops, having depicted playful top scenes on their pottery. As early as 300 B.C. Roman children used tops to add spice to their summer afternoons

Working Principle

Image Source: Google Images

It would seem a fascination with small spinning totems is nearly ubiquitous across cultures and though they come in all shapes and sizes, every top defies gravity in the exact same way.

A spinning top is held upright by angular momentum. As Newton said, objects in motion, stay in motion. They don't change direction or slow down without the application of an outside force. In fact, a well balanced top that is spun perfectly upright would never slow down if it were not for the energy lost to friction against the spinning surface.

Though the magical dance of the top is quite beautiful on a purely aesthetic level, human ingenuity soon recognised a greater potential for this ancient amusement and the top was enlisted for help with more practical purposes. Namely, gambling.

Gasing Games in Malaysia

1) The "Spinning Contest", the one who can spin his top for the longest time wins the match. Once the top has been launched, the top is carefully scooped off the ground using a thin wooden bat. It will then be transferred to a little wooden surface and left to spin for as long as possible. The trick here is to ensure that the top doesn't topple during the transit. Tough as it may seem and unbelievably so, the current record stands at two hours.

2) The "Striking Match" is far more exciting that the first. At least you won't need to stand there for hours watching a top spin and spin and spin. The "striking match" is as the name suggests. Each contestant must try to hit their opponent's tops so that the already spinning tops will topple and loses its balance and speed.

Modern Tops

For the purposes of this post we will focus on tops that are spun by hand. In fact, many modern tops are still made by hand. Often from wood turned on a lathe.

Gif Source: gif-finder.com

Other tops are made of metal, glass or plastic. There is such a great variety of tops from around the world that famed architects Ray and Charles Eames produced a short film called "Tops" in 1969. The film features beautiful tops from around the world as well as some everyday objects that can be spun like tops.

Using modern materials and technology designers have attempted to minimize friction as much as possible in order to create tops that spin for a very, very long time. Lacopo Simonelli currently holds the record with a non-mechanical top that spins for over 50 minutes.

Gif Source: gif-finder.com

Of course, one could nearly eliminate friction altogether with a magnetic spinning top.

Gif Source: gif-finder.com

So, despite the many revolutions in the Spinning Top games, it has somewhat become a forgotten childhood game especially when it was famous pre-millenia. There are however folks in the rural area who still maintain and hold games and competitions there albeit not on a scale that would get national news coverage.

So, what do you say we bring this game back to a neighbourhood near you!!!