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Newly introduced cup game `can improve concentration'
In the era of video games that have children transfixed to their computer or cell phone screens, a relatively new game involving 12 plastic cups was unveiled to the public in Jakarta on Wednesday
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In the era of video games that have children transfixed to their computer or cell phone screens, a relatively new game involving 12 plastic cups was unveiled to the public in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The cup-stacking game - or sport stacking game - is played with the 12 cups being constructed as fast and as correctly in pyramid order as possible.
During Wednesday's press conference, chocolate milk beverage brand Ovaltine, which is sponsoring the game, had several kids demonstrate their stacking skills.
The game is said to bring balance to children's motor skills and improve their concentration.
"I like playing games on the Internet and reading comics, but playing the cup-stacking game offers me something different, better hand reflexes," Nabila Asmarani, a sixth-grader at the Darussalam private elementary school in South Bekasi, told The Jakarta Post.
"And I can concentrate better during exams, which usually I find hard, because I like to chat with my friends," added the 12-year-old, who has been playing her new hobby for about a month now.
Nabila and several of her schoolmates were among the first children in the country introduced to the game, which has been popular in the US since the 1980s.
The stacker's task is to build the pyramid-shaped pile of 12 cups and dismantle them within a given amount of time.
The best stackers are those who perform the correct sequences in the fastest time and build the most accurate pyramid construction.
Nabila said her best time so far was 15.8 seconds, while her friend Darryl proudly said, "My fastest timing is 14 seconds."
As the game trains players to rapidly move both left and right hands concurrently, Grace said, "That will improve the children's hand-eye coordination as well as their reaction time."
Ovaltine representative Hendro Harijogi Poedjono said they were looking to introduce the game to students in 200 elementary schools around Greater Jakarta and Surabaya, East Java.
The game's main equipment, called Crazy Cups, and trainers will be provided free.
The Ovaltine Crazy Cups Challenge 2009 competition will follow between June and August, with the winners in individual and group categories given the chance to participate in the Asia Sport Stacking Tournament in Singapore.
