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[johnm]

Found some more gasing videos.  These are a little more exciting than the 2 hour spinners (have the sound up for the throws).
Before seeing these I never realized that the variety of tops called gasing are all wound on the 'top' side not on the tip or point side of the top.

[johnm]

and some fabrication videos:

a modern approach as an attempt to keep the tradition of the game going



a traditional approach to the long spinners

[Larry D.]

a modern approach as an attempt to keep the tradition of the game going

Good find John. To me they look like Delrin.
I wrote to Dr. Radin Umar Radin Sohadi, Chancellor of the Universiti Putra, Malaysia in early August. 
He got back to me and said that he was passing my email on to Dr. B.T. Hang Tuah.  But haven't heard back from Tuah yet.   
I'll have to follow-up.  Thanks for reminding me. 

[the Earl of Whirl]

The opening of that first video cracks me up.  That guy us throwing pretty hard.......and the camera pans over to a calm mother with a child sitting just a few feet from where the top lands!

It looks like lots of serious competition going on in the second video.  Many of the competitors look like they have dressed up for the occasion.  There even look like there are "team uniforms" for some of the later matches.

Thanks for some more fascinating vids!

[ta0]

Oh my, I can barely keep up with all the fascinating videos Johnm and others are posting!

That gasing craft show at the beginning of the first video made my collector buds drool.  I was really surprised that even the tall tops are thrown by wrapping the rope around the crown.  I believe those are called Gasing Jantung, what means heart-shaped top, and are from the state of Malacca in Malaysia.  I have one and we spun it with Takeshi using our standard wrapping from the tip, with good success.  It seems to me that by wrapping around the thick nob at the crown it is not possible to get much speed.  Now I need to try their traditional way.  Also on the first video I had to laugh when they proudly showed the damage inflicted to the tops: it reminded me our "ultimate battletop of the universe" 

I love the "battletop stadium" on the second video.  I guess the public is behind the wire fence for their own safety. The translation of the video file name is: middle weight top competition.  The rule of returning a still spinning top to the arena is something we should implement in our battles.  Somewhere I have a gasing battle rulebook in English: I need to look it up and post some of the rules.

Larry: great initiative to contact that university! Well done!  It would be great if we established a connection with some gasing experts.

The 4th video is a wonderful document on how the traditional giant gasing is made.  The question had been raised in the past of how a top with a metal part that appeared to be machined could be a traditional craft (i.e. made with no electricity).  Well there we see how the molten tin is poured and then turned on a foot operated lathe.  I would love to visit Mr. Abd Rahman shop one day and get one of those tops directly from the source.  The video also clearly shows the new style of throwing the giant gasing for the duration competition, boomerang style.  I was told it has added half an hour to the records.  The field of spinning gasing at the end is a great ending.

[Neff]

Thanks John, from that first video I now know how to wind and throw my gasing top! 

[johnm]

a modern approach as an attempt to keep the tradition of the game going

Good find John. To me they look like Delrin.
I wrote to Dr. Radin Umar Radin Sohadi, Chancellor of the Universiti Putra, Malaysia in early August. 
He got back to me and said that he was passing my email on to Dr. B.T. Hang Tuah.  But haven't heard back from Tuah yet.   
I'll have to follow-up.  Thanks for reminding me. 

In the video the word "nylon" is spoken and nylon can look a clean white like delrin but I bet they've tried many types of plastic.  Delrin would be tough and is available in lots of colors (and easily colored with dye) so it might be a good choice for team games.  Either way the plastic looks like it can handle some real abuse.

Perhaps the ebay seller of gasing store link might provide an additional point of contact.  They do offer new as well as old gasing.

[ta0]

Thanks John, from that first video I now know how to wind and throw my gasing top!

Well, for my giant Kelantan gasing I have known for a long time how to wrap it and throw it, IN THEORY, but I still have to do a good throw!    But the smaller one is no problem.

Perhaps the ebay seller of gasing store link might provide an additional point of contact.  They do offer new as well as old gasing.

I got all my large Malaysian tops from her.  Margaret (Maggie) is very nice.  She is Malay married to a German guy.  She lives in Kuala Lumpur but travels to the countryside to get the gasings from the source.  She has tried to help me with a special rope and with info on the grease they add to it, but she could not quite give me the information I wanted.  If you want to buy one of these gasings, I highly recommend her.

[Shootist]

Great Videos John.  It would be interesting to have a Gasing match like that in Orlando. How hard could it be to machine a Delrin Gasing Top from a CNC Machine. If enough people had them, we could have a Nice match in Florida.   

[johnm]

The flexability of the target in this video suggest the target is some reasonably thick rubber/foam type material (maybe like a shop floor mat?) which explains why the target tops were silent and bounced significantly while struck tops made a significant (awesome) sound.  The offense (second group of throwers) is somewhat funny.


Without the exact rules of the game this sequence of rounds of a competition is interesting but creates more questions than it answers.




 

[johnm]

sequence continues:







The video below is a long spinoff with this style of top.  The description says

The last 'penalty kick' for the gasing competition. Winner will b the one with the device can spin longer than the competitor.

[johnm]

While Googling around for rules, I read these nice articles which were surprisingly detailed for "travel" suggestions.

http://malaysiansinnewzealand.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/spinning-the-gasing/

http://ezinearticles.com/?Magic-of-Malay-Top-Spinning&id=2471927

[ta0]

Thanks John!  Great videos!

Whatever the material of those circles, they have to be very tough!

The winner top in the last video was still going strong when the video ended.  It was interesting to see that they would not stop it even if the match was over.

Lots of information on the second article you linked.  Somewhere I have rule book translated to English of striking gasing competitions.  I'll scan it an post it whenever I can find it (it is currently lost but I will eventually find it.)

[johnm]

a morning show looks at a personal collection of nice gasing

[Larry D.]

Great find John, thanks for posting this. 
 
That is an awesome collection of gasing and beautifully displayed.