Liputan6.com, Jakarta – If you currently live in Indonesia, chances are you may have heard some “tock-tock-tock” sound around the corner. The sounds came from the sensational toy called lato-lato. 

Simplicity is the best elegance, just like lato-lato’s design. It’s simply just two plastic balls connected by a string. And people just play it like yo-yo as the two balls hit each other. 

The popularity does not stop for kids. Some celebs started to play it, a wedding was using lato-lato to create musical effect, a police showed tutorial how to play lato-lato (he later apologized, although many netizens were baffled that he was made to apologize), and even President Joko Widodo looked happy when playing this toy alongside Governor of West Java Ridwan Kamil. 

Some of the boys preferred to collect lato-lato in different colors and sizes, and that brought fortune to toy-sellers. One toy-seller in Jakarta, Juleha, said she could gain up to one million rupiah from selling lato-lato in one day.

One of the biggest marketplaces in Indonesia also witnessed its popularity. 

“On Tokopedia, the sales from lato-lato toys were rising to nearly 57 times at the moment of new year 2022-2023,” said Head of External Communications Tokopedia, Ekhel Chandra Wijaya.

Lato-lato itself is not a new toy. Similar toy called clackers is also on sale in the United States. 

The popularity in Indonesia also prompted experts to speak up. One of the supporting opinions said this toy could keep children away from their smartphones.

Just like in other East and Southeast Asian countries, smartphone games are immensely popular in Indonesia. Not just adults and teenagers, the children are also often seen busy playing games on their phones. 

“Children essentially have excess energy that must be channelled through positive activities and beneficial for their developments. Not to mention these days children cannot be apart from phones. With this game, children will start to not concentrate on the games on their phones,” said Yudha Febrianta, a sports lecturer at Muhammadiyah University of Purwokerto.

However, recently people have found the online version for lato-lato.

Permainan lato-lato beberapa minggu ini menjadi perbincangan hampir seluruh masyarakat Indonesia