Malay Magic by Walter William Skeat

Main chongkak, again, is a game played with a board (papan chongkak) consisting of a boat-shaped block. In the top of this block (where the boat's deck would be) are sunk a double row of holes, the rows containing eight holes each, and two more holes are added, one at each end. Each of the eight holes (in both rows) is filled at starting with eight buah gorek (the buah gorek being the fruit of a common tree, also called kelichi in Malacca). There are usually two players who pick the buah gorek out of the holes in turn, and deposit them in the next hole according to certain fixed rules of numerical combination, a solitary buah gorek, wherever it is found, being put back and compelled to recommence its journey down the board. A similar game is, I believe, known in many parts of the East, and was formerly much played even by Malay slaves, who used to make the double row of holes in the ground when no board was obtainable. The Malay game of Draughts (main dam) is played, I believe, in exactly the same manner as the English game. Backgammon (main tabal), on the other hand, is played in two different ways. The "Tiger" Game (main rimau), or "Tiger and Goat" Game (main rimau kambing), is a game which has a distinct resemblance to our own "fox and goose," there being usually four tigers to a dozen of the goats. Cards "Cards are called Kertas sakopong. The Malays are fond of card games, but few Europeans have taken the trouble to understand or describe them. The late Sir W. E. Maxwell contributed the following description of daun tiga 'lei to the Notes and Queries of the Journal of the Straits Asiatic Society. It refers to the game in question as played in Perak:-- "Hearts, Lekoh. King, Raja. Diamonds, Retin. Queen, Bandahara Clubs, Kalalawar. Knave, Pekah. Spades, Sakopong. Ace, Sat. To shuffle, Kiyat, mengiyat. To deal, Membawa. To cut, Kerat. To sweep the board, make everyone pay, Mengelong. "Three cards are dealt out to each player. The highest hand counting by pips is that which contains the greatest number of pips after the tens are deducted. Thus a knave, ten, and nine is a good hand. "The best hand is three aces, Sat tiga. "The next best is three court-cards, Kuda; naik kuda. "The next is nine. "The next is eight. "All these four hands are known as terus. A hand of three threes is really a good hand, being nine, but it is considered a propitiation of good luck to throw it down (without exposing it), and announce that one is buta, in the hopes of getting good luck afterwards. "Each player makes two stakes--kapala and ekor. They may be of equal value, or the ekor may be of greater value than the kapala. "The kapala must not be of greater value than the ekor; that is called tual ka ujong (tual = berat). "Or there may be a single stake only, which is called podul. "Betting between players is called sorong, or tuwi, or sorong tuwi. "A pool, tuwi tengah. "The ekor stake is only paid to the dealer if he holds one of the hands called terus, and if a smaller hand is held by a player, then the dealer takes both kapala and ekor (mengelong). "A player who holds thirty exactly (except when he has three court-cards, kuda) is said to be out (buta). "Any one except the player on the right of the dealer may cut. The player who cuts looks at the bottom card of those that he lifts, and if he thinks it is a lucky cut he accepts it and puts down the card he has lifted (pengerat). "The dealer then puts the rest of the pack on top of the cut, and in his turn lifts a portion of the pack (pengangkat), and looks at the bottom card. "There are all sorts of names for different cards and combinations of cards of various degrees of luck, and these are quoted by the cutter and dealer, each declaring his confidence in the luck coming to him by reason of the cutting or lifting of a particular card. Five of clubs, Tiang ampat Penghulu chelong. Chukup dengan gambala-nia. Nine of diamonds, Bunga kachang raja budiman. Ten of clubs, Gagak sa-kawan raja di-hilir. Singgah makan pedindang masak. Masak pun lalu muda pun lalu. Ace of diamonds if cut, Buntut kris Raja Bandahara. Do. if the hands of the dealer, Anak yatim jalan sa'orang. Satu pun tidak marabahaya. Two of diamonds, Semut ginting Che Amat pelak. Two of hearts, Batang jamban. Six is an unlucky card, Daun anam jahanam. Nine of hearts, Hari panas kubang ber-ayer. "A player does not hastily look at his three cards and learn his fate at once, but he prolongs the excitement by holding his cards tight together, and looking alternately at the outside ones, and last of all at the middle one, sliding out the latter between the two others little by little. Thus it is left uncertain for some time whether a card is an eight or a seven, a nine or a ten. "A man to whom a court-card, an eight, and an ace is dealt (if the eight is in the middle), on finding that he has eleven by the two outside ones, says, for instance, Handak kaki tiga, and then commences to slide out the middle card, hoping that it is going to be an eight, or at all events a seven (three pips on each side). This particular hand is called lang siput, because it is certain to carry off something. "A man who has just held a winning hand will say, in expressing a hope of continued good luck, 'Teman handak pisang sarabu, sudah sa-batang sa-batang pula.' (The plantain called sarabu is one which puts out fruit from every stem of the perdu about the same time, or one immediately after another.)" [708] The following account of card games as played in Selangor was compiled some years ago by the writer. The names of the cards used in Selangor are these:-- Hearts, Lekok or Pangkah. Diamonds, Reten (retim), or Chiduk. Clubs, K'lawer, or Kelalawer. Spades, Dayong Kling, or Sakopong. King, Raja. Queen, Proh, or Nyonya. Knave, Pekak, or Hamba. Ace, Sat. To shuffle, Banchoh, or Menggaul. To deal, Membagi. To cut, K'rat. To sweep the board, Merelong, or Mengg'long. To pay all round, Mendader chingkeh. A picture or court card, Angkong, or Kuda. A three, Jalor (e.g. two threes, dua jalor). A card (ordinary), Daun. A sequence, G'lik (Daun sa-g'lik). The three most important card games are--(1) main sakopong, (2) main chabut, (3) main tiga 'lei, or pakau.