Malay Magic: Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay PeninsulaSkeat, Walter William
Religion
Malay Magic: Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay Peninsula
Skeat, Walter William
Magic -- Malay Peninsula; Malays (Asian people) -- Folklore; Malays (Asian people) -- Social life and customs
2. Main chabut is a species of vingt-et-un, and is played with either
twenty-one or thirty-one points. If twenty-one points only is the game,
court-cards are not counted; but if the game is thirty-one points
they are also added in. Two cards are dealt by the dealer (perdi)
to each player, who draws (chabut) fresh cards from the bottom of
the pack in his turn, and gets as near as possible to thirty-one. If
he thinks he cannot safely draw another card (e.g. after twenty-six
pips are in his hand) he "passes" (which is called b'lit kechil if he
stops at twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight, and b'lit besar
if he stops at twenty-nine or thirty).
If he obtains exactly thirty-one pips he is said to "enter the points"
(masok mata); but no player can draw more than seven cards, and if he
has, after drawing to the full limit, still failed to obtain as many
pips as he wants, he is said to "enter the pack" (masok daun). I may
add that the first two cards are called lunas or "keels," and this
may be of various kinds, e.g.:--
1. Lunas nikah, i.e. angkong dengan sat (a court-card and an ace).
2. Kachang di-rendang di-tugalkan, i.e. two aces; a very convenient
hand, as the aces may be reckoned as either one or eleven, as
occasion may require.
3. Lunas sa-glabat, or sagaji ampat-b'las, i.e. angkong dengan daun
ampat (court-card and four).
4. Lunas dua jalor, two threes.
5. Ace and two, which is the best of all.
In playing chabut or "casting out," the tens should be thrown away
(di-buang daun puloh). When two players have the same number of
pips--e.g. nine and nine or eight and eight--the coincidence is
described in the words, Jumpa di jalan, di-adu, kalah, di-chabut,
mati. To be "bluffed" is called kena ranjau (wounded by a caltrop).
And again, when a player has obtained, let us say, twenty-six pips
with six cards, and so has only one more chance, and is afraid to
risk it, his position is ridiculed in the phrase, Sa-nepak Ulu Klang,
a jest of obviously local coinage.
The phrase Tengah tiang (half mast), again, is applied to twenty-five
pips held irrespective of the number of cards; and if more than
thirty-one are obtained, the player is said to be out (mati, or
masok piring).
3. Daun tiga 'lei or Pakau is played here as follows:--
Three cards are dealt by the dealer to each player, and the winner
is he who holds the greatest number of pips, with certain exceptions.
Daun t'rus The best hand is three aces (tiga sat).
The next is three threes (tiga jalor).
The next is three tens (tiga puloh).
The next is three court-cards (tiga angkong or
tiga kuda).
Of other hands the best is a remainder of nine
pips left after deducting ten from a hand of
nineteen pips.
The next is a remainder of eight pips, and so
on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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