86 SOME NOTES ON MALAY CARD GAMES. 



and not yet got nor exceeded thirty-one (or twenty-one) pips, 

 he is said to masok daun and wins even over a player who has 

 masok mata. Of those who masok daun, the one with the 

 smaller number of pips would win : but for two players to hold 

 such a hand hardly ever occurs. The player who gets more 

 than thirty-one (or twenty-one) points is said to be " dead" 

 mati, or "blind" bota, or "to go to pot" masok pering, liter- 

 ally ' enter the plate,' alluding to the plate in the centre of the 

 players into which he will fling his hand. When a player has 

 drawn cards, till he has a total of twenty-six, twenty-seven or 

 twenty-eight (or sixteen, seventeen, eighteen) points in his 

 hand and is afraid to draw another card for fear of exceeding 

 thirty-one (or twenty-one), he is said to be " in a small coil," 

 blit kechil, and "passes," if this happens, when he has twenty 

 nine or thirty pips, it is blit besar. 



" When two players have the same number of pips, e.g., 

 nine and nine or eight and eight — ," writes Mr. Skeat, "the 

 coincidence is described in the words, Jtwipa di-jalan, diadu 

 kalah, dichabat mati.'" This is not very intelligible. I believe, it 

 should be explained as follows. If I have passed with twenty- 

 nine or twenty-eight pips in my hand and another player after 

 me does the same, it is a rule of the game that I (who first had 

 twenty-nine pips in my hand) win before him. So, the phrase 

 applies to the loser. If he had drawn another card, he would 

 probably have become mati, holding more than thirty-one 

 points : reluctant to draw another, he cannot adu or compete 

 with the man who was blit first with the same number of pips 

 as he. 



Kena ranjau, translated by Mr. Skeat "to be bluffed," I 

 take to be the same as kena das. (Singapore) and to apply to 

 a player who inadvertently or foolishly shows his hand, buka 

 daun, before the rest of the players are all blit or mati or 

 masok mata, and so has to pay up all round by way of penalty. 



II. Daun tiga y lei or pakau. Three cards are dealt to 

 each player. The best hands are called daun trus. In Perak 

 and Selangor, the very best hand is three aces : the next best 

 in Perak is three court cards, in Selangor three threes. Then 



Jour. Straits Branch 



