1. In the game called sakopong all cards from two to six are cast out, and five cards are dealt out to each of the players (who may be from two to four in number); a player leads (turunkan) the card, and the next player has either to follow suit (turunkan daun sagaji) or throw down a card, turning it over (susupkan). If the next player is able to follow suit, whoever plays the highest card of the suit wins. If each player wins a trick it is declared drawn (s’ri), and in this case all stakes are returned.
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 (pĕrdi) 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 kĕchil if he stops at twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight, and b’lit bĕsar 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 dĕngan 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 dĕngan 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 kĕna 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 Tĕngah 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 (tigajalor). | ||
| The next is three tens (tigapuloh). | ||
| The next is three court-cards (tigaangkong or tiga kuda). | ||
| Of other hands the best is a remainder of ninepips left after deducting ten from a hand of nineteen pips. | ||
| The next is a remainder of eight pips,and so on. |