The rules for some common Malay games written by students at the Malay College, Kuala Kangsar and communicated by C. Bazell {Headmaster
This short note, communicated by C. Bazell (Headmaster of Malay College, Kuala Kangsar), presents the rules for three common Malay games as written by students at the college (p. 46).
Summary
The document describes three games in sequence. The first, introduced by the refrain “Pat! Pat! Suku Lipat; Siapa dapat, orang itu melompat,” is an outdoor game involving a referee who drops a stone into a player’s hand while reciting the refrain; the player who receives it must jump forward to avoid being kicked or slapped, and if successful, proceeds to a guessing sub-game involving names and a “pick-a-back” carrying sequence (pp. 46–47). The second game, Belaga Buah Keras, is a gambling game noted as being particularly associated with the Pahang Malays, in which two competitors each produce a hard nut (buah keras) that is placed in a wooden press and stamped until one breaks; the owner of the broken nut loses (p. 47). The third, Tebar Jala (“Throwing the casting net”), is a shell-scattering game for small children in which players take turns dropping shells from their hands and collecting those that fall face down, with the player who picks up the last shell receiving a fresh contribution to the pool (pp. 47–48).