{"id":3285,"date":"2025-09-23T09:01:50","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T09:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/?p=3285"},"modified":"2025-10-15T08:08:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T08:08:44","slug":"cherki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/cherki\/","title":{"rendered":"Cherki \u2013 A History and Introduction to the Cherki Card Deck"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nyonya Noreen Chan shares how some of us had a flutter before the era of integrated resorts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Liberty brand (common in Indonesia) and \u2018Double Elephant\u2019 brand (new and old packing, common in Malaysia and Singapore).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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The card game Cherki is associated with Peranakans of old, but it is not exclusive to our community. Known variously as Ceki, Chi Kee, or Koa (pronounced \u201cKowah\u201d) this card game is played in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The origin of the name \u201cCherki\u201d is uncertain. Some believe it comes from Amoy (Hokkien) Chinese ch\u00edt ki<\/em> (\u4e00\u679d) or\u201cone card\u201d, perhaps referring to the pick-one\/play-one nature of the most common games. Others have suggested it is related to j\u012b ki<\/em> \u2018two cards\u2019 (\u4e8c\u679d), as \u679d means branch\/twig<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past the game was played by all levels of society; records of the palace expenditure of the Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim of Kedah (1864\u20131943) from 1896\u201399 indicate that he enjoyed gambling with Ceki. In parts of Indonesia like Bali, the game is popular among men. Among Peranakan communities of Singapore and Malaysia, it was played largely by women \u2013 who often gambled and even got into debt or in trouble with the law – but the pastime has waned in popularity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that card games originated in China \u2013 there are Tang records from the 9th<\/sup> century describing a \u201cleaf game\u201d \u2013 and eventually made their way via trading routes, to Europe by the 14th<\/sup> century. The images on Cherki cards are thought to derive from Chinese three-suited cards (particularly the \u201cWater Margin\u201d type), but over time the designs became simpler and more abstract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Playing cards purchased in Hong Kong, likely Dongguan Pai, from Guangdong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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The designs of the Cherki cards used in different countries varies slightly, for example the ones used in Indonesia commonly have yellow backing, whereas in Singapore and Malaysia, the \u201cdouble elephant\u201d brand with orange backing, manufactured by Gwan Hua Heng, is used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cards were referred to in Malay as daun ceki (daun <\/em>means \u201cleaf\u201d); this term was adopted by the Peranakans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amongst Kristang communities in Malacca, the cards were known as chaqui<\/em> or chiqui<\/em>. In Thailand these cards are known as \u2009\u0e44\u0e1e\u0e48\u0e41\u0e1b\u0e14\u0e40\u0e01\u0e49\u0e32 pronounced \u201cphai paet kao\u201d or \u201c8-9 cards\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cherki is played with 14 cards in hand<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cherki Card Deck
<\/strong>A basic set consists of 30 cards, made up of 3 suits of 9 cards (numbered one to nine) plus 3 additional \u201chonour\u201d cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suits are:
\u201cCoins\u201d \u2013 nicknamed as batik, piah, tong
\u201cStrings\u201d \u2013 manek, sok
\u201cMyriads\u201d \u2013 ban (Hokkien for 10,000), cina<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Card decks are sold in sets of two, called a kepala (60 cards), either packed in individual boxes or wrapped with a piece of paper. The minimum required to play a Cherki game is 2 kepala. Unlike with mahjong, Cherki is not confined to 4 players; with more players, additional sets of cards are added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yeo Ban (left) and Yeo Panjang (Burong) (right)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Peranakans who could not read Chinese often gave nicknames to the cards to identify them e.g., the card \u201cyeo ban\u201d (one- ten- thousand in Hokkien) was also called \u201chuey sio\u201d (monk), or the \u201cyeo manek\u201d was called \u201cyeo panjang or burong\u201d (one long or bird) because it looked like a long-necked bird.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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TPAS will be organising a workshop on 4 October 2025 to introduce this historical card game to a new generation of players. There will be hands-on practice and lots of fun, but no gambling, lest we be hauled off in the \u201cBlack Maria\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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References:
\u201cThe Babas\u201d by Felix Chia (1980)
Introduction to Cherki cards (from Ways to Play \u2013 Ceki) https:\/\/games.porg.es\/articles\/cards\/ceki\/<\/a>
\u201cBalik Satu\u201d and different ways of playing Cherki https:\/\/games.porg.es\/games\/balik-satu\/<\/a>
Ceki (or Kowah) http:\/\/a_pollett.tripod.com\/chekigam.htm<\/a>l
The World of Playing Cards \u2013 Ceki https:\/\/www.wopc.co.uk\/explore\/suit\/ceki\/<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nyonya Noreen Chan shares how some of us had a flutter before the era of integrated resorts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3285"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3327,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3285\/revisions\/3327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}