Description

Alternative names for this gambling game are Belankas or Belankai, though I more often hear it described as the latter. Belankas is the Malay name for the King Crab, one of the pictures featured in the game.

The game consists of a four-sided tee-totum. Modern Belankai spinners are made from a thin wooden dowel that runs through a cuboid piece of plastic with the pictures engraved on four sides. The pictures are a king crab, a flower/star/coin (hard to tell - the pictures are all stylized), a fish and a prawn (c.f. Hoo Hey How).

A staking board is drawn on any large piece of paper (or the ground) showing the four symbols. Players stake on the pictures and the banker (who will claim the stakes or pay winnings) spins the tee-totum in wide dish and covers it with a bowl. When the tee-totum comes to rest, it is revealed and players are payed according to whichever picture has come to rest on top.

Dobree describes that a plate of rice is often to be found where this game is played - it is used to hold the dish where the tee-totum is spun and serves to steady the dish and deaden the sound of the top when it is spinning.