Sabacc

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Sabacc is a card game of luck and skill popular throughout the galaxy in the fictional Star Wars universe. It involves several stages, and is similar in ways to Twenty-One.

Contents

1 Deck
2 Winning
3 Rules variations
4 Notable Games
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Deck

Sabacc is played with a deck of 76 card-chips. The deck is divided into four suits of fifteen (staves, flasks, sabers, and coins), with two each of eight "face" cards added. All of these cards have a numeric value, either positive or negative. The four suits contain eleven numbered card-chips, along with four "ranked" card-chips (Commander, Mistress, Master, and Ace). The card-chips are designed to change value, or "fluctuate", at random intervals, provoked by electronic signals from a central randomizer. Card-chips can be placed in the "interference field", locking in their value, but revealing their value to the other players.

Card-chips designed to fool an interference field, or shift value at the command of the player, are known as 'skifters' and are illegal.

According to Droma, the sabacc deck was originally developed by the Ryn as a fortune telling device, similar to Tarot. The sixteen ranked cards, along with the sixteen face cards, are used.

Winning

To win the hand, the player must achieve the total card value (between the player's hand and interference field) closest to, but not outside of, positive or negative 23. To win the game, the player's total card value must equal positive or negative 23 (pure sabacc), or the player must be holding only three cards, with the values of 0, 2, and 3 (idiot's array).

Rules variations

There are several different versions of sabacc; the standard rule set is known as "Corellian sabacc". The rules have been changed countless times to fit different species and different mindsets all through the galaxy.

The simpler rules variants grant different suites precedence over the others when declaring a hand, or state a one hand beats another hand (i.e. a two-card 23 beats a three-card 23). More complicated variants involve the random trading of cards between players, using the interference field to cause the change in card value, or the use of any arithmetic sequence, in combination with any form of number (including, for example, irrational and transfinite numbers) to produce the total card value. (Under this particular rules system, designed for the mathematically-adept Givin, Han Solo once achieved a cubic pure sabacc).

The most complicated and challenging form of the game is "random sabacc". While all forms of sabacc are randomized due to the card fluctuations, random sabacc takes this a step further by also changing the rules during the course of the game. At random intervals, the dealer announces the new rules. A winning hand under one set of rules might be a losing hand under another, and thus this version of sabacc requires a player to have knowledge of all major sabacc styles.

Notable Games

The ownership of the Millennium Falcon has been contested on several occasions by Han Solo and Lando Calrissian; each time the vessel changed hands between the two, it has been the result of a two-player sabacc tournament.
Lando Calrissian originally became Baron Administrator of Cloud City through a rigged game of sabacc with the previous Baron Administrator.

References

The Han Solo Adventures: Han Solo at Star's End, Del Rey omnibus of "Han Solo at Star's End", "Han Solo's Revenge", and "Han Solo and the Lost Legacy", 1979. Brian Daley, ISBN 0-345-37980-2
The Lando Calrissian Adventures: "Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu", "Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon", and "Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of Thonboka", Del Rey omnibus edition, 1983. L. Neil Smith, ISBN 0-345-39110-1
The Paradise Snare, 1st paperback printing, 1997. A. C. Crispin, ISBN 0-553-57415-9
The Hutt Gambit, 1st paperback printing, 1997. A. C. Crispin, ISBN 0-553-57416-7
The Annotated Screenplays, softcover, 1997. George Lucas, Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, Laurent Bouzereau, ISBN 0-345-40981-7
Dark Apprentice, 1st edition paperback, 1994. Kevin J. Anderson, ISBN 0-553-29799-6
, 2000. James Luceno, ISBN 0-09-940997-6
, 2003. Sean Williams and Shane Dix, IBSN 0-09-941039-7

External links

[Playable version & rules]

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