Sabacc

Sabacc, or jhabacc¹⁾, was a popular card game that was often played for high stakes. When played professionally, the game was overseen by a dealer, either organic, as in Coruscant's Outlander Club (40 BBY to 10 ABY), where four-armed Kiughfid dealers passed out the cards and took up money for the house, or mechanical, as in other locales, where automated sabacc dealer droids oversaw proceedings. The game is typically played by 4 to 6 beings, and is rarely played with more than eight participants. The cards are typically electronic devices that change their value when receiving a very specific pulse that is given in random intervals. A winning hand can very quickly become a devastatingly losing hand and vice versa. The object of the game is to place bets and to be the one player with a card total 23 or the nearest total below this score. The Ryn claimed to have invented the sabacc deck and cards as a means of fortune telling.

Some famous or known Sabacc locations

Black Hole Cantina in Farpoint on Fhost (Legacy era)
Blue Star casino on the planet Valnoos (Legacy era)
Club Baobab (Rebellion era, before and after BY) on Quilken
Even Cut Sabacc Parlor and Casino (Rise of the Empire era) Bartyn's Landing, Lamaredd
Hollow Moon a moon in the Khorya system
Juri's Sabacc Parlor (Rebellion era) Cloud City, Bespin
Pair O'Dice casino in the Yarith Bespin hotel complex (Rise of the Empire, Rebellion and New Republic eras), located on Cloud City on Bespin
Spyder (Rebellion era) on Coruscant
The Credit Chip was a casino run by Cecil Vane on Sel Zonn Station (Rise of the Empire era).
The Esseles, on the passenger deck; a passenger liner between Ord Mantell & Coruscant (Old Republic era)
The Queen of Nal Hutta, a luxury liner starting from Nal Hutta (Old Republic era)

Famous or known Sabacc tournaments

Cloud City Sabacc Tournament (location: Pair O'Dice casino on Cloud City, Bespin; Rebellion era)
Core Worlds Open (Legacy era; ca. 45 ABY)
Ixxis and Su's floating game (location: Coronet City on Corellia; Rebellion era)

¹⁾ Jhabacc was a high-stakes version of sabacc. It was originated and played at the Outlander Club on Coruscant (Clone Wars era).

Description of the Game

Sabacc is played with suit cards valued from 1 to 15 and face cards with various, usually negative values. A full match of Sabacc consists of several "hands". Bets are placed in order to participate in a hand, to stay in a hand and to bluff. Some of the bets go into a "Hand Pot" which the winner of a hand receives and some goes into the "Sabacc Pot", which goes to the winner of the match. In a hand players take turns drawing a card, trading a card, or standing. Afterwards a betting round proceeds where players can raise, stay or fold out, trying to bluff their opponents into folding or raising against the true odds. The hand ends when a player declares they would like to Call the Hand.

Winning hands in Sabacc are hands that total 23 or -23, which are called Pure Sabacc, or a hand made up of an Idiot (value 0) a 2 of any suit and a 3 of any suit (this is a literal 023) called an Idiot’s Array. An Idiot’s Array beats a Pure Sabacc. If no one has any of these winning hands, the player with the highest hand total nearest to 23 or -23 wins. Any player with a hand totaling more than 23, less than -23, or exactly 0 at the time the hand is called has Bombed Out. A Bombed Out player pays a fine into the Pot. If two or more players have the same score, but one is positive, the positive score wins. If the highest score is held by more than one player, a Sudden Demise is played: all players are dealt another card (the tie breaker). The best resulting hand wins. The winning player takes the contents of the Hand Pot. If a hand is won with a Pure Sabacc or an Idiot's Array, the player has also won the match and takes the contents of the Sabacc Pot as well.

At any time during game-play, up until the point where players reveal their cards, a Sabacc Shift may occur. It is the rare case when a Sabacc Shift occurs three or more times in a single hand, though once should be expected and twice is not abnormal. The only way to prevent a card from being effected by the Shift is to place it in the Static (or Disruptor) Field. This Field disrupts and blocks the Shift pulse and locks the values of all cards placed within it.

A standard Sabacc set consists of 76 cards with the following values:

Coins, Flasks, Sabres, Staves:
1 to 11

Commander (12)

Mistress (13)

Master (14)

Ace (15)
Face Cards (two copies each):
Queen of Air and Darkness (−2)

Endurance (−8)

Balance (−11)

Demise (−13)

Moderation (−14)

The Evil One (−15)

The Star (−17)

The Idiot (0)

Source: derived from Sabacc, Centran sabacc, Force sabacc

Centran Sabacc

Centran sabacc was a variation of sabacc originating from the Centrality. Instead of the typical seventy-six card deck, in which each face card appeared twice, Centran sabacc used a seventy-eight card deck. Each face card appeared only once, and aside from the normal face cards (Queen of Air and Darkness, Endurance, Balance, Demise, Moderation, The Evil One, The Star, and The Idiot), it also included several extra ones (The Destroyed Starship, The Satellite, The Wheel, Chance, Hazard, and the Universe). In addition to the normal ranked cards (Commander, Mistress, Master, and Ace), there was another rank known as Legate, which had a value of 11 but trumped an ordinary 11 in case of a tie.

These extra cards made a Centran sabacc deck the preferred deck across the galaxy to use when telling fortunes: The Destroyed Starship represented cataclysmic changes in the near future, death and destruction. The Satellite mostly means deception, deceit, and betrayal. The Wheel represents good and bad luck as well as random chance. The Universe means a chance of success.

When playing Centran sabacc, fives are wild, which was to say that they could be "claimed" to be any other number (presumably not a face card) that was needed in order to create a certain hand.

Source: Wookieepedia: Centran sabacc

Force Sabacc

The use of the term Force in Force sabacc (or Jhabacc) does not relate to using the Force for the purpose of play. The term is instead used to denote the battle between the Light Side and Dark Side at the table, and also in reference to the fact that the face cards typically carried Jedi and Sith themed graphics. The Moderation card, for example, carried the graphic of a Jedi Knight. RulesEdit

Force sabacc differs from its parent game in that, unlike sabacc, randomization is provided as a function of the choice made by each player during the first round of play. In traditional sabacc, players work toward achieving a score of either 23 or -23, and the player closest to it without going over it in either direction, wins. Force sabacc, however, requires the players to declare whether their hand will be light (positive) or dark (negative) sided as soon as they draw their first card. Play proceeds in order until all players have four cards each, at which point the game ends. A player could actually call the game after the third round of betting, though this was an option, not a requirement. In such a case, the dealer automatically deals a fourth card to each player, and no further betting is allowed. Before the scores can be tallied, however, each player has the option of discarding a single card from their hand, which is revealed at the call.

At the end of play, the side with more combined points would be considered the winning side, with the player who's hand held the most value on that side being the individual winner of the pot. The exception to the rule, however, was a pure sabacc. If either side held either form of a pure sabacc, that side was automatically the winning side, with a positive 23 trumping a -23, as in typical sabacc.

Another notable exception to the standard play process of sabacc is that cards could be dealt inverted to any player after the first card was out. The presence of an inverted card signified to the table that the player in question had switched sides to the opposing faction. This potentially game-shifting surprise could easily be offset by the player discarding this card at the end of play, but doing so removed the ability for the player to discard other, potentially disastrous cards.

Source: Wookieepedia: Force sabacc

Random Sabacc

Random sabacc was a type of sabacc in which the rules of play changed at random intervals. Because of the wildly varying rules and procedures used during Random sabacc, a scoring system is often used to keep track of progress.

Source: Wookieepesia: Random sabacc

Contract Sabacc

Contract sabacc was a style of sabacc play.

Source: Wookieepesia: Contract sabacc

Holo-Sabacc

Holo-Sabacc was a variation of sabacc that could be played in vidscreens.

Source: Wookieepesia: Holo-Dabacc

Dune Sea Sabacc

Dune Sea Sabacc was a version of sabacc popular to Tatooine. Apart from Jawas, nobody else seemed to understand the rules. With no witnesses to the contrary, Jawa R'kik D'nec was the undefeated champion of the game.

Source: Wookieepesia: Dune Sea Sabacc

Bespin Standard

Bespin Standard was a variation on the normal rules of sabacc. Its use dated to around 1003 BBY or earlier.

Source: Wookieepedia: Bespin Standard

Riftwalker

Riftwalker was a variant of sabacc popular local to the planet Valnoos.

Source: Wookieepedia: Riftwalker

Cloud City Casino

Cloud City Casino was a style of sabacc play that was presumably developed by the Yarith Bespin casino, located on Cloud City on Bespin.

The notable variant in this rule set is that players have the option to play toward a score closest to 0, instead of just 23 or -23. Played with four or five cards, zero is statistically harder to achieve than the two forms of sabacc from the traditional set.

Source: Wookiepedia: Cloud City Casino

Ecclessis Figg Variation

The Ecclessis Figg Variation was a variation of sabacc named after Ecclessis Figg (an eccentric human explorer who founded Cloud City on Bespin in which, in the final round, all odd-numbered face cards had their scores subtracted rather than added to the total score.

Source: Wookieepedia: Ecclessis Figg Variation

Empress Teta Preferred

Empress Teta Preferred was a style of sabacc play that presumably originated from the planet Empress Teta.

In this variant, players swapped a card before the scores could be tallied. Additionally, another viable hand known as a 'straight' existed, where the player held five consecutively ranked, though not necessarily suited cards.

Source: Wookieepedia: Empress Teta Preferred

Corellian Gambit

Corellian Gambit was a style of sabacc play that originated from the planet of Corellia.

Source: Wookieepedia: Corellian Gambit

Useable Rules for Actually Playing Sabacc at the Gaming Table

This Variant of the Sabacc game is called "The Great Khan Game²⁾"

Source: Retrieval storyline, by Kurst (talk) 16:06, 3 October 2014 (CDT)

Material

a set of Sabacc cards - There is a number of different graphic files available in the internet if you just search for it.
To make your own set, I suggest experimenting printing on transparent adhesive foil - there is foil for laser or inkjet printers which you can then put on a cardstock backing. If you are in the mood for fiddling you can also print the back pattern of the cards onto such foil and try to place it on the back of the cards accurately.
If making your own cards is not an option, I recommend getting your hands on a conventional Tarot deck and use a "card variation" similar to Centran Sabacc
The Ace of each suit may be counted as 1 or 15, as the player decides.

The Knave of each suit represents the 11

The Kights represent the Commanders

The Queens represent the Mistresses

The Kings represent the Masters

Use The Fool (0) as the Idiot (0)

Use The High Priestess (II) as The Queen of Air and Darkness (-2)

Use Strength (VIII) as Endurance (-8)

Use Justice (XI) as Balance (-11)

Use Death (XIII) as Demise (-13)

Use Temperance (XIV) as Moderation (-14)

Use The Devil (XV) as The Evil One (-15)

Use The Star (XVII) as The Star (-17)

Use The Lovers (VI) as Chance (-6)

Use The Wheel (X) as The Wheel (-10)

Use The Tower (XVI) as The Destroyed Starship (-16)

Use The Moon (XVIII) as The Satellite (-18)

Use Judgement (XX) as Hazard (-20)

Use The World (XXI) as The Universe (-21)
a set of dice - 2D6 and another die of a different colour, depending on the number of players in the round
2 players: D2

3-4 players: D4

5-6 players: D6

7-8 players: D8
A table for all to sit down
Some poker chips to place bets with
A container for the Hand Pot
A container for the Sabacc Pot

Setup

Each player pays the Stake into the Sabacc Pot - how much that is depends on the players and the nature of the game.
Maybe 5 Credits for a friendly game.

It can even be a token for a chore on the spaceship you are travelling on like waste disposal, dish washing, "night" watch, etc. that the player will perform for the holder of the token.

In casinos it depends on the casino and the kind of table you are playing at.
Each player is dealt 2 cards to start with.

The Game

Now the players take turns, starting from the left of the dealer:

Each player in turn, may Draw an additional card, Exchange one of his card for one from the remaining deck, or Stay.
- After each players turn, the dealer rolls the dice. If doubles are rolled on the 2D6, the player indicated by the additional die (counted from the left of the dealer) must exchange a random card with one from the deck. If the additional die indicates a player that is currently not participating in the hand (see folding out below), or that has all cards frozen (see freezing cards below) ignore the result (do not reroll).
Next, again starting with the player left of the dealer, each player has the option to Fold out of the Hand, place a Bet into the Hand Pot, or Call the hand by placing a Bet plus paying the Stake again into the Sabacc Pot. The next player again opt to Fold out, to Match the Bet to stay in the hand, to Raise the Bet, or to Call the hand. This continues until all players have either matched the bet including all raises or have folded out.
- Again, after each players turn, the dealer rolls the dice as above.
If more than one player remains in the Hand but the hand was not called, another round of drawing and betting follows as above.
If all players except for one have folded out, the remaining player wins the hand and the hand pot, but not the sabacc pot, even if he has a pure sabacc or an Idiot's Array in hand.
If a hand was called and more than one player remains in the hand after the betting is done, the cards of the remaining players are revealed:
- If a player was Bombed Out, that means having a score of exactly 0, over 23, or under -23, he pays a penalty amounting to the Stake into the sabacc pot.
- The hand nearest to 23 or -23 wins the hand pot. An Idiot's Array wins over all other hands. On a tie a positive score wins over a negative score. On a true tie, a Sudden Demise is played by dealing another card to each of the tied players. The best hand after figuring the tie breaker card into the total wins the hand pot, but it is possible to be bombed out that way (but no penalty is payed in this case). If all players bomb out in a Sudden Demise, the hand pot goes into the sabbac pot. Afterward another hand is played, starting with paying the Stake into the sabacc pot.
- If only one of the players has a Pure Sabacc or an Idiot's Array, that player wins the Hand and the Game and takes the current hand pot plus the sabacc pot.

Freezing Cards: At any time a player may place any number of cards face down and activate the "stasis field" by paying an amount into the sabacc pot equl to the Stake. That means that those cards will not be subject to the random pulses. The easiest way to indicate this is to lay the cards face down on the table and place the payment on top of them.

²⁾ Pun intended for those that understand it ;D