Garouk was a Human who traveled the galaxy as a professional gambler in his younger years. He eventually retired, choosing to spend his time in Taris's Upper City Cantina, where he would teach individuals the rules of pazaak for a small fee. In 3956 BBY, he sold a pazaak deck to Revan, a Galactic Republic soldier.
Garouk was a noted player of the card game pazaak who lived on the planet Taris. In his youth, he was among the best professional pazaak players in the Outer Rim Territories. Garouk traveled to planets all over the galaxy, including traveling to the Core Worlds. He both won and lost fortunes until old age began to degrade his mind's sharpness. Realizing this, he retired from gambling and instead became a patron of the Upper City Cantina on Taris. There, he spent his days drinking ale, talking to patrons, and teaching others how to play pazaak. When the Sith Empire invaded Taris, Garouk was mostly ignored because of his age.
In 3956 BBY, during the Jedi Civil War, Garouk met Galactic Republic soldiers Revan and Carth Onasi in the Upper City Cantina. Garouk told them about his gambling career and about life on Taris. Unwilling to let his pazaak decks go to waste, he sold one, consisting of a main deck and a ten-card side deck—two copies of each card from +1 to +5—to them for fifty credits. He also uploaded the rules of the game to Revan's datapad and gave him free lessons.
Garouk believed that pazaak was a young man's game. He spent his time in the Upper City, preferring to avoid the dangerous lower levels of Taris. Although he disliked the Sith presence, he found life on the planet acceptable and cared little about events outside the cantina. Garouk was a Human with light skin, grey eyes, and gray hair.
While on Taris, Garouk donned brown clothing.
Garouk's first canonical appearance was as a non-player character in the 2003 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game, in which the player, Revan, can interact with him. Garouk serves as an introduction to the pazaak mini game. Buying the deck from Garouk initiates the side quest "Pazaak Rules," which can be completed by winning any pazaak game with a wager. Throughout the conversation between Revan and Garouk, the player has several dialogue options to choose from. However, the nature of the conversation is such that it does not progress any plot, nor does it change the player's alignment. Therefore, it is undetermined whether Revan ever interacted with Garouk at all.
- Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia