Jabba's demolition games were dangerous sporting events created by Jabba Desilijic Tiure, the Hutt crime lord of Tatooine, at some point toward the end of the Galactic Civil War. Since the Galactic Empire had outlawed podracing, an important source of income for the Hutt, Jabba devised an underground demolition contest that pitted various participants and their vehicles against each other.
Jabba apparently conceived the idea of a vehicular demolition derby from watching Dug podracer Pugwis' aggressive style of racing prior to the podracing ban. As a gesture of appreciation, Jabba extended the invitation to Pugwis to have the honor of being one of the first competitors of the games. Pugwis, hungry for recognition and starved for opportunities after the ban, readily agreed.
Pugwis' style of podracing served as the inspiration for the tournament.
Boba Fett would also join the tournament roster, having just delivered Han Solo to Jabba and feeling it would be a worthy test of his skills. He eschewed using any sort of vehicle for the tournament, feeling that only his jetpack and blaster were enough. The Jawa Warlord Wittin also entered the tournament in an attempt to fund the purchase of a new Sandcrawler after his original vehicle was destroyed by the Empire.
Later, the Alderaanian smuggler Wade Vox was brought before Jabba after refusing to pay the Hutt's extortion fees at the docks. His ship was impounded, and Jabba offered him a stay of execution if he would participate in the games. With no alternatives, Vox agreed and bought an X-34 landspeeder from a group of Jawas and modified it for combat.
During this time, Jabba's guards captured two members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic attempting to infiltrate the Palace; twin sisters from Bestine IV named Tia and Ghia, who sought to rescue the recently captured smuggler Han Solo. Jabba forced the sisters to participate in the games, allowing them to modify their stolen Snowspeeder to function as an all-terrain vehicle. Feared bounty hunter Aurra Sing arrived as well, tracking a Force-User as part of her personal vendetta against all Jedi. Sensing Vox's presence, Sing joined the tournament to ascertain his identity.
The Wookiee mechanic Quagga also entered the competition as a willing contestant. Fierce competition from local Jawas at Anchorhead nearly drove Quagga to bankruptcy, and he hoped the winnings from the tournament would help fund a new garage in Mos Eisley. Later, disgraced Imperial General Otto arrived with a stolen All Terrain Scout Transport, seeking to make his fortune and retire on Bespin in Cloud City before he could be tracked down by the Empire and charged with desertion. The 2 more contestants came from Jabba's own ranks; skiff guard Tamtel Skreej and the rancor keeper Malakili. Skreej was in reality Lando Calrissian, seeking to cement his cover as part of the operation to rescue Captain Han Solo while Malakili was ordered to take the rancor into the tournament in order to generate more destructive potential in the tournament and increase bets among the court.
The exact results of the tournament were lost along with much of the records of Jabba's Empire in the chaos of the Hutt's death, but several events were confirmed. The Rebel twins Tia and Ghia survived elimination from the tournament, but instead of receiving their freedom as they were lead to believe Jabba had the sisters enslaved as his personal servants. Boba Fett was honored by Jabba with a celebration in his throne room for his performance in the tournament while Tamtel Skreej was punished by Jabba for his poor showing by being forced to eat one of his paddy frogs in front of the court. General Otto was eliminated and Jabba gave Boba Fett permission to collect the bounty on his head posted by the Empire. Otto's fate is largely unknown afterward but rumors persisted that Darth Vader personally oversaw his execution. Quagga was able to win enough credits to finance a new garage and sold his tank to a group of Jawas in order to spend the rest of his days in peace. Wittin's droid served him well enough that Jabba financed his acquisition of a new sand crawler, which he used to gather a new tribe. Wade Vox managed to escape and constructed his own red-bladed lightsaber. Sing, now aware of Vox's status as a Force-User, tracked Vox in order to kill him, but was unsuccessful. Pugwis largely did well in the tournament, but unfortunately had a falling out with Jabba for unknown reasons. Jabba had his guards tie Pugwis to his pod and sent it out into the Dune Sea, where Pugwis was devoured by the Sarlacc beast in the Pit of Carkoon. Malakili's performance was largely unknown, however rumors that Jabba had the rancor killed as punishment for Malakili's failure in the tournament were largely disproven by the fact that Pateesa, the rancor in question, was alive and well by the events of Luke Skywalker's attempt to rescue Han Solo.
Soon, however, Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan arrived at the palace disguised as the Ubese bounty hunter Boushh under cover of delivering Solo's Wookiee companion Chewbacca to the Hutt for the bounty. Jabba allowed "Boushh" to stay as a guest in his palace, and Organa used the confusion generated by her arrival to free Tia and Ghia from Jabba's throne and escorted them to a GR-75 Medium Transport waiting outside the palace. The twins were then transported off Tatooine and returned to active service in the Rebellion. With much of the tournament's contestants dead, escaped, or otherwise inaccessible, the tournament came to an abrupt end.