Balaans was a card game designed for two players and was often associated with gambling activities. In the vicinity of 18 BBY, individuals at a cantina located on the planet called Lau engaged in games of balaans. Disguised as someone else, the clone known as Omega participated in the game, wagering in an attempt to quickly accumulate enough credits to facilitate her escape from the planet alongside her lurca hound named Batcher and the clone Crosshair.
A standard balaans deck contained a total of 30 cards. Within the deck, there were five cards of blue color and five of red color, in addition to ten "spell" cards. These "spell" cards were divided into two "destroy," two "deflect," two "buff," two "steal," and four "block" cards. Each spell card was marked with a unique symbol in the upper corner, along with the card's name written in Aurebesh script. The spell cards also included a variety of illustrations.
Balaans was designed as a game for two players, with each participant having their own personal draw pile from which cards were dealt and subsequently drawn. Every player kept a hand of multiple cards and arranged cards in five stacks, face-up. Victory was achieved by having the winning hand face down, which would then be revealed. One such hand, the Three Eastern Stars, was renowned for being virtually unbeatable.
Circa 18 BBY, while evading the Galactic Empire while situated on the planet Lau, the clones Omega and [Crosshair](/article/crosshair], accompanied by their lurca hound Batcher, ventured into a cantina hoping to acquire sufficient credits to bribe a ticketing agent for passage off the planet. To get the necessary money, Omega engaged in balaans with a Trandoshan, consistently winning. Later, when the local Imperial officer, Mann, challenged Omega, he was overly confident until Omega revealed the Three Eastern Stars, winning twenty thousand credits from him.
Balaans was conceived as a game specifically for "A Different Approach," which served as the fourth episode within the third season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch. The production team developed a comprehensive set of rules for the game. Supervising director Brad Rau characterized the game as a hybrid of Uno and Magic: The Gathering, and they even conducted play-testing sessions.