Sabacc

Seventy-six cards comprised a sabacc deck. Sixty of these were divided into four suits (Flasks, Sabers, Staves, and Coins), with each suit containing 15 cards: numbered pip cards from 1 to 11, along with a Commander valued at 12, a Mistress at 13, a Master at 14, and an Ace at 15. The remaining 16 cards consisted of two sets of 8 special cards: Balance (valued at −11), The Idiot (0), Endurance (−8), Moderation (−14), The Evil One (−15), The Queen of Air and Darkness (−2), Demise (−13), and The Star (−17 or −10).

Sabacc, a game blending skill and luck, accommodated between two and eight players. Participants could select a dealer or alternate turns in a clockwise fashion at the start of each hand. The aim in sabacc was to achieve a final hand totaling as near to 23 or −23 as possible, without surpassing it. A hand exceeding 23 was deemed a "bomb out," resulting in a round loss. Sabacc involved two pots: the hand pot, claimed by the individual hand's victor, and the sabacc pot, which accumulated throughout the game and was awarded to the overall match winner.

The dealer initiated the game by shuffling the deck and distributing one card to each player, including themselves, in a circular sequence. This process was repeated until each player possessed two face-down cards. In many high-stakes games, the cards are actually small screens that can change the card at a signal from the Randomizer, causing a Sabacc Shift. The Sabacc Shift is described later. Commencing with the player to the dealer's left, each participant announced their initial hand totals.

Starting to the dealer's left, each player had the option to draw cards from the deck, exchange a card from their hand for one from the deck, or stand. Subsequently, they could opt to place a single card in the game table's interference field to shield it from alteration during a Sabacc Shift. If a Sabacc Shift occurred, all cards not secured in the interference field underwent random changes in suit and value. This new hand constituted the player's final hand for that round.

This procedure was replicated by each player, culminating with the dealer. Each player then declared their final hand's total. The player holding the highest valid hand, totaling 23 or less, won the round. A hand of 24 or higher was considered a "bomb out" and resulted in a loss. A perfect hand of 23 or −23 was recognized as a Pure Sabacc, only surpassable by a rare and unbeatable Idiot's Array, which consisted of The Idiot, a 2 card of any suit, and a 3 card of any suit.

In the event of ties, a random number generator was used to determine the winner: the player who obtained the highest number won. A skifter was a method employed to cheat.

Over eighty distinct variations of sabacc were known. One such variation was "Corellian Spike," which involved the use of a pair of six-sided dice and a smaller deck. Jhabacc represented another high-stakes variant, notably played at the Outlander Club, situated in the Uscru Entertainment District of Coruscant. Further variants encompassed Centran sabacc, Empress Teta Preferred style, Coruscant Shift, Riftwalker sabacc. and Kessel Sabacc.

Sabacc was a widely played card game throughout the galaxy, frequently involving significant stakes. Due to the unpredictable Shifts, sabacc was a complex and volatile game, where a potentially winning hand could transform into a losing one if deployed at the wrong moment, and the odds generally favored the house. In a memorable instance, Han Solo secured the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian in a game of "Corellian Spike" sabacc on Numidian Prime. In 4 BBY, Garazeb Orrelios of the Spectres wagered and lost the astromech droid Chopper to the smuggler Lando Calrissian, who possessed an Idiot's Array.

Following the Siege of Inyusu Tor, Commander Tohna of the 61st Mobile Infantry engaged in a sabacc game with three fellow soldiers, Gadren, Brand, and Twitch. Tohna extended an invitation to Captain Hazram Namir, but he declined due to his lack of knowledge of the game.

Sabacc made its initial appearance in the Legends novel Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu and has since been featured in numerous Legends narratives. It transitioned into canon with its inclusion in the 2014 novel A New Dawn. The name's origins likely trace back to the second draft of the script for The Empire Strikes Back, where Han Solo mentions that his acquaintance Lando Calrissian had won Cloud City in a "sabacca game."

For an extended period, Lucasfilm refrained from attempting to trademark the term "sabacc," which allowed the company Ren Ventures, along with its subsidiary, the game developer Sabacc Creative Industries, to utilize the name for a 2015 mobile app game, replicating the gameplay rules of the Star Wars card game. Ren Ventures successfully registered the U.S. trademark "sabacc" in 2016. In the same year, Lucasfilm issued a cease-and-desist letter to them. With the release of the movie Solo: A Star Wars Story on May 25, 2018, which prominently featured the card game, Lucasfilm sought to reclaim the trademark. They initiated a challenge against the registration in May 2017 and subsequently filed a federal trademark lawsuit in December 2017. In April 2018, Ren Ventures responded with a lawsuit targeting marketing materials using the name, particularly Denny's restaurant chain's promotional offer of collectible trading cards. In June, a California federal judge delivered a summary judgment in favor of Lucasfilm, but deferred the decision on whether Ren Venture was guilty of willful infringement to a jury. The case reached a full settlement a month later, but only after Ren Ventures attempted to involve George Lucas. Ultimately, Lucasfilm successfully trademarked "sabacc" in August 2018.