Sabacc: A Card Game of the Star Wars Galaxy

Sabacc: A Card Game of the Star Wars Galaxy

Welcome to the Royal Casino, Cloud City?s most illustrious gaming establishment. Ten lounge tables sit just beyond the entrance, where patrons can sit for a bit and watch all of the excitement. Beyond the tables taking up most of the right side of the casino, is the packed dance floor. It is surrounded by seven booths set back into the walls, for more intimate conversation with someone you may have just been dancing with.

But, the real excitement, of course is where the largest crowd is at ? ?the tables.? And in the center of it all, the reason why you?ve come here.

Sabacc.

The first game is just now getting underway. It will be open to the first eight people expressing interest. But, should you choose to play this exciting game of skill and chance, make sure you know the rules.

 

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Sabacc ? A Card Game of the Star Wars Galaxy
[i]Adapted from basic game designed by Michael Stern with Douglas Kaufman and Greg Gorden.
From Crisis on Cloud City, West End Games, 1989[/i]

Sabacc is a game of skill and chance played in gambling halls and casinos across the Star Wars galaxy. It is the preferred game of infamous gambler Lando Calrissian, who participated in the most talked-about game ever. (That?s the game in which he reportedly lost his ship, the Millennium Falcon, to the equally famous Han Solo.)

[u]The Cards[/u]
Sabacc is played with a deck of 76 cards made up of four suits ? Sabres, Staves, Flasks, Coins ? and a set of face cards.

Each suit is made up of 11 regular cards (numbered 1-11) and four ranked cards; the Commander, the Mistress, the Master, and the Ace (numbered 12-15).

The set of face cards consists of 16 cards, each with a negative value. (You can have a hand which has a negative total in Sabacc.) In addition, each face card has a special name and symbol. There are two of each face card in the deck.

[u]Rules of Play[/u]
For those who already know the game of Sabacc, the game we will be playing here shall be the TFN variant rules of play.

The object of Sabacc is to have the highest card total which is less than or equal to 23. A total which is over 23, under negative 23, or exactly zero is a bomb out, and requires the holder of the hand to pay a penalty (see below).

There are two pots to be won in the game of Sabacc. A pot is the total amount of credits (Star Wars money) staked by all the players in one hand of the card game. Each pot is set apart from the other on the table near the dealer. The first of the two pots is the pot hand, which is taken by the player who winds the hand. The second is the sabacc pot, which continually builds, and can only be won with a special hand (see below).

Seating will be according to first-come, first-served basis. The dealer button will rotate through the list. To start the game of Sabacc, one player will be randomly chosen to begin with the dealer button. The first two players below the dealer button will have a forced blind bet, with the first player below having the little blind bet and the second player below having the big blind bet. Each player must also ante one credit into the sabacc pot if it is ever empty. This includes the very first hand of the game. This sabacc ante shall be given first to an empty sabacc pot before any play on the hand begins.

Each player takes a turn in order, beginning with the player below the big blind, that includes the phases listed below. Once a player has completed all the phases in the turn, it becomes the turn of the player below him.

After every hand, the dealer button shall be passed to the player below him with that player being the new holder of the dealer button.

[u]Turn Phases[/u]
[b]Blind Bets Paid[/b]: The small and big blind bets shall be given to the hand pot automatically. The small blind is 1 credit. The big blind is two credits.

The player whose turn it is, shall go through all phases before his turn is over and the next player?s turn begins. Players remain taking turns until the hand is won.

[b]The Betting Phase[/b]: The player below the big blind begins play with the option to bet the big blind or raise if he chooses to do so. Each player must match that bet if he or she wishes to remain in the hand. The minimum raise is the current bet. The maximum raise limit is six credits. Before moving on to the next phase, each player has the option to fold (drop out of the hand). A player may only fold during the initial betting phase, and must pay one credit to the sabacc pot to do so.
[b]Shifting Phase[/b]: After the betting phase is completed, the random pulse generator shall determine if shifting occurs. The random pulse generator has six different pulse modes. If the result is pulse mode 1, 2 or 3, shifting occurs.

In shifting, each player has one card, chosen randomly by the random pulse generator, discarded from his hand. All o

 

Sabacc Tournament Standings
Game 1
Bib Fortuna, Twi'lek: 50 credits
Pellaeon-Firke: 50 credits
Deak_Alder: 50 credits
Darth_Kevin: 50 credits
NJOFan215: 50 credits
dp4m: 50 credits
NaboosPrincess: 50 credits
Fire_Light: 50 credits

 

This sounds fun! What are the benefits of winning?

 

Oooh, the title of "EUC Sabacc Winner" for a week.

 

All right, I'm sold. Sign me up!

 

Sweet, if I wasn't avoiding games (bannings due to losses) I'd join up.

Call him if you set up a dejarik game give me a jingle.

 

How long is a game going to take? Because I'll be out of town for parts of the summer. If it will finish in two weeks and/or I could give my hand to another player when I'm leaving, then I'm in. Otherwise, I'll just be watching.

 

I might be out for a week towards the end of July too.

 

I'm thinking it should finish in two weeks, but just in case, the player will be allowed to make arrangements for a single proxy to act for them in their absence via PM to me. The proxy's decisions will be taken as true and final whenever posted. And once posted, the proxy will be assumed to be playing the game until I am notified by the original player via PM. Any problems with proxies will be taken from when I actually manage to read the PMs.

 

I'm in then, Genghis.

 

I just reread the rules and have a few questions:

Is a negative 23 Pure Sabacc, or just the second worst hand in the game?

If at any point in time, a player does not have enough credits to pay their share of either the hand pot or the sabacc pot, then they will be banned from the Jedi Council forums for 24 hours after the hand is over.

Is the banning if you run out of credits (and lose) or if you refuse to pay?

A player may only call the hand during the calling phase of another player, never during their own turn. No one may call the hand until every player has had at least one turn, including the dealer button.

Could you explain this to me?

Finally, what happens if you bomb on Sudden Demise, or if both players do?

 

Pellaeon...
"I just reread the rules and have a few questions:

Is a negative 23 Pure Sabacc, or just the second worst hand in the game?"

Negative 23 is not Pure Sabacc. While there are some variant rules of the game where this is the case, it is not the normal rules of the game which we're trying to play with. It is, as you have observed the second worst hand in the game, and the lowest possible winning hand. That is, you won't automatically bomb out with it, but your chances of winning are slim to none.

"If at any point in time, a player does not have enough credits to pay their share of either the hand pot or the sabacc pot, then they will be banned from the Jedi Council forums for 24 hours after the hand is over.

Is the banning if you run out of credits (and lose) or if you refuse to pay?"

Only if you run out of credits. There already is a penalty if you choose to fold (not pay the bet). That penalty is a single credit paid to the sabacc pot. The maximum amount of times that any single person will possibly receive a 24-hour ban is one. That occurs only when they are unable to pay their required amount of credits to play. There are cases where someone may run out of credits and not have to owe anything. Take this case, which might be a fairly common lifeboat strategy:

Player 5 and Player 8 are the only players left in the game. Player 5 has 238 credits. Player 8 has two credits. Player 5 is the dealer button, and therefore Player 8 is the small blind and Player 5 is the big blind. Player 8 pays 1 credit to the hand pot. Player 5 pays two. Player 8 now has a single credit left and it is his turn. He can simply choose to fold his hand during the game. The penalty is to pay a single credit to the sabacc pot. He has a single credit left. It is paid. He has fulfilled his credit obligation and run out of credits. He can no longer play and is not banned. Player 5 wins the game.

Contrast this with Player 8 only beginning the hand with 1 credit instead of two. He would still pay the small blind, leaving him with no credits. He would be unable to pay the sabacc pot if he folded, and he is unable to bet the big blind to play. He would therefore be banned, and Player 5 wins the game.

"A player may only call the hand during the calling phase of another player, never during their own turn. No one may call the hand until every player has had at least one turn, including the dealer button.

Could you explain this to me?"

Play simply continues on through each player's turns (and phases within each turn) until someone calls. Calling is essentially the end of the current hand. At any time prior to calling, cards may still be in flux (shifting, etc.).

No one can call on the first round of turns. This means that everyone must have had at least one turn - one round of complete phases - before anyone can call.

Assume the following game:

Hand 1
Player 1
Player 2
Player 3
Player 4 (Dealer)
Player 5
Player 6
Player 7
Player 8


Play begins with Player 5 and 6 paying the blinds, and Player 7 starts through his phases. When he's done, Player 8 goes through his. After that, Player 1 goes through his. No one can call until at least play cycles through that Player 6 has had an entire Turn of phases. The reason for this is fairly strightforward - no one has cards yet, and cards are obtained during the last phase of a player's hand. Therefore, this rule is in place to make sure everyone has at least one card before any calling can occur.
"Finally, what happens if you bomb on Sudden Demise, or if both players do?"

Same penalties apply for bombing on Sudden Demise. There is no push or split pots in sabacc. If both players do, then both players lose. If this occurs on the last two (or more) players in the game - where everyone bombs out on their last credits, then no one will win the title.

You will tend to notice that it therefore becomes possible that all players lose and the sabacc pot is the real winner of the tournament. That is the way of the ga

 

I think you should change the rules to say that -23 is Pure Sabacc, since that's how it's always worked.

 

I love gambling I am in for sure.


EDIT: I just read the rules and I saw nothing about playing against the house. Is that possible at all in this variant?

 

So that's 3 of us so far. We need more players!

 

Player 8, Turn 1
Betting Phase: bets the big blind of two credits.
Shifting Phase: Cards shift. Only Player 7?s card is affected. Single card given to Player 5.
Calling Phase: No call
Drawing Phase: Draws card, Mistress of Flasks

I don't understand the shift here. I thought in a shift one of everyone's cards is shifted.

 

I'll give it a try. I'm getting sick of playing hold'em online this should be a nice break.

 

Well, if Kevin's in we have 5 people. We need a few more.

 

I would consider it, however, sometimes I check a few times a day, and sometimes I skip a day or two. I'm not sure I could make a once a day promise, especially if I need to do any travel for work.

 

Kevin...
"I don't understand the shift here. I thought in a shift one of everyone's cards is shifted."

You understand correctly. The simple answer is that at this point in time, Player 7 is the only player who currently has a card. Therefore, at this point in time, he is the only player whose cards are affected by a shift.

Players obtain cards in the latter phase of their turn, including the first turn. The calling phase is the only phase which has immunity from acting on the first turn through (every player needs at least one turn before calling can begin). Players have no such protection from shifting.

 

Just chiming in here, why ban em ?? Game bannings have allways seemed silly to me.

 

Why not. Other than an inconvenience of not accessing PM's, you get a nice "permanent" note that you are active in your forum's activities. A game ban's a good thing.

Besides, it's just a reminder that in life, nothing's free and there's consequences of "going completely bust."

As was stated before, skillful players have no fear of banning, given that they properly manage their resources.

 

Unfortunately, I'm going out of town on the 26th, so if the game doesn't start by tomorrow you should take me off the list Ghengis. I'll be a little surprised if it starts in a week, given how members are coming in.

 

I figured with the popularity of "Texas Hold 'Em" right now, there'd be more of an interest.

I'm open to suggestions. I have no problem capping it off here with those who have expressed an interest, and start playing tomorrow.