Sabacc Variations and Rule Modifications

In Legends stories there are "multiple variations" of Sabacc all over the Galaxy. But here on Earth where only so much space fantasy is possible, we have one or two versions that have consistent rules. Even Cast Members at the Disney Parks claim to be teaching some version or variation of Sabacc. I'm not saying these are bad, I'm not saying they're good.

Lando is apparently an expert on the "80 variants" of Sabacc throughout the galaxy.

But at the end of the day, wouldn't you like to play a semi balanced game?

For any kind of "modification" to work, it has to serve a purpose. Does it improve the game? Does it address some kind of issue? Does the rule affect the balance of the game? And so on and so forth.

So below are several modifications and/or variations that I've developed.

Disclaimer: true to my own words these modifications are entirely optional. And I'm always thinking about whether or not they are necessary.

One Pair Sabacc vs One Pair Sabacc?

The winning hand pages of the rule book gives two examples of SABACC (or one pair SABACC). One of them is plain wrong (+5,+5) and (+3,+3,-6) isn't ONE PAIR. The hand "YEE-HAA" which is a zero card and ONE PAIR probably gives the best example of what ONE PAIR looks like.

Probably my favorite hand in Sabacc

So this one is less of a modification and more of a clarification. However until the game designers address this example, I follow the rule that ONE PAIR SABACC beats a three card Sabacc. This follows along with the rules, previous examples and overall makes sense. It's a shame that in a game called Sabacc, the fundamental hand of Sabacc is listed wrong.

Sylops Wild

If you go over the Winning Hands page in the Sabacc rule book, you'll notice that there are only 4 established hands that include a Zero card (not including the different hands possible within those). But what about getting a Sylop outside of those hands? What does the rule book say?

You have a 3% chance of getting these 

Absolutely nothing. Shouldn't they count for something?

I think so.

Modification: Sylops in a hand (usually Nulrhek--closest to zero) becomes a +1 or -1 depending on what you need to get closer to zero. Can be used with 1 other card, and up to 5.

Example: in the below picture I have a -8, +8, -1, and a Sylop. The Sylop then becomes a +1 and my hand becomes a 3 card Sabacc. (Not the stronger 2 pair)

What to do?

It can ONLY be a +1 or -1

What it fixes: The two zero cards in the deck have a function outside of the 4 established hands. Increased variety of Sabacc hands. Clarification for when this inevitably happens.

Other considerations: as a wild +1 or -1 the zero card has no other enhancing purposes to your hand. Your 3 card Sabacc is judged mainly on the other cards you have. Nor does the card count for a high positive total. Same thing goes for Nulrhek.

Even though you now have a zero card in your hand, it doesn't mean it can't be beat. So you're encouraged to try for a better hand.

Fools Sabacc/Idiots Array

You've had one Sylop, but what about another? This modification is to address the issue of what to do with two Sylops and any other card(s).

Modification: if your hand consists of two Sylops plus one or more cards (example; two Sylops and +3). At the end of the third round you will roll the number of times your excess card is away from zero. If doubles pop up during your rolls, you automatically lose. However if no doubles should appear your hand is scored like a PURE SABACC.

What it fixes: this is another hand that WILL pop up and no one will know what to do with it. My modification allows it to still be a hand, but at a cost. Just making this hand act as PURE SABACC isn't fair. And saying it's worth nothing also doesn't seem fair.You're still encouraged to get closest to zero with whatever extra cards you have outside of the Sylops, but it's risky.

C3PO would tell you that the odds of flopping these are approximately 3%

Other considerations: the hand can also probably act a few different ways. For instance if you did not want to take a chance with the rolling. You can fall back on the value of your non Sylop card and overall card count.

Double Spikes

Because this is the "Corellian Spike" variant of Sabacc, why not use them in some way? As it stands all doubles are worth the same, or otherwise there is no difference between them. Not much changes here, but it does shake things up a bit.

Modification: when rolling the dice to determine a SABACC SHIFT. If two SPIKES are rollled all players discard their hands as normal and receive new cards. However the difference here is that instead of just discarding in the pile and leaving it, you'll reshuffle everything.

Four Card Draw (yet to be named)

I don't have this variant fully developed yet. But the basis of it is pretty simple. Instead of being dealt 2 cards at the beginning of the game, you are dealt 4. All the basic actions are still there; Gain, Swap, Stand, Fold/Junk. I'm sticking with 3 rounds because it's more than enough time to create a better hand. 

Starting with 4 cards only leaves you room to GAIN 1 extra card

Obviously a few hands are out. Anything with one pair, 3 cards, or just anything with less than four cards. Otherwise the winning hand structure is the same. So unless you have two pair or something similar where lowest integer wins, there is going to be a lot more highest card value tie breakers. The maximum amount of cards is still 5.

However to actually add something to the gameplay, I wanted to change up a few things. Because if it's just 4 card Sabacc, it's just four card Sabacc. Which is okay, but any time you change up an element of the game, like how many cards you have. Another aspect of the gameplay needs to be adjusted to balance the altered rules.

• You can SWAP up to 2 cards at a time. 
• You cannot GAIN any more than 1 card.
• Instead of rolling the Sabacc dice at the end of a round. The dice are rolled at the end of each players turn.
• If doubles, only the player who rolled the dice have to exchange their cards for new ones.

Sharu Switch (Field Cards)

This variant is probably one of the most fun. I have another blog in the works that will go more in-depth. As with most of the variants, the basic rules and concepts stay the same. The winning hands are mostly the same and core gameplay is overall unchanged.

• Each player is dealt 2 cards face down.
• Then the dealer places 1 card face up in front of each player. This is your Field Card.
• The Field Card cannot be used in a SWAP or GAIN.
• You can only SWITCH your Field Card with a card from your hand. This counts as an action for your turn.
• If a Sabacc Shift happens, your Field Card does not change.

Having a zero card as your Field Card is such a baller move

While the benefit of being able to save a Field Card isn't that advantageous, it does open up a lot of new strategy to Sabacc. You can see one of your opponents cards. The Field Card has to play into your hand. And a whole lot more. There are other things I'll go into when I cover this variant in more detail. But overall it's pretty fun.

Nal Hutta Nulrhek

For my last Sabacc variant I'm going to give you something different. Like the previous variations of the game this one still keeps the core gameplay and rules. However the objective of this game shifts each time you play it. 

One of the few variants of Sabacc that will require extra material

So we have a +4 and -8 for Nulrhek objective of -4

It aint easy

Instead of always trying to have a hand that totals zero, the goal is to have a hand that totals whatever total is rolled before the game starts. This can also change throughout the game if a Sabacc Shift occurs.

• 3 Rounds.
• Each player is dealt 2 cards.
• After every player has their cards, the Nulrhek dice are rolled.
• I'm using two d10 dice (red and green for + -)
• Regular dice (d6) could also be used.
• One die represents positive, and the other represents negative.
• Total up the Nulrhek dice and that is the number you're trying to reach for this round.
• After all players have taken their turns, roll the Sabacc Dice.
• If no doubles, nothing happens and play continues.
• If doubles, the Nulrhek dice are rolled again.
• The cards do NOT change. But the total might.
• Continue playing for remaining rounds.

While I have most of the rules down, this variant will probably go through some modifications as time goes along. And as with all of them, this is not a good way to start with Sabacc. Each one of these variations builds off of Sabacc rules, or at least is grounded by them. Like it or not, the main rule set of Sabacc is overall pretty balanced.

Overall these were fun variations to design. I'll go more in detail about most of them and post a full walk through soon. I hope to cover betting soon as well. As Sabacc is MEANT to have betting included.

Until then have fun and total zero friends.

EDIT---

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How to Cheat in Sabacc

In Solo A Star Wars Story, Han loses to Lando the first time they play Sabacc. Because Han is an observant scoundrel and likely just as big of a cheat, he knows right away what Lando was up to. But what about everyone else?

Could this actually work?

There are conceivably many ways to cheat in Sabacc, but this is perhaps one of the best and most simple. There are 62 cards in Sabacc deck and only 2 Sylops (zero cards). Being dealt two Sylops at the beginning of the game has about a 3% probability.

So it's pretty unlikely that :
A. Lando has one or more of the Sylops
B. Anyone else has them.

In fact if you tried this most of the time (aside from giving away what you were doing), it'd probably work for most hands.

Flop these and it's your lucky day

How Han knew he was cheating

While it's not explicitly stated in the movie, Han does go into how he thinks Lando cheated. There is a brief line where he claims that they've already been played. The only way this would be possible is if Han saw them in the discard pile. OR somehow cheated and saw someone else's cards (more on that later).

Han isn't so innocent himself

This means one of three things happened (possibly all):

• There was a Sabacc shift during the previous round and he noticed that one or more of the Sylops were included in one of the hands facing up in the Discard Pile.
• At the end of each round the Sabacc dice are rolled. If the dice come up doubles all players discard their hands and receive the same number of cards.
• One or more players folded a hand that included a Sylop.
• Chewie helped Han look at the cards of other players.

This scene also helps clarify an important gameplay mechanic that the rule book leaves ambiguous to some degree. The deck is not totally reshuffled when a Sabacc Shift happens, so the cards in the Discard Pile remain. I also used this to create a modification to the game.
If double SPIKES are rolled, the Sabacc Shift still happens. But the whole deck (including the Discard Pile) gets reshuffling. Thus eliminating the use of the Discard Pile to anyone's advantage.

Method to the madness

Out of all the ways to cheat at Sabacc, this one is probably the most straightforward. Lando keeps his Sylop hidden away until he needs it, and presumably reloads his wrist device at the end of the round. But you can't just add a card to your hand and expect no one to notice. So the goal is switch a card without calling attention to yourself.

Just in case you want to literally have a card up your sleeve, these exist somewhere

Not so hidden might I add

So switching the card would be pretty easy. The other things to take into consideration would be:

• Switching the card AFTER the dice are rolled at the end of the last round. Otherwise you could lose your Sylop.
• Actually achieving some kind of winnable hand that a Sylop would enhance. These aren't easy.
• Also knowing if one or two of them have been played already.
• Familiarity with where you are playing, who's dealing, and creating sufficient distractions.
• Slimming down the competition by over-betting the pot and having less chance of someone beating you through luck.

For my not so elegant recreation of this, I ditch the fancy wrist device and just use my sleeve. My hand consists of a +8,-8, -2. Which isn't a bad hand, but a Sylop would really spice it up.

Then when the time is right, I accidentally drop my cards. Butterfingers. amiright

While collecting my cards, I switch the card I don't want with my hidden Sylop. And presto, I have a pretty decent hand.

oh so subtle

and like magic I have a YEE-HAA

Other ways to cheat

With Han and Lando in the same room they probably know more ways to cheat at Sabacc than all the other people at the table combined. We see some quick examples of this during their games. Some of these however are mostly in-universe methods. Plus I don't condone cheating.

• Know the other players cards
• Han very smoothly accused the player sitting next to him of looking at his cards. He's then in full view of their hand, and can make whatever decision he needs to.
• Task Chewie with looking at others cards, use Wookiee speak or signal to relay what they are.
• Stack the deck
• There isn't any indication of them doing this, and the dealer does seem to know their stuff. But in these seedy establishments I doubt it would be above anyone to accept a few credits for a leg up.
• Load the dice
• Let's say you have a bad hand and would like to trigger a Sabacc Shift. If they're allowing players to roll the dice, it would be a simple switch to use loaded dice.
• Distractions to actions
• This would be the equivalent of "hey look over there" and try to Swap or Gain to your advantage.
• Marked deck
• If you're providing the deck, all manner of things are possible. I have a -2 in my deck that has a bent corner and I always know when it comes up. I don't use this to cheat, but if you wanted to you could.
• Ensure everybody else is super liquored up

I'm sure there are more methods, but those are all that I could think of off the top of my head. Long story short Han and Lando are cheaters.

UPDATE:

Upon further inspection Han DID NOT CHEAT to win the Falcon. At least when it comes to using the Sylop he stole from Lando. I always thought he used the Sylop to win. However thanks to an eagle eyed Instagrammer, he didn't actually USE the Sylop. Instead he just literally threw it in Han's face.

But also, don't cheat. 

Sabacc Rules Explained

Did you just purchase a Sabacc deck from Galaxy's Edge?

Are you confused on the rules?

Is the rule book kind of unclear?

Other online rules not make sense?

This is the post for you. 

I'm going to cover the rules of Sabacc, what they actually mean, what not to do, how to play, and everything else in between. Consider this the beginners guide to Sabacc. If you want to check out the rules as they appear in the instructions, click here.

Overview

Sabacc is kind of like poker and black jack mixed together. The objective is to have a hand totaling closest to zero at the end of three rounds. Each player starts off with two cards. In the middle is the Draw Pile and the Discard Pile. The Draw Pile remains face down, and the Discard Pile has the cards face up. You have three main actions you can do during your turn. But watch out, your hand could change at any time during the end of the rounds.

First we'll cover what all comes with a Sabacc deck and what they do. Then I'll go over the basic rules and actions.

Fun Fact: This "variation" of Sabacc is called "Corellian Spike".

The Deck

There are 62 cards in the deck. For whatever it's worth there are also 3 "Staves" or suits. These are triangles, circles, and squares. 

Han Solo Card Game on top
GE Sabacc on the bottom

All of these Staves, suits, shapes, whatever, are of the same value. Previous versions of the game (See - The Han Solo Card Game) only used triangles. By breaking it down into different shapes the cards are easier to identify (sometimes) and differentiate. Plus it just looks better. So basically, they don't really matter.

The cards run from 1-10. Each Stave/suit has a run of positive 1 through 10, and negative 1 through 10. So 20 cards in each Stave. The GREEN cards are positive, and the RED cards are negative.

The cards 7, 8, 9, 10 in any Stave or color are all indicated by images instead of pips. You can call these "face cards", but also just remember that doesn't always make them the best cards. The image below shows what each of these cards look like. While somebody may know HOW these cards signify their value, I wouldn't bother trying to decipher it. Just memorize them however you can.

However I do like to call the 10 card "The Sarlacc". If you have any other ideas for the 9,8,7 cards, please comment below with your ideas.

You will struggle with remembering these at first.
From the top 10, 9, 8, 7 (all of them GREEN, so that means positive)

Aside from these 60 numbered cards, there are also two zero cards called Sylops. These equal zero and make up some of the best hands. They have no Stave.

So pretty, yet so rare. Consider these the Jokers of the deck.

Fun Fact: In Legends Canon a Sabacc deck had 76 cards and the objective was to make it to +-23.

The Dice

Both have identical symbols on them, but the Solo version has them engraved

Rattling around in your box of Sabacc cards will be two dice.  Instead of pips, you'll notice cool symbols modeled after Han Solo's lucky dice. Any six sided dice can be used.  These are rolled at the end of each round. If you roll doubles everybody turns in their cards and gets new ones. Then the same number of cards are dealt out to each player. (Be sure to remember the number of cards you had)

This is called the "Sabacc Shift", and can happen at the end of any round. If no doubles are rolled, nothing happens and play continues as normal.

Sabacc Shifts DO NOT extend play. If a Shift happens on the third round, you are dealt whatever cards and do not get a turn to better your hand.

All cards go in the Discard Pile, and new cards are dealt from the  Draw pile. While the rules are unclear about this. You do NOT need to reshuffle everything together. The Discard Pile can stay. However there is a small variation on this I'll discuss later.

This was from a previous post where I was only demonstrating
with two players.

Fun Facts: 

There is a 16%  chance of doubles being rolled during any round.

A hand with only two cards is 60%~ more likely to win over 3 or more cards after a Sabacc Shift.

Originally a Sabacc shift had to do with the cards somehow changing, but thankfully this was all simplified by using dice.

Gameplay

Each player starts off with 2 cards.

Choose somebody to be the dealer. (They play too)

After all the cards are dealt you'll put the remaining deck in the middle. This is the DRAW Pile.

Turn the top card over and put it right next to the DRAW Pile. This is the DISCARD Pile.

The player to the left of the dealer goes first.

ACTIONS

This is probably the most confusing and misunderstood part of the game. You can GAIN, SWAP, STAND (and JUNK). So let's break down what each of the three actions means, and what you can and can't do. 

GAIN:

Take the top card from the DRAW pile and add it to your hand. This is a BLIND DRAW.

You also have the option of DISCARDING a card from your hand before you draw from the DRAW Pile.

You CANNOT draw from the DRAW Pile and then DISCARD another card from your hand.

An unclear rule about GAIN is whether or not you can draw from the DRAW Pile, and then DISCARD that same card. While it doesn't immediately break a rule of the game, it doesn't really add to the strategy necessarily. As you end up drawing a card to only discard it looking for a zero.

This is not part of the Gain rule. Nor does it make the game better. Disregard about drawing a card, then discarding that same card.

GAINING WITH DISCARDING

-8, not a good total. So I decide to GAIN with a DISCARD

Turns out it was the right decision

GAINING WITHOUT DISCARDING

*start not stat

The top card of the DRAW Pile is added to his deck without discarding.

The above images are from an Instagram post where I covered how to practice by playing against yourself. More on that another time. But the images do the trick.

You might also be thinking to yourself, "is it really a GAIN if you're discarding first and end up with the same number of cards"? Think of it more as you or the game in general is GAINING a card from the DRAW Pile that was otherwise inactive. 

SWAP:

Switch a card from your hand with the top card in the DISCARD Pile.

You CANNOT just take the card from the DISCARD Pile without putting one from your hand in.

You CANNOT DISCARD without SWAPPING.

Don't be a bad swapper

Not only did this not help, it's also wrong 

I suppose you can draw the card and then discard.
It doesn't really matter with the SWAP. You just can't DRAW without discarding.

STAND:

If you feel that your hand can't really be improved by GAIN or SWAP, you can choose to do NOTHING.

After gaining a card, Ferris decides his hand is good enough and decides to do nothing.
You can also do nothing with only two cards, or four.

JUNK:

This action is really only useful if you're going to include betting in your game. I'll cover that in another post. But I suppose you still could decide to do it in regular play. You are essentially folding and then your cards are put in the DISCARD Pile. You are then out for the remainder of the three rounds.

The most common errors I've seen are usually with the GAIN and SWAP. You can never GAIN a card from the DRAW pile and then DISCARD another card. Nor can you just take the top card from the DISCARD Pile during a SWAP without discarding.

You can call it a "variation" or "house rules", but more than likely you are just playing wrong. The rules as they are written encourage a certain amount of strategy to the game and help keep it balanced. 

That's why I'm still split on whether or not to include the GAIN/DISCARD. The rule book seems to indicate that you can draw a card from the DRAW Pile, and then DISCARD if you don't want it. But it also might be indicating how you have to discard first before drawing. Either way I've tested it out and it does add to the game without just making it easier. So Again, I'll say this is completely optional.

EDIT---WHAT TO DO WITH SYLOPS IF YOU DON'T HAVE AN ESTABLISHED HAND

There is no OFFICIAL rule about how to handle Sylops in non-established hand. I use the term "established hand" to mean any of hands ranked higher than a two card Sabacc. So basically the YEE-HEE, Full Sabacc, FLEET and Pure Sabacc. But honestly, the main Sylop hands you'll see are the Pure Sabacc and the YEE-HAA. 

So what do you do with the odd Sylop in a hand that doesn't total zero?

The best methods I've found are as follows:

1. Treat it as a +1 or -1 as needed to improve your hand (ie---make it closer to zero). But an important part of this rule is that the Sylop then loses all other properties. This is pretty clear if your other non-Sylop cards do not total zero.
   You would then rank the hand according to how many cards it has. So in the above example the Sylop becomes a -1 to make a hand total of zero. But it would still be considered a 3 card Sabacc. Same thing for NULREK.
2. The strategy I've seen work pretty well is to treat a Sylop in a non-zero hand as something to NOT want. For example, if you had the above cards shown in the picture at the end of the third round. Barring a Sabacc shift, you would immediately lose. This is kind of similar to the whole "bombing out" thing in traditional Sabacc.
3. BUT WHAT IF YOU HAVE TWO SYLOPS AND ANY OTHER CARD
   ----This is probably my FAVORITE rule addition. Because this WILL pop up at least once if you play with any regularity. And it always, always, always, always causes arguments. A hand consisting of 2 Sylop cards (0,0) and any other card, let's say a +3. Your hand is (0,0,+3). It's not a Pure Sabacc, it's literally not anything and this is a problem. 
   
   It CAN be treated as a Pure Sabacc.....BUT only if you roll the dice the number of times you are over zero. So for example the (0,0,+3) hand would have to roll the dice 3 times at the end of the third round. You could also choose to not do anything and just take the total of your hand with factoring in the above Sylop Wild Rule (I had names for these at some point).
   
   
4. 
   
   

As you can tell from the above rule additions, they not only help fill in the holes. But they also maintain a balance within the gameplay. Plus for the most part they are pretty simple to remember.

This is probably the number one mistake most people make when altering or adding rules to a game. Because if you don't take into consideration how the balance of the game will affected by the change, you may very well have a broken game on your hands. Or at the very least a game that kind of ends up like how most of us play Monopoly. It's fun for awhile and then everybody loses interest because the same person always wins. 

OTHER THINGS

If you have looked around enough online, you have probably come across a few different variations of the rules. These are usually people trying to "fix" rules they don't understand, or make the game closer to what it was in Legends Canon. 

Unfortunately there is just as much confusion with these rules as the established ones in the book. More than likely if you try these rules without first understanding the game (especially if you're teaching others), you'll just have an awkward card game with inconsistent rules.

While the included rule book from the Sabacc deck found at Galaxy's Edge has a few issues. The basic gameplay and mechanics of the game are solid. Sure a few rules can use a clarification or two. And the winning hands page has a lot of errors. But still, these are your best best. 

They are actually updating this at some point.

And for those playing with the Han Solo Card Game, throw those rules in the trash. That game was the first iteration of what would later become the Galaxy's Edge Sabacc. So they are either overly simplified or just plain contradictory now. But the deck works, and the dice are actually better.

Notice that "Sabacc" is nowhere to be found

WHAT TO FOCUS ON DURING YOUR FIRST GAMES

I'll cover the winning hands in another post as there is a lot to go over. So with that in mind, don't worry too much about ALL the winning hands for right now. Just try and get your hand closest to ZERO. If you try to make hands for the sake of getting FULL SABACC or something, you'll probably just end up losing.

The easiest and best hand to try and get is the ONE PAIR SABACC. Which is just one positive card and one negative card totaling ZERO (example; -1, +1). 

One pair (despite what the winning hands page says is TWO CARDS). Unless they officially change it to be more clear, one pair is two cards. 

ONE PAIR SABACC beats SABACC WITH MOST CARDS.

But if you can't get to zero with two cards, more is fine and will probably beat out most other hands.

Anything else is called NULRHEK, or closest to ZERO.

A positive total is better than a negative total of the same integer.
(example; a total of +1 beats a total -1).

The top hand only got to a +6.
The bottom hand is a +3, so winner winner

Both hands -1, but the top hand has more cards.
If both hands had the same total and the same amount of cards,
it would then come down to who has the highest positive card total.
And then if still tied, whoever has the highest single positive card.

Another important thing to remember is that the LOWER integer wins in most cases when talking SABACC hands. So while it might be tempting to think that a ONE PAIR SABACC with +10 and -10 is unbeatable. It is actually a pretty weak ONE PAIR SABACC. (example; (+2)(-2) beats (+10)(-10).

Fun fact: Han knew that Lando was cheating because the Sylops were already played. More than likely this was because a player either had a hand with a Sylop that wasn't going to win and folded, or because there was a Sabacc Shift and he saw that the Sylops were already played.

This is also why the cards shouldn't be shuffled after a Sabacc Shift happens. Knowing what cards have already been played can come in handy.

Final Thoughts

I know there is a lot here. But honestly Sabacc is easier to learn than Skip-Bo (at least at first). I've taught many, many people the game of Sabacc with these rules and we were good to go in a matter of minutes. I also regularly post about the game on my Instagram of the same name.

There is a lot of replay value here, especially if you play according to the rules. 

Another aspect of the game that is missing entirely from the Galaxy's Edge version is anything about betting. Playing Sabacc with betting TOTALLY CHANGES the experience. I will cover that in yet another post.

But if you want to try it out, use modified Poker/Texas Holdem betting rules.

Have fun and total zero!

Edit-----

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