Sabacc

Overview

The card game from Solo: A Star Wars Story, in the form Disney sells as a boxed set at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. Fans call this version Corellian Spike. Get as close to zero as you can.

Source. Checked line by line against the rules booklet that comes in the Galaxy's Edge box (Disney Theme Park Merchandise, © Disney and Lucasfilm). Disney doesn't publish the booklet online; we read a scan of it kept by the fan archive Games of the Galaxy.

There is no betting in the official rules. No ante, no chips, no hand pot and no Sabacc pot. Almost every guide online adds them, and in the film the game is played for high stakes. They're house rules as far as the booklet is concerned.

Kessel Sabacc, the version in the video game Star Wars Outlaws, is a different game and isn't covered here.

1. The deck

2 to 8 players. The box holds 62 cards and 2 dice.

• Three suits, called staves: circles, triangles and squares. All three are of equal value.
• Each stave has 20 cards: green cards +1 to +10 and red cards −1 to −10.
• Two zero cards. Fans call these sylops; the booklet just calls them zero cards.

2. Setup

1. Choose a dealer, who also plays. The deal passes to the left each round.
2. The dealer shuffles and deals two cards face down to each player, starting on their left. Look at your cards but don't show them.
3. The rest of the deck goes face down in the middle: the Draw Pile.
4. The dealer turns the top card face up beside it: the Discard Pile.

3. A round

The game lasts three rounds. In each round every player takes one turn, starting with the player to the dealer's left. On your turn, choose one:

Action	What you do
Gain	Take the top card of the Draw Pile. Keep it, or discard instead. If you choose to discard, you must discard before you draw
Swap	Take the top card of the Discard Pile and put a card from your hand face up in its place
Stand	Do nothing
Junk	Put your whole hand face up on the Discard Pile and leave the game

You can never give up a card without receiving one, and you should always hold at least two cards. If everyone else junks, the last player left wins at once.

The dice

When everyone has had their turn, the dealer rolls the two Sabacc Dice.

• A double: everyone's cards go to the Discard Pile, and the dealer deals each player the same number of cards they discarded.
• Different numbers: everyone keeps their cards.

4. The reveal

After the third round and the third roll, everyone lays their hand face up, starting with the player to the dealer's left and going round. The best hand wins.

5. Winning hands

Hands that add up to exactly zero rank above everything else. A hand that misses zero is a nulrhek. The booklet's general tie rule: a positive number, whether a total or a single card, always beats the equal negative number.

The named zero hands, best first:

Hand	Zero made with	Ties
Pure Sabacc	Exactly the two zero cards
Full Sabacc	Exactly +10, +10, −10, −10 and a zero card
Fleet	Four of a kind (not 10s) and a zero card	Lower number wins
Yee-Haa	One pair and a zero card	Lower number wins
Rhylet	A positive three of a kind and a negative pair, or the other way round	Lower three of a kind wins
Squadron	Four of a kind	Lower number wins
Gee Whiz	+1, +2, +3, +4 and −10, or −1, −2, −3, −4 and +10
Straight Khyron	A run of four	Lower run wins
Banthas Wild	Three of a kind	Lower number wins
Rule of Two	Two pairs	Lower pair wins
Sabacc	One pair	Lower pair wins

"Of a kind" means the same number whichever colour it is: +5 and −5 make a pair.

If zero hands still tie, in this order: most cards wins, then the highest total of positive cards, then the highest single positive card.

If nobody has zero, the hand closest to zero wins (nulrhek). Ties go, in order, to the positive total, then most cards, then the highest total of positive cards, then the highest single positive card.

If it's still a tie, each tied player takes one card blind from the Draw Pile, and the closest to zero wins, positive beating negative. Tie again and you draw again.

Commonly argued

• There is no betting in the official rules. Pots and antes are added by players and fan guides.
• A double on the dice replaces every hand, and you get back as many cards as you gave up.
• Junking is folding. You leave the game, and if you're the last one in, you win.
• +5 and −5 are a pair. Numbers match regardless of colour.
• Positive beats negative when everything else is equal.
• The booklet is imperfect. Its hand rankings are hard to follow, and fans have argued about them since the set came out. Where it's unclear, agree how you'll play before you deal.