You won`t find sabacc games in Atlantic City or on the Vegas strip, but in places like Canto Bight and Cloud City, sabacc is the discerning gambler`s game of choice. In Solo, the sabacc table is where Han meets Lando, sparking a friendship that lasts for decades, and it`s sabacc that they`re playing when Han wins the Millennium Falcon, changing the fate of the galaxy forever.Sabacc is more than just a plot device, however. It has a complete set of rules, numerous variants, and a long and storied history in the Star Wars universe. With a little bit of work, you can even play it yourself.The Galaxy`s Most Notorious GameSabacc actually predates The Empire Strikes Back, but just barely. While sabacc isn`t named in the film itself--When talking to Lando, Han simply says that he won the Falcon `fair and square`--the second draft of Empire`s screenplay mentioned that the game is called `sabacca.` The Empire Strikes Back`s novelization, written by Donald F. Glut, renamed it `sabacc.` That`s what it`s been called ever since.Next came L. Neil Smith`s Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu, one of the earliest installments in the now non-canonical Star Wars Expanded Universe. Set a few years before Han sat in the Falcon`s pilot`s seat, The Mindharp of Sharu details Lando`s adventures in the Rafa system, where he`s roped into hunting for an ancient treasure alongside a tentacled droid named Vuffi Raa. Sabacc plays a big, big role in the story.Even by Star Wars standards, The Mindharp of Sharu is supremely weird, and later novels more or less ignored it. The book did make one lasting contribution to Star Wars lore, however. The Mindharp of Sharu begins with a sabacc match and quickly lays out the game`s rules. That`s been the foundation for every version of the game that followed. In fact, sabacc hasn`t changed much at all since The Mindharp debuted all the way back in 1983.Game designers Michael Stern, Douglas Kaufman, and Greg Gorden codified sabacc`s rules in Crisis o ...
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