Corellian Spike Sabacc

For *Traditional 76 Sabacc* see this page

Corellian Spike Sabacc is a variation of Sabacc, a high stakes gambling card game played through-out the galixy by criminals and bounty hunters in the STAR WARS franchise. The rules tend to varys from planet to planet.

Sabacc is often compared by fans to Poker or Blackjack while still having it’s own twist.

## History

The idea of sabacc came from a cut line from the second draft of the screenplay for *STAT WARS: Episode V — Empire Strikes Back* (1980). As Han Solo and Princess Leia approach Cloud City, Han reveals to Leia that Lando Calrissian won Cloud City in a game of "sabacca," but the game would never be called “sabacca.” Not even in the Legends books. The first actual use of the word Sabacc is the first word in the first book of the *Lando Calrissian trilogy.* Written by L. Neil Smith in 1983 titled *Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu*. The trilogy follows the exploits Lando Calrissian as he schmoozes, cons, and gambles his way across the galaxy in the years leading up to *Empire Strikes Back*. Throughout the book, Lando is constantly either playing or referencing Sabacc. He thinks life is just one big game of Sabacc. At one point he even uses the negative face cards in the deck as tarot cards and ‘predicts' the future. It’s speculated that L. Neil Smith took inspiration from real life tarot cards to create some of the face cards in the Sabacc deck.

In 1989 a full-fledged Sabacc game became available for fans to purchase and play. When an 84-card deck and a set of rules were released as part of a Star Wars roleplaying game titled: *Crisis on Cloud City*.

In 1998, the final book in the *Han Solo Trilogy* was released, which follows the adventures of a young Han Solo prior to the events of *A New Hope*. The third book, called *Rebel Dawn*, written by Ann C. Crispin, has Han plays Lando Corellian in a game of sabacc for the star ship, *The Millennium Falcon*. In fact the 2018 StarWars movie *Solo: a STAR WARS Story* was heavy inspired by *Rebel Dawn*.

In 2014 Sabacc got it’s first canon mention, but only a mention, with the book: *A New Dawn*, written by John Jackson Miller.

In 2015 Sabacc got it’s first on screen appearance in the 11th episode of the animated TV series *Star Wars Rebels* titled ”Idiot’s Array.”

***Note: All pre-2015 and Star Wars Legends’ references to Sabacc refers to Traditional Sabacc where as all post-2014 and canon mentions of sabacc refer to Corellian Spike sabacc.***

In 2018 Sabacc got its first appearance in a movie. *Solo: a STAR WARS Story*, which was heavy inspired by the 1998 novel *Rebel Dawn* written by Ann C. Crispin. The Sabacc shown in this movie, is played with hexagonal cards, rather than traditional rectangular cards, and was played unlike any variant before it. This variant is often called **Corellian Spike Sabacc** by fans, with Sabacc prior to 2018 being called Traditional Sabacc or 76 Sabacc.

Along with the Solo movie came a childrens game made by Hasbro inspired by the *variant* of the sabacc from the Movie, branded as “The Han Solo card game” due to a unresolved legal battle between LucasFilms and *Ren Ventures* who in 2016 had trademarked the name Sabacc for the game developer subsidiary, Sabacc Creative Industries. The game included a deck of 62 cards, two dice and a number of cardboard tokens shaped like credits worth varying amounts, with the winner of the game being the player with the the most value.

Sabacc got a comic appearance threw a five issue miniseries by MARVAL comics from 2018-2019 titled, *Star Wars: Han Solo - Imperial Cadet. W*ritten by Robbie Thompson and art by Leonard Kirk. The story focuses on Han Solo just after joining the Imperial Military filling in a gap with in the Solo movie.

In 2018 Lucasfilm was allowed to trademark Sabacc, and in 2019 Disney started selling Sabacc decks at the Galaxy’s Edge theme park in Disneyland and Disney World. The Galaxy’s Edge Sabacc features a simple 62-card deck and a pair of dice.

Present day fans have been making and selling there own Sabacc decks. Such as HyperSpaceProps with there 76 Sabacc decks, And Lucky Sylop with there Corellian Spike Decks.

Some more recent appearances of Sabacc would be in The Mandalorian (2019), The Bad Batch (2021), Star Wars: Visions (2021), and The Book of Boba Fett (2021.)

## Fictional History

Sabacc is played often by criminals and bounty hunters throughout the galaxy. Often with high stakes. The rules for Sabacc tended to differ from planet to planet. So much so it's said there are as many as 80 different variations.

Sabacc isn't played openly on the gambling city Canto Bight found on the planet, Cantonica, where the game is considered “uncivilised.”

Some of the most rememberal games of sabacc would be when Garazeb Orrelios lost an astromech droid by the name of Chopper in a game of Traditional Sabacc to the smuggler Lando Calrissian in 4BBY. Another would be the time Han Solo won the star ship, *The Millennium Falcon*. from Lando Calrissian in a game of Corellian Spike Sabacc in 10BBY.

## Appearances

* (2022) [Canon] [Video Game] LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
* (2021) [Canon] [Book] The High Republic: The Rising Storm
* (2021) [Canon] [Book] The High Republic: The Fallen Star
* (2020) [Canon] [TV Series] Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge - Episode 4 (Flashback(s)
* (2019) [Canon] [Audio Book] Dooku: Jedi Lost (Mentioned only) (In flashback(s)
* (2017) [Canon] [Video Game] Star Wars Battlefront II (Mentioned only)
* (2020) [Canon] [Book] The Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark - Bane's Story (Mentioned only)
* (2015) [Canon] [Book] Dark Disciple (Mentioned only)
* (2015) [Canon] [Audio Book] Dark Disciple (Mentioned only)
* (2021) [Canon] [TV Series] Star Wars: The Bad Batch – Battle Scars
* (2015) [Canon] [Book] Lords of the Sith (Mentioned only)
* (2015) [Canon] [Audio Book] Lords of the Sith (Mentioned only)
* (2014) [Canon] [Book] Tarkin (Mentioned only)
* (2014) [Canon] [Audio Book] Tarkin (Mentioned only)
* (2019) [Canon] [Video Game] Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Mentioned only)
* (2018) [Canon] [Book] Most Wanted
* (2018) [Canon] [Audio Book] Most Wanted
* (2018) [Canon] [Book] Lando's Luck
* (2018) [Canon] [Audio Book] Lando's Luck
* (2015) [Canon] [Comic Book] Beckett 1
* (2018) [Canon] [Movie] Solo: A Star Wars Story
* (2018) [Canon] [Book] Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition
* (2018) [Canon] [Audio Book] Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition
* (2018) [Canon] [Book & CD] Solo: A Star Wars Story Read-Along Storybook and CD
* (2018) [Canon] [Book] Solo: A Star Wars Story: Meet the Crew
* (2018) [Canon] [Comic] Solo: A Star Wars Story Adaptation #3
* (2019) [Canon] [Comic] Solo: A Star Wars Story Adaptation #7
* (2018) [Canon] [Comic] Han Solo - Imperial Cadet #1
* (2018) [Canon] [Comic] Han Solo - Imperial Cadet #2 (In flashback(s)
* (2019) [Canon] [Comic] Han Solo - Imperial Cadet #3
* (2018) [Canon] [Comic] Lando - Double or Nothing #2 (Mentioned only)
* (2018) [Canon] [Comic] Lando - Double or Nothing #3 (Mentioned only)
* (2018) [Canon] [Comic] Lando - Double or Nothing #5

## References and Notes

1. ↑ https://hyperspaceprops.com/the-history-of-sabacc/
2. ↑ https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Crisis\_on\_Cloud\_City
3. ↑ https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Rebel\_Dawn
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sabacc#cite\_note-TOG-13
5. ↑ https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Solo:\_A\_Star\_Wars\_Story\_The\_Official\_Guide
6. ↑ https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Idiot's\_Array\_(episode)
7. ↑ https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Solo:\_A\_Star\_Wars\_Story