The Holodex Guide to Sabacc Decks

May 2
7 min read

Updated: May 17

The Sabacc Deck Type You Need to Play Every Sabacc Variant

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When you get into the world of Sabacc, it's easy to be confused about where to start. In the old canon, there was only one kind of Sabacc game and one kind of deck in use (even if there were references to others). In the new canon, there are 4 big Sabacc games and 4 types of deck, with more variants as you dig into the wider official lore and fandom.

This reflects Sabacc within the Star Wars universe itself, where the lore says there are at least 80 different variants of Sabacc in existence across the Galaxy.

That complexity can be overwhelming at first, but it's also a source of great fun and variety. There are always new games and play styles to try out, and an active and engaged community supporting play and learning.

You can use this guide to orient yourself in the world of Sabacc, and become familiar with the different Sabacc variants and the Sabacc cards and decks you need to play them. We'll begin by highlighting the main deck types and the games that are played with them.

SABACC DECK TYPES & GAMES

The simplest way to distinguish Sabacc deck types is by their size - the number of cards in the deck. Since they are used to play more than one Sabacc Variant, calling a deck a 'Corellian Spike Deck' only helps a little, since it can also be used to play Coruscant Shift, or Kessel in a pinch.

Sabacc Games by Deck Type:
62 Deck - Corellian Spike, Coruscant Shift and Three Card Spike
44 Deck - Kessel Sabacc
76 Deck - Classic Sabacc, Force Sabacc
78 Deck - Centran Sabacc, Contract Sabacc — *Save this table and share with others online to spread the Sabacc lore!*

Here is a breakdown of the structure of each of these deck types, and what to look for when trying to find a physical deck:

62 CARD SABACC DECK - AKA: 'SPIKE' OR 'SHIFT' DECKS

Table showing a breakdown of the structure of a 62 style Sabacc Deck

62-card Sabacc Decks are used to play the Corellian Spike and Coruscant Shift variants of Sabacc. They are also used for a wide variety of other games like Three Card Spike, Galaxy Series, Surabat Cycle, Mandalorian Solitaire, Jedi Temple and Savareen Whist.

Deck Structure

The 62' Sabacc Deck is divided into 3 primary suits of 20 cards each. Each suit is further divided into two subsuits or staves of 10 cards - one stave is negative in value, the other is positive in value.

Each suit has 6 cards with values ranked 1-6. There are then 4 face cards valued 7-10: The Star (7), The Shield (8), The Queen (9) and The Warrior (10). In a Coruscant Shift Deck, the Warrior is known as The Mandalorian.

In addition to the 60 suited cards, there are 2 wild or 'Sylop' cards with a value of 0.

Dice with the Deck:

62 Card Sabacc Decks for Corellian Spike usually include or require a pair of 'Spike Dice'. These dice are identical and marked with the numbers 1-6 in Corellian symbolic numerals.

62 Card Sabacc Decks for Coruscant Shift usually include or require a pair of 'Shift Dice'. The Suit Target dice is marked with x2 Triangles, x2 Squares and x2 Circles. The Value Dice is marked with the values -10, -5, 0, 0, 5 and 10.

What To Look For: Card Decks for 'Corellian Spike' or 'Coruscant Shift', 'Spike Deck', 'Shift Deck', '62-Card' Decks, 'Sabacc 62' Decks', 'from Star Wars: Solo film'.

Accessories: 'Spike Dice', 'Sabacc Dice', 'Shift Dice', 'Coruscant Shift Dice'

44 CARD SABACC DECK - AKA: KESSEL SABACC DECKS

Table showing a breakdown of the structure of a 44 style Sabacc Deck

Kessel Decks are used to play only the Kessel Sabacc variant played in the Star Wars: Outlaws computer game, which has a unique structure and special cards. It is possible to adapt a standard 62-Card Sabacc deck for playing Kessel, but a specialty deck with the right graphics and markers is very helpful to make everything clear.

Deck Structure

Kessel Sabacc uses a specialty 44-card deck with different colour backs for two halves of the deck: the 'families' or suits of 'Sand' (Yellow) and 'Blood' (Red) cards. Each suit or family has 22 cards. There are 18 cards with the ranked numbers 1-6 in Corellian symbolic numerals - there are 3 copies of each rank. The last four cards are wild cards: 3 'Imposter' cards and 1 Sylop.

Technically, Kessel Sabacc can be played using a 62 card Sabacc deck. This requires removing three of the face cards from the suits and using one Face Card to act as the 'Imposter' card. However, it is easier to set and play the game when the card backs are different colours and the Imposter cards are clearly marked.

Dice with the Deck:

44 Card Sabacc Decks for Kessel Sabacc usually include or require a pair of 'Spike Dice'. These dice are identical and marked with the numbers 1-6 in Corellian symbolic numerals. They are used with Imposter cards to determine their value at the Reveal.

Shift Token Side Decks:

Kessel Sabacc games also use a side deck of collectible player tiles called 'Shift Tokens'. Usually, shift tokens have to be purchased or obtained separately from the Kessel Deck itself, however some decks come packaged with tokens or include them as 'Shift Cards'.

Each player has three of these tiles to use in the game. There are 16 official Shift Tokens, organised into four categories: Stock Tokens, Tax Tokens, Disrupt Tokens and Fix Tokens. Shift Tokens and their types will be covered in more depth in a future post.

What To Look For: Card Decks for 'Kessel Sabacc' or '44 Kessel Deck', 'Star Wars: Outlaws' Accessories: 'Spike Dice', 'Shift Tokens for Kessel Sabacc', 'Shift Cards for Kessel Sabacc'

76 CARD SABACC DECK - AKA: 'CLASSIC' OR 'TRADITIONAL' SABACC DECKS

Table showing a breakdown of the structure of a 76 style Sabacc Deck

Classic Sabacc represents the game as it was played through most of the Legends/EU era of the Star Wars franchise, and even into the Disney era via its appearance in Star Wars: Rebels. It is sometimes also called a 'Traditional' Sabacc deck. While the newer Sabacc games usually have a goal of hitting the score of 0, the goal of the original Sabacc game was to hit a score of 23.

Deck Structure

The Classic Sabacc Deck has 76 cards, divided into 5 suits - four Minor suits and one Major.

The Minor Suits are Flasks, Staves, Sabers and Coins. Each Suit has 15 cards: 11 ranked cards with values from 1-11, and four Face Cards with values 12-15, The Commander (12), Mistress (13), Master (14) and Ace (15).

The Major Suit has 16 cards depicting 8 different Aspects (characters, powers or virtues), with nuetral or negative values - The Idiot (0), The Queen of Air & Darkness (-2), Endurance (-8), Balance (-11), Demise (-13), Moderation (-14), The Evil One (-15) and The Star (-17). There are two of each card type in the Major suit.

Dice with the Deck:

In the original rules, players are told to use a standard 6-sided dice for the Sabacc Shift phase of the game. Today, you can use Spike dice in exactly the same way as for Corellian Spike to trigger Sabacc shifts.

What To Look For: Card Decks for 'Classic Sabacc' or 'Traditional Sabacc', 'From Star Wars: Rebels'

Accessories: 'Spike Dice', 'Sabacc Dice'

78 CARD SABACC DECK - AKA: 'CENTRAN' or 'ORACLE' DECKS

Table showing a breakdown of the structure of a 78 style Sabacc Deck

The 78 Card Sabacc Decks, sometimes also known as Sabacc Oracle Decks, are probably the deepest cut on this list.

There has never been any official Centran Sabacc Deck printed, published or depicted in full in any Star Wars media. All Centran Sabacc Decks are fan creations reconstructed from the available lore.

Centran Decks go right back to the origins of Sabacc - to its first appearance in the 1983 novel Lando Calrissian and Mindharp of Sharu. The novel introduces us to the game of Sabacc for the first time, laying out its rules, naming key cards, and explaining the infamous trick hand known as the Idiot's Array.

But even though the Lando novels introduced Sabacc, this version of the game was not the most well known in the Expanded Universe/Legends era - that distinction went to the Classic deck and game rules published 6 years later in Crisis on Cloud City (1989). Being less well known, this version of the game was labelled as 'Centran' Sabacc, because the Lando novels took place within a regional power outside the Empire called The Centrality. Despite this, Sabacc and this type of Sabacc deck was never said to have originated there, with Legends later attributing the invention of Sabacc to an alien species called the Ryn.

An important feature of Lando's Sabacc deck was that it was designed not just for playing Sabacc, but telling fortunes. Lester Neil Smith, the author of the Lando models, used the Rider-Waite Tarot as direct model and inspiration for the Sabacc deck and cards. For this reason, 78 Card Sabacc Decks are sometimes called Sabacc Oracle Decks.

Deck Structure

The Centran Sabacc Deck has 78 cards, divided into 5 suits - four Minor suits and one Major.

The Minor Suits are Flasks, Staves, Sabers and Coins. Each suit has 14 cards: 9 ranked cards with values from 2-10; four Face Cards with values 11-14, The Legate (11), Commander (12), Mistress (13), Master (14); and one Face Card, the Ace, which can be valued low (1) or high (15).

The Major Suit has 22 cards depicting 8 different Aspects (characters, powers or virtues), with neutral or negative values, valued 0 and -1 to -21. The identities of these cards varies between decks and interpretations. The Lando novels gave names and values to 9 cards, and later sources named two extra cards without giving them values. This has encouraged fans interested in making Centran Sabacc Decks to invent their own cards for the remaining 10.

In a future article, we'll explore the close relationship between the 78 Centran Deck and the Rider Waite Tarot, and how fans have handled inventing the extra cards of the Major Suit.

Dice with the Deck:

Just as with a Classic deck, players might use dice to trigger the 'Sabacc Shift' depicted in the novels. However, if you want something closer to the experience in the novels, a timer device might be more appropriate. Our own rules for Centran Sabacc eschew the dice and use the cards themselves to simulate the random nature of the number of cards that shift in player's hands.

What To Look For: 'Centran Sabacc', 'Sabacc Oracle Deck', 'Star Wars Tarot', 'Card Decks for Centran Sabacc', 'From Legends', 'From the Lando (Calrissian) Adventures, Novels', etc.

Accessories: 'Spike Dice', 'Sabacc Dice'

These are the four primary styles of Sabacc deck. If you're a completist, you'll need at least one of each to master all the major styles of Sabacc.

All of these decks can be found now from Sabacc vendors, so best of luck with completing your collection.

In future posts, we'll explore more niche variants and decks (like Force Decks, full Oracle Decks and Deadman's or 'Binspo' style decks, as well as card decks for other Star Wars universe games!

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