How to play Sabacc in Star Wars Outlaws and win (original) (raw)
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
Star Wars Outlaws Sabacc is a strategic card game where you gamble and cheat your way to a fortune. Sabacc tables, and the high rollers playing on them, are found all over the galaxy. If you sit down and play, you’ve got the chance of enjoying numerous rewards including credits, additional outfits, useful extras, and even earning reputation with certain Star Wars Outlaws factions.
Understanding the rules and learning the strategies is the difference between winning and losing. However, learning how to play isn't easy. There’s an array of cards to understand, different hands to navigate once dealt, and a cheating mechanism that you may or may not want to toy with. If you want to know how to play Sabacc in Star Wars Outlaws, you’re in the right place. Here’s everything you need to know, and hopefully you'll win in the process.
How to play Sabacc in Star Wars Outlaws
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
This is how to win at Sabacc in Star Wars Outlaws:
- To win a round in Sabacc you need to get the lowest pair of cards numerically at the end, and there are three rounds in total. So a pair of 2s beats a pair of 3s, and so on.
- Pairs are always best, but if you can't get a pair the next best option is to have the smallest difference between the number value of your cards. So, if one player has a 1 and a 3, and another has a 3 and a 4, then the 3 and 4 beats the 1 and 3 because it has the lowest difference between the two numbers.
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
These are the rules for Sabacc in Star Wars Outlaws:
- You have three rounds to draw new cards from two decks.
- There's a yellow (Sand) deck and red (Blood) deck and your pair has to have one card from each.
- After drawing a card from any deck you must discard one from the same deck, so you always have two cards, one from both decks in your hand.
- Instead of drawing a random card from the decks, you can choose to take a visible card from the top of the discard piles instead.
- You add a coin to the pot every time you take a new card. You start with eight coins, so if you run out, you can't draw anymore.
- You can get your spent coins back if you win the match.
- If you run out of coins and lose the match, you're out of the game.
- A full game of Sabacc is won by the last player standing when all others have run out of coins.
That's a very basic explanation of the rules in Star Wars Outlaws, but it covers the fundamentals. You're trying to win these little three-round matches to keep your coins, and the last person standing wins.
Star Wars Outlaws Sabacc Sylop and Imposter cards explained
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
There are two "wild cards" in Sabacc called Sylop Cards and imposter cards, both of which can be randomly drawn from either deck like any other card.
Here's what Sylop Cards and imposter cards do in Sabacc:
- Sylop Cards are the best cards in Sabacc - they act as a mirror to your other card. So if you have a yellow Sylop and a red 1 when the game ends, you actually have a pair of 1s.If you have two Sylop cards, it's the best hand in Sabacc - there's no hand that can beat it.
- Imposter Cards are high-risk, high-reward. These cards have no value until the end of the game, at which point you roll two dice - you may then assign the value of one die to the Imposter card. So, for example, if you end the round with a 3 and an Imposter card, and then roll a 1 and a 3 with the dice, choosing the 3 will give you a pair of 3s.
Star Wars Outlaws Sabacc cheats
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
There are three cheats for Sabacc in Star Wars Outlaws that players can find and equip. One is accessible from the beginning, and two have to be earned. These are you options:
- Use Nix to peek at an opponent's cards (default). Pressing up on the D-Pad during your turn allows you to send Nix to peek at all the other players' hands. You need to press Triangle / Y at the right moment to do so without being caught, and do so successfully each time. Keep in mind that you won't get up-to-date info if they draw and discard, so you'll have to send Nix out to cheat again.
- Magnetic Dice you can control (learned from the Star Wars Outlaws Hotfixer expert). When rolling dice for Imposter Cards, press X/A when a moving bar is in the white section to control the result.
- Double Draw two cards on the sly (learned from the Star Wars Outlaws High Roller expert). When drawing from any deck, you can choose to Double Draw. You have to play a minigame where you keep an erratically-moving icon in the hot zone when the timer elapses. If you succeed, you take a second card and can use either one.
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
More Star Wars Outlaws guides
If you're caught cheating, by failing any of the challenges, other players start to get suspicious. If you're caught cheating three times, you'll be ejected from the table and won't be allowed to come back for a certain amount of time, forfeiting your buy-in in the process.
You can buy yourself one more attempt by pressing R3/Right Stick at the moment prompted, triggering the Star Wars Outlaws Fast Talk ability. This doesn't reset suspicion to zero - it simply gives you one more chance to get it right that game. If you screw up again, you're out.
Star Wars Outlaws Sabacc Tokens explained
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
Players can choose up to three Sabacc Tokens to use before playing. These can be spent to trigger special abilities or modifiers, each one of which can be activated once per game.
Depending on the Token, these might do all manner of things - allow you to draw cards for free, force other players to discard their hand and draw a new one, allow you to take back some coins from the pot, or more.
Sabacc Tokens are found all over Star Wars Outlaws, with no specific pattern beyond them being valuable rewards. Some are won at Sabacc tables, but others are found as Treasures in enemy outposts, as rewards for missions, or more besides. Intel found around the galaxy can lead you to finding more of them, so keep an ear to the ground.
How to win at Sabacc in Star Wars Outlaws
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
Here are some tips for winning at Sabacc in Star Wars Outlaws:
- Don't draw cards if you don't need to. If you have a good hand, just stand. It costs coins to draw, and you're risking it for no reason.
- Double Draw early. If you've got the High Roller's double draw cheat, trigger it in round 1 so you can constantly have a second card up your sleeve. It gives you more options in what kind of hand you want to make.
- Using Nix to cheat with the Exhaustion Token is deadly. The Exhaustion Token forces a player of your choice to discard their hand and get a new one. On turn 3, have Nix cheat and look at all the enemy hands, then use Exhaustion to force the best of them out. They don't have much time to fix it, and it'll probably end them.
- If you're confident, use Tokens to force a bigger pot. Certain Tokens force players to put more coins into the pot, even if they're not drawing. This can stop them from drawing cards if they run out of coins, but it's also smart to do this if you've got a great hand - it means it hurts them more if you win.
- Get Magnetic Dice ASAP. Magnetic Dice is the easiest cheat to pull off, and without it the Imposter Card is very high risk, arguably not worth picking up. This cheat is what turns it from a punishment into a reward.
If you want more general Star Wars Outlaws tips that cover a bit of everything, check that guide out for a good range of advice.
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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.