Darth Hater

Star Wars has a rich history of recreational games one can play to take their mind off the ever-growing conflicts around the galaxy. Dejarik, Sabacc, and Pazaak are three of the most well-known and frequently played games in the galaxy, and many fans hope for one or all three mini-games to be included in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Perhaps you've played Pazaak as a part of the Knights of the Old Republic series or made your own adaptation of Sabacc to play at home. With the game's development entering its home stretch, now is the time to brush up on your knowledge and begin to develop strategies for the first time you enter a cantina.

As you know the people that are going to have a fun weekend at PAX are going to the Star Wars Cantina at PAX as well as meeting at an unspecified bar in Seattle. Since they are going to have fun in a place such as that I will now start discussion of Cantinas and Cantina accessories. I will also tell my hopes and dreams for the utilization of these space taverns in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

First off, I am not speaking Spanish, I am speaking Star Wars. (Cantina is Espanol for bar/tavern) We first got to experience a cantina in Episode IV. Fun fact: that scene was redone by Lucas before release of the film to make the film seem more realistic. Think of a cantina as being a bar much like today, where people go to drink and do other nasty things in public. Crime also tends to go to the less desirable cantinas and these bars can be found in almost any settled area. Droids can work at cantinas, but most follow the policy of "We don't serve their kind here. Your droids, they'll have to leave." Gambling was commonplace at cantinas as well as on stage entertainment. (lower quality cantinas would have virtual entertainers) Pazaak, Sabacc, and racing were the preferred forms of gambling while dancing and music were top forms of entertainment.

Now that you know what goes on here lets see how it can be put in game. First of all bars are a popular place to RP. (Everyone from WoW RP knows about Silvermoon) Apart from RP we could have Pazaak and Swoop races. Along with minigames we could possibly receive missions at these gathering places, as smugglers and bounty hunters often come across employment that is less than legal. Lets just hope they let me keep my HK-54 (HK-47 is too rare to be a companion so an upgraded clone would make me just as happy) companion with me when I enter these dens of slime and villainy.

Now that we have covered cantinas let me know what you want in them while we wait for PAX news to trickle in.

I might be making a leap but it seems quite possible that Pazaak tables might have been shown during the Holonet Hutta video:



It's curious that in the picture of the scene shown above two people are always seen standing by them, never more than two, which is the way Pazaak is played. The table also has similar lighting as seen in the Kotor table image. At this point it's only speculation but am I grasping at straws here or am I onto something? Comment and let us know what you think.

For those of you who were huge fans of Pazaak in the original Kotor games you should enjoy this newest community creation. Asvarox from the Star Wars: The Old Republic forum has created a singleplayer Pazaak game that allows you to play against a computer opponent. From what we have seen of the game it is a simple but good version of Pazaak that is playable online (via the website, not multiplayer) and offline. Here is more information about the game -

Hi SW:TOR Community

I had to make an "small application" for school something like month ago. I decided to make pazaak game via web with simple AI. Well it was quite buggy and ugly, but my teachers enjoyed it

Recently I decided to rewrite and redesign whole thing. Now it looks much better (still it's not so beautiful) and is less buggy. I'm really happy from the result, so I decided to publish it.

There's no "mulitplayer" mode, you can only fight with the computer. You can also download whole application and play it offline if you want. If you find any bugs or greameear errors (:P) please contact me via PM or this thread. I'm also willing to hear any suggestions and feedback.

Ok time to post the link...
THE LINK - it's on crappy free hosting, I'd love to see it reuploaded somewhere else.

If you like it, I might start working on multiplayer pazaak. From quick overview, it wouldn't take so long, and shouldn't be so hard.

PS. If you think that the code is messy, I agree - I have been programming for 3 years in PHP and 0 years in JavaScript :P

For those that are unfamiliar with Pazaak you can find more about it on Wookiepedia.

Update: We are now hosting a mirror for the offline version of the game available here.