Want to Play Pazaak for Yourself?

Want to learn more about Pazak and how you can play it for yourself from your computer any time you want? Are you a Star Wars fan or former KOTOR player? In the era of the Old Republic, Pazaak was the most popular card game of an enormous number of sentiently creatures and most Star Wars fans know all about it.

While it has yet to make it into SWTOR, you can play the game online at: http://www.pazaak.org/play

You don’t need to download any software, as Pazaak Cantina Online runs directly in the browser. If you haven’t played it, are you wondering what Pazaak is? Let’s explore.

Pazaak, an ancient game dating back to Old Republic times, was a popular card game in which the goal was to reach 20 without going over, or at least come closer to it than the opponent. (Sounds a little like Blackjack, no?)

The player with the nearest sum to the number 20 won the round, and the player who won three rounds won the match. If in one round the scores of the two players were equal, the round was not counted at all.

You can learn more about the rules of Pazaak here.

Here are the basics:

Gameplay:

The first player draws a card from the main deck and plays it to open up the set.
After drawing a card from the main deck, the player might play one of his hand cards.
The player holds or ends the turn.
Holding means, the player isn’t allowed to draw or play any card in the current set. The opponent however is still allowed to draw and play cards.
It’s the other player’s turn.
This goes on until both players hold or one of the players ends the turn with having a score of more than 20 (‘Bust’).
The player who doesn’t exceed a total of 20 and has got the highest score wins the set.
If in one set the scores of the two players are equal, the set isn’t counted at all.
The player who wins three sets wins the match.

Special rules:

If all 9 card slots are filled with cards and the score is below or equal to 20, the player wins the set.
The Tie-Breaker (±1T) card. See Sidedeck selection.

Now don’t you wish it was in the game for you to enjoy? How cool would that be? It’s like enjoying party casino games with your friends in-game. Learn more about how to play Pazaak in our tutorial.

Would you play it if it was added to the game officially? Maybe we should send some messages over to the team at BioWare.

Lisa Clark

Lisa has been an avid gamer since she was old enough to hold her first controller and a game writer for more than a decade. A child of the Nintendo generation, she believes they just don’t make games like they used to but sometimes, they make them even better! While consoles will always be her first love, Lisa spends most of her gaming time on the PC these days- on MMOs and first-person shooters in particular.