ORLANDO, Fla. — I was denied from Savi’s Workship at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge because I didn’t have a reservation. Demand to build lightsabers at the land is so high that the shop no longer accepts walk-ins, according to two cashiers outside the store.
As I turned the corner, I noticed a man wearing traditional Star Wars-themed garb. He wore a sunhat. He rolled some dice. He flipped a few cards. He was alone. So, naturally, I walked up to him to ask what he was doing.
He introduced me to the game of Sabaac, a popular game in the “Star Wars” universe. Anyone who has read the “Star Wars Legends” novels or seen “Solo: A Star Wars Story” will be vaguely familiar with the game. I heard about it. I knew its name and that it relies on luck and chance.
But the brief game I played with this Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge member made me wish this game made it to the mainstream.
The setup: The game is simple. You shuffle a deck of cards. You distribute two cards to each person. Each card has a negative or positive value (the green cards are positive, the red ones are negative). Each card has a number value, too. The point of the game is to get as close to zero as possible. So if you have a red 3 and a green 3, you’d have zero total points. Get it? It’s a little confusing at first. But once you start playing, it’s easy to get the hand of it. But you have to draw cards from a deck or put some of your cards back on the deck on one of your three turns. And, after each turn, someone rolls dice. If you hit doubles, then you must both surrender your cards and draw new ones.
The games: The stranger and I played three games back-to-back-to-back. In the final two games, we each rolled doubles, which led us to put our cards back and draw new ones. I won both of the final games.
The point: Learning Sabaac there in the streets of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge taught me the importance and fun of card games. I haven’t played many games in recent years. I played Monopoly about two weeks ago. But other than that, I don’t remember playing any card games.
Playing Sabaac with the random street vendor highlighted the fun of card games. We left our victory up to chance. Each roll of the dice could change our outcome, and that was fine because we were having a brief break from our normal lives together.
It was even more important because I learned something new from the game. I had never played Sabaac before. Now I have a new skill and card game to play. Not only did me and the random person have a good time playing a card game, but I learned something new along the way.
It’s unclear if I’ll ever play Sabaac again. I’m sure I could buy a deck of Sabaac cards. Or use traditional cards to play the game. Either way, the random game taught me the value of meeting new people and engaging in older traditions. We didn’t have to speak to each other or meet there in the streets of Batuu. But a card game brought us together — a card game that I, with any luck, will soon bring onto others.