Kay Vess will do just about anything to earn credits in Star Wars Outlaws. She’s mixed up with a lot of dangerous people and cash is always tight. While there are plenty of missions you can do for the various Syndicates, as well as loot and treasures to find, plus locks to pick for some cash, those all come with a lot of risks. If you want to earn some credits the honorable way, Kessel Sabacc is this universe’s preferred way to gamble. You’ll be introduced to the game early on and instantly hit with a wall of tutorials and rules to somehow master in just a single game. While it shares elements with some card games you may know, it is entirely its own beast. Let’s break down the rules so you know how to play the winning hand every time.
How to play Kessel Sabacc
Kessel Sabacc is played in three-turn rounds and goes as many rounds as it takes for only one player to be left with chips. You start with six chips and are dealt two cards with the option to draw and discard one card each turn for the cost of one chip. You can hold to pass your turn and keep that chip as well. At the end of three turns, everyone’s hand is shown.
Cards are numbered 1-6, plus a couple of wild cards we’ll talk about in a second, and are either tan or red. You want your tan and red card numbers to be as close as possible — ideally the same number — but as low a number as possible. That means the best hand you can get would be two 1s. If your cards are not the same number, you lose chips at the end of the round equal to the distance between those numbers. For example, if you end with a 1 and a 4, you would lose three chips in addition to any you spent drawing new cards.
Only the player with the best hand regains any chips they used that round. The game is over for you when you or all your opponents are out of chips.
Besides numbered cards, there are also cards with special effects. These are the Imposter and Sylop cards.
The Imposter card has no value until the end of the round, at which point you roll a pair of dice. You can then pick the value of either die to be that card’s value. This makes it a high-risk card, but might be the better option if your choice is between that and two cards very far apart in number.
Sylop cards are the best because they will always match the value of the other card in your hand. If you have one, all you need to do is get your other card’s value as low as possible. There is only one Slyop per tan and red deck so they are extremely rare to draw. However, drawing both the tan and red Sylop card is called a Pure Sabaac and is the best possible hand.
Shift Tokens are another wrench you can throw into the works. These can be played before you choose to draw or stand and do things like tax every other player a chip on the spot,or let you add two chips to your pile. You can earn and unlock different Shift Tokens by playing and winning at different tables around the galaxy.
Being a scoundrel, Kay can also use Nix to cheat and peek at an opponent’s hand with a small quick-time event. If you fail, he’ll get caught and the players will get more suspicious of you. Fail too much and you’ll be kicked out and not be able to play.
Kessel Sabacc tips
The first tip is to go into the settings and swap the stylized numerals for clear ones on the cards. By default, the card numbers are written in a way that doesn’t make it clear what number they represent at a glance. Don’t make it any more confusing and just make the numbers legible.
Since there are only three opportunities to draw per round, don’t get too greedy. If you have one card 3 or lower, do your best to match that with your second card first. If you get a lower card early, then you can switch to try and draw a lower card of the other type.
Don’t be afraid to stand early. If you have a Sabacc of any kind while the table is full, let the other players spend their chips while you play conservatively. Even if you don’t win, you won’t have spent any extra chips or get taxed more at the end and can easily outlast one or two of the players without much risk.
Don’t get greedy. Use Nix to cheat when you’re down to a one-on-one and only aim for a hand better than your opponents. You don’t need the best Sabacc possible to win if all you need to beat is a hand of a 3 and 4 or something.