Movies and the casino have a long history together. The themes of risk and reward provide a strong narrative, that can enhance most movie plotlines somewhere to up the ante. Yet it is not all poker and baccarat that is seen onscreen. In many movies, their forms of gambling evolved into their own art form with individual rules and regulations. Below, we discuss the most famous fictional gambling games in movies and television.
Sabacc
Arguably, the most important gambling game in cinema history belongs to Sabacc, and the first film to feature a round was Solo: A Star Wars Story. Outside of Star Wars fandom, it is relatively unheard of. Yet it was the game that won Han Solo the Millennium Falcon and thus was responsible for one of the most iconic onscreen spaceships in history.
In Sabacc, the player aims to get a hand as close to 23 as possible and win the money in the pot. This sits quite close to the game of blackjack in terms of its aim. However, values and suits can change randomly during play depending on the variation being played, also linking it to poker. In some instances, the changing of the cards can be blocked by placing them within an interference field.
In Star Wars, Lando Calrissian described the appeal of Sabacc to come from unknown factors and the parts you can not control. This can be applied to most casino games, particularly modern crash games. They get their name from a rocket-themed link, which involves predicting how far an object will travel before crashing out. These chance games have also developed variations such as the Plinko game, which involves betting on a falling ball in the pyramid and where it will land.
Source: Unsplash
Gwent
Gwent is a card game that originated in a series of books known as The Witcher. This was then turned into a video game, where Gwent was an integral minigame that enhanced the real story. When this subsequently became a television show, its popularity grew even further. You can now buy digital and physical versions of the game itself.
It is a turn-based game between two players, that lasts between two and three rounds. The aim is to play cards to earn points, which then become a power on the board. Each card can have special abilities, which adds a tactical element. In many ways, this places it closer to tactical card games like Magic: The Gathering than ones that rely on elements of chance such as poker.
Fizzbin
Fizzbin was an overly complex card game played in Star Trek. It was originally invented by Captain Kirk, who devised the rules as a way to lower the defenses of the Lotians, a group of extraterrestrials who had kidnapped his crew. It is played with four players who each get six cards. In addition to this, it had a crazy set of rules including hands called fizzbins and side bets that could only occur if the game was played at night. However, it became canon and would later appear in further episodes of Star Trek and its offshoots.
Fiction will always produce new games and it is exciting when some of them become reality. This crossover will continue and if you gamble responsibly, who knows where in the galaxy you could end up playing them.
