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Table of Contents What is pazaak? ................................................................................................................................ 3

Cards and decks ................................................................................................................................ 5

Normal cards ................................................................................................................................. 5

Player Cards .................................................................................................................................. 5

Plus cards ...................................................................................................................................... 5

Minus cards ................................................................................................................................... 5

Flip cards ...................................................................................................................................... 6

Special cards ................................................................................................................................. 6

Special card: ±1 Tiebreaker ...................................................................................................... 6

Special card: Double ................................................................................................................ 6

Special Card: ±1/2 ..................................................................................................................... 6

Special card: 2&4 ...................................................................................................................... 6

Special card: 3&6 ...................................................................................................................... 6

How to play ....................................................................................................................................... 7

The Interface .................................................................................................................................... 8

Card selection screen ................................................................................................................... 8

Main game board ......................................................................................................................... 9

PvE and PvP differences ................................................................................................................. 10

Tips and tricks ................................................................................................................................. 11

3

What is Pazaak?

This guide is written for Jedi Knight Galaxies and will therefore explain the game as it is played in

JKG. While this guide can be used to get an understanding of pazaak itself, some explanations

will be directed specifically to how it is played in JKG.

Pazaak is a two-player card game, originating from the era of The Old Republic. This game was

actually exclusively introduced in Knights of the Old Republic™.

The game is quite straightforward: Two Players initiate a game, in which, each turn a player

draws a numbered card from the main deck. The goal is to get your points (the total value of all

cards on your field) as close to 20 as possible, without exceeding it (called a bust).

A Pazaak match is split up in sets. The above-mentioned victory condition will win you a set.

To win the entire match, you have to win 3 sets before your opponent does so.

Considering the element of luck and chance in the game, it is primarily used as a gambling

game. As such players usually place wagers on a match where the winner takes it all. Playing a

game without wager is often called ‘Republic senate rules’, referring to the senate (in the times

of the old republic) which has a lot bureaucracy, but never gets things done, basically just

wasting time, just like a Pazaak match without a wager.

Of course this is a very simplified explanation of this game and we’ll go into the details in the

rest of the guide.

Each game is played on a board where each player has a 3x3 playing field and 4 cards, which

makes your hand. To illustrate, the board looks more or less like this:

Note: Only the card slots are shown here, there are more elements on the board, but they will

be covered later.

Your field

Your hand

Opponent’s field

Opponent’s hand

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The field is where you will place the cards you draw and play, and the hand shows the cards

you currently have left in your hand. (Note that the hand cards from your opponent will always

be displayed face-down!)

The order at which cards are placed on the field is always left-to-right and top-to-bottom, as is

shown by the blue arrows in ‘Your field’ in the above picture.

Before we proceed any further, we’ll now explore the most important aspect of the game: The

cards and decks.

5

Cards and decks

Pazaak has two kinds of cards, from which two kinds of decks are formed. These types are

normal cards and player cards.

Normal cards Normal cards are green-colored cards with a number from 1 to 10. These cards

make up the main deck. The main deck consists out of 40 cards, so each number is

in the deck 4 times. The main deck is used by both players to draw a card on each

turn.

Player Cards These cards are special cards used by the player. They allow the player to gain a certain

amount of control in the game, since the drawings of the cards from the main deck are purely

based on luck.

The players can have as many of these cards as they want, however; to play a match, the

players have to create a side-deck which consists out of 10 cards. At the start of the match, the

side-deck is shuffled and 4 cards are drawn from it into the player’s hand. These 4 cards are the

only cards the player gets to use the entire match. This is done to add some element of luck,

since you can pick the 10 cards you want to use, but not the 4 of them that’ll end up in your

hand.

There are 4 types of these cards, each of which we’ll now cover in detail:

Plus cards

Plus (+) cards are blue-colored cards with a positive value (prefixed with a +). The

values of these cards range from +1 to +6. When a player uses one of these cards,

the player’s points will go up by the amount shown on the card (so 1 to 6 points).

These cards are mainly used to get your points to 20, or at least as close to it as

possible, without having to risk another draw from the main deck. These cards are the most

common player cards in Pazaak.

Minus cards Minus (-) cards are red cards with a negative value (prefixed with a -). They do the

exact opposite of plus cards, as they’ll lower your point total instead of raising it.

They also have a special use: They can save you if you go over 20, as playing one of

these can bring your points back to 20 or below before the end of your turn,

avoiding losing the set due to a bust (having more than 20 points). Just like the plus cards,

these cards are also one of the most common player cards in Pazaak.

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Flip cards

Flip (+/-) cards are blue/red cards, because they can be both positive and negative,

so they act like a plus card and minus card in one. If you have one of these cards in

your hand, a flip switch will show up under the card allowing you to toggle

between the positive and negative variant of this card. The current state of the card

can be seen easily, as flipping its value, also makes it switch colors, as shown to the

left. As these cards are basically a hybrid of the plus and minus cards, they can be

used for both purposes: Jumping to 20 points (or as close as possible to it), or

recovering from a bust. While these cards are very useful, they’re also rather rare.

Special cards

These yellow cards are a special kind of cards. There are 5 kinds of these cards,

each with its own unique use, ranging from breaking a tie, to flipping card values

on the field. Needless to say these cards are very rare.

Special card: ±1 Tiebreaker

This card works the same as a ±1 flip card, but has a little bonus up its sleeve. If this

card is the last played card on the set, this card will act as a tie breaker. This means that

if you tie with your opponent, and this is the last card you played, you will win the set.

Special card: Double

This card will inherit the value of the last drawn card on the field. For example, if the

last card you drew from the main deck was a 6, this card will get the value 6 when used.

Special Card: ±1/2

This card is a combination of the ±1 and the ±2 flip card, as it can change its sign as well

as its value.

Special card: 2&4

This is a unique card, as it doesn’t have a value. Instead, what this card will do is flip

the sign on all cards with the values 2 and 4. All cards except for special cards are

affected. So a card with the value 2 will have the value of -2 after using this card. As said

before, the card itself does not have a value, and it will simply show zero when placed

on the field.

Special card: 3&6

The same as the 2&4 card, however this one flips cards with the values 3 and 6. Just like

the 2&4 card, this card also does not have a value of its own.

7

How to play

Pazaak is played in turns, out of which, each turn basically consists out of 3 phases.

Phase 1

Your first action will be to draw a card from the main deck and placing it on the field and add

its’ value to your points. If you have exactly 20 points, or if the card fills up the entire field (9

slots), you automatically stand (explained below)

Phase 2

After drawing your card from the deck, you have the option to play a card from your hand. At

the start of a match you’ll get 4 cards in your hand. Those cards are the only ones you can use

for the entire match. If you use one, you cannot use it again for the rest of the match, therefore

it is important to use them wisely, and only use them if you really need to. If you use all 4

cards, you’ll be running fully on luck, which drastically raises the odds of you losing, so be

careful.

After you’ve decided to play a card, or not, you then have to decide whether you want to end

your turn, or whether you want to stand. If you’ve played a card that resulted in you having 20

points, or if the card filled the field, you will automatically stand.

If you choose to end your turn, the opponent will have his turn and then you will play another

turn yourself. If you however choose to stand (or if you automatically do so by getting 20

points or by filling the playing field), you will stop drawing cards until the end of the set,

thereby fixing the amount of points you currently have.

Deciding when to stand is something you’ll have to decide for yourself. If you feel you have a

good chance of winning the set with your current amount of points, or if you think the next

turn is likely to cause you to bust without being able to recover with hand cards, it’s probably

the best choice to stand.

Phase 3

After you’ve chosen to stand or end your turn, several things can happen (in this order):

If your points are over 20, you will lose the set.

If you have filled the field (9 cards), you automatically win regardless of points (unless

they are over 20).

If the opponent is also standing, the points are compared and the player with the

highest points wins the set (or the set is tied if both players have the same amount of

points and you did not play a tiebreaker card).

If, after this, either of the two players has won 3 sets, that player will be declared the

winner and the match ends.

If none of the above conditions apply, the turn switches over to the opponent.

8

The Interface

This chapter illustrates how the interface looks and where everything is located.

Note: The text on buttons is shown in aurebesh (the standard alphabet used in star wars). The

text will be transliterated into roman (our alphabet) when you hover the mouse over the

button.

Card selection screen

1. Your cards (cards you do not have are not shown), click on a card to place it in the

side-deck. The number in the top-left corner of the cards shows how many of those

cards you still have. (cards in side-deck not included)

2. Your chosen side-deck cards, click on a card to remove it from the side-deck.

3. Exit button, use this if you wish to quit the match. (If done when playing against

another player, it will be treated as a forfeit!)

4. Continue button, click this to start the match (after having selected your side-deck

cards)

5. Remaining time to select cards (only shown in player vs. player matches)

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Main game board

1. Turn indicator, lit side determines whose turn it is

2. Your points

3. Your name

4. Your score (amount of won sets)

5. Time limit indicator (only shown in player vs. player matches)

6. Your field

7. Your hand cards (click on a card to use it)

8. Flip switches (only shown if applicable), descriptions are shown in the box under it.

9. Opponent’s points

10. Opponent’s name

11. Opponent’s score

12. Opponent’s field

13. Opponent’s hand (all cards shown face-down)

14. End turn button

15. Stand button

16. Forfeit game button (use this if you want to forfeit the match)

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PvE and PvP differences

There are a few differences between playing against an NPC (PvE) and against another player

(PvP).

Exiting during card selection is treated as a forfeit when done in a PvP match, but as a tie when

done in a PvE match. This means you will get your wager back if you do it in a PvE match.

Though there are exceptions where PvE matches also treat it as a forfeit, but this will be made

clear by the confirmation dialog.

In a PvP match, there are time limits. You have 60 seconds to choose your side-deck, 15

seconds to complete a turn, and 8 seconds to confirm a dialog. This is done to avoid stalling. If

you do not complete your side-deck before the 60 second timer runs out, the server will

randomly pick cards for the remaining slots. If you exceed the time limit during a turn, it’ll

pretend you clicked on ‘End Turn’, and if you exceed the time limit while displaying a dialog

box, it’ll simply be closed as if you clicked ok.

NPC’s have fixed wagers, which you can usually decide in the conversation leading to the

Pazaak match, while players doing a PvP match get a wager dialog where they can wager items

(and credits, as they’re also considered an item). Both players will have to agree with the wager

before the match starts.

11

Tips and tricks

Choose your side-deck wisely. Only plus or only minus cards put you at a disadvantage.

Try having both types of cards in your side-deck.

Only use hand cards if they can lead to winning the set, or prevent you from losing it.

Never use cards just to get a few more points.

Always try to estimate the chances you will bust on your next turn before deciding

whether to stand or not. Each number is in the deck 4 times. So if you have 19 points,

and 3 1’s are on the field, the odds of drawing a 1 on your next turn are very low.

Playing with cards is always easier than playing without. A possible tactic is to not use

cards at first, even if this means your opponent wins a set or two. After that, your

opponent will run out of cards and you’ll have all your cards still, which drastically

changes the odds in your favor.

If you have 10 points or less, always end your turn, never play cards or stand.

Even though you can win a match by filling the field, it is difficult to achieve and

usually requires more than 1 hand card. Never try to do this unless you can afford

losing the cards. (Such as winning the match if you win the set)

Never waste hand cards. If you are in a situation where ending your turn or standing

will lead to losing the set, and using cards will not lead to a win or a tie, give up the set

unless your opponent will win the match if you do.