It seems that Star Wars Unlimited isn’t the only new card game to emerge from a galaxy far, far away in 2024.
Fans of the Star Wars universe will have spotted a card game being played in The Bad Batch recently; the fourth episode of the show’s third and final season, ‘A Different Approach’.
Note: spoilers ahead for The Bad Batch Season 3, episode 4: A Different Approach.
In the episode, female clone Omega is looking to secure credits as quickly as possible, in order to fund passage offworld for herself and fellow clone Crosshair, as well as their hound Batcher.
In order to do so, they decide to play a card game called Balaans, with Omega playing and winning first against a Trandoshan, before taking on an overconfident Imperial Officer named Mann.
The plan works, with Omega winning twenty thousand credits in a fair game against Mann.
Though this kind of scene shows up a lot in various science fiction and fantasy stories, shows and films, what makes Balaans unique is that, despite being invented just for this scene in The Bad Batch, it’s a real, playable card game!
According to StarWars.com, the production team behind ‘A Different Approach’ designed the game with a complete rule set, even going so far as to playtest a few rounds to ensure that it functioned properly as a genuine game.
The official Star Wars trivia gallery for the episode also goes on to state that the team found it to be quite addictive too!
Though the full game of Balaans between Omega and Mann was shot, it was cut down to just the major moves so as not to slow the pace of the episode down too much.
Do We Know How To Play Balaans?
A reasonably detailed breakdown of the game is featured on the official Star Wars website and from this information, we know that Balaans is a game for two players.
We also know from concept art on the official Star Wars website that a Balaans deck has 30 cards.
Though we don’t know the full details of what is in the 30 card deck, we do know that a deck is comprised of five blue number cards, five red cards and twelve face cards, with players having a black or red card back.
The face cards are two copies each of destroy, deflect, buff, steal, then four copies of block. Each of these face card types has different art, as well as a unique symbol on the top of the card, and the card name written in the galactic standard language of Star Wars, Aurebesh.
Each player has their own draw pile; this is dealt to them from the overall deck of 30 cards, then they each draw from their individual piles over the course of the game.
Players have a hand of several cards, from which they lay cards in five face up stacks.
In order to win, players need to have the best hand, face down and revealed; having three specific cards in hand can grant the near-unwinnable combination known as ‘Three Eastern Stars’, which is what Omega uses to beat Mann during their game.
What Other Card Games Have Featured In Star Wars?
Probably the most famous card game in Star Wars overall is Sabacc; this is the game which Han Solo successfully played in order to win the Millennium Falcon from Lando!
Though it wasn’t designed as a functional game from the ground up as Balaans was, Sabacc has been made available commercially and rules can be found online (via Hyperspace Props) if you do want to play it yourself.
Another well known card game in Star Wars is Pazaak, which was introduced in classic PC/Xbox game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
This was a fully functional and playable game in Knights of the Old Republic; it was possible to collect rare cards and build a deck for this simple gambling game-within-a-game, which is something I personally spent a lot of hours playing back in the day!
What Other Star Wars Card Games Can I Play For Real?
I’ve recently covered the history of Star Wars CCGs right here on Card Gamer, but it seems that the appearance of Balaans has been timed, albeit coincidentally, to occur alongside the launch of trading card game Star Wars Unlimited.
Though launching into a fairly crowded marketplace that’s dominated by games such as Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, Disney launched Lorcana to great critical and massive commercial success in 2023, so there’s definitely room for more games in the sector.
Particularly when it comes to Star Wars, which is one of the biggest entertainment franchises on the planet; it’s actually surprising that until now, it didn’t have a current, ongoing trading card game!
It seems that publishers Asmodee are doing everything right with the new game; I’ve been fortunate enough to have played it several times ahead of launch, and have covered my experience in the Star Wars Unlimited first impressions article.
Here on Card Gamer, I’ve also taken a close look at what you can expect to find in the game’s booster packs for its first set; check out my Star Wars Unlimited: Sparks of Rebellion Pull Rates guide for more information.
Lastly, there’s plenty of ongoing events planned for Star Wars Unlimited, so if you want to get involved you can use the game’s official store and event locator to find out what’s happening near you; it’ll also be helpful for you to know how to play draft and sealed games in Star Wars Unlimited, as these tend to be the formats played at organised events.
