Often when we sit down to a gambling session, we just want to zone out and brainlessly spin those reels in the hope of winning a life changing payout. Often the games themselves however, offer such an escape with fantasy themes and journeys to worlds unknown.
Online casino games based on Sci-Fi themes are the best example of games that offer the perfect escapism. Check out these awesome games that will take you to another world.
#1 Sabacc
When you think of sci-fi, the first name that probably pops up is Star Wars. The franchise referred time and again to a gambling card game called Sabacc. The most pronounced reference is in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back where Lando Calrissian loses the Millennium Falcon to Han Solo.
Yes, even you can play Sabacc. Its real
The objective of Sabacc is to win the pot by collecting a hand with an absolute value closest to 23, but no higher. If you went above 23 then you bombed out and lost the hand. The deck is also different. It consists of 76 cards, 60 of which are distributed in four suits called Flasks, Sabers, Staves and Coins. The remaining 16 cards are special cards. The value and suit of a card could randomly change unless it was placed in the special interference field.
Like the casino games, Sabacc involved both skill and chance and could be played with two to eight players. There were two types of pot to be won in Sabacc. The hand pot was taken by the player who won an individual hand. The Sabacc pot was continually built during the game, and went to the overall winner of the match.
The gameplay of Sabacc is as follows:
- The dealer shuffles the deck and deals two cards face down to each player in rotation.
- Starting to the dealer's left, each player calls out their beginning hand totals.
- Starting to the dealer's left, each player can draw one or more cards from the deck, choose to trade a card from their hand for one from the deck or stand.
- They could then place a single card in the game table's interference field to prevent said card from being shifted if a Sabacc Shift occurred.
- The process is repeated by each player.
- If a Sabacc Shift occurs, all the cards not in the interference field randomly change.
- The player with the highest hand totalling 23 or below wins the round.
#2 Triad Cards
Battlestar Galactica is another well-known sci-fi series. It also features a gambling game called Triad Cards, the popularity of which has gone beyond the serial. Real life Triad Cards are available and gamblers actually play this game. In the original series, the game was first mentioned by Starbuck, though it was called Pyramid then. Subsequently you would hear the characters speak out certain terms while playing the game, though no rules were specified.
Iconic, The End
Anovos is a company engaged in the production of merchandise for many of the sci-fi movies and series. It had released a version of the Triad Cards deck based on the actual props used in the TV series. Triad Cards is played with hexagonal cards and not the regular rectangular ones. The deck has 52 regular cards with two retro Cylon Jokers. Each card has a colour and an image, which denotes its face value. The crew of Battlestar Galactica played with bets around the table and also folded and raised as in poker.
The instructions to the Anovos deck also indicated the ranking of hands, which is explained below from lowest to highest.
- Two Up: Like a pair in poker it consists of two cards with the same face image
- Two on a Run: The same as the above but the pair are also of the same colour
- Twins: Two of Two Up
- Twins on a Run: Two of Two on a Run
- Three Up: Like three of a kind with non-matching colours
- Three on a Run: Three of a kind with matching colours
- High Card with Colour: All cards are of the same colour and the highest card is indicated, e.g. Prince High Red is a hand with all red cards with Prince being the highest
- Full Major: Like a full house, with Two Up and Three Up and non-matching colours
- Four Up: Four of a kind with non-matching colours
- Full Colours: Full Major with all cards being of the same colour
#3 Time Poker
The movie In Time has a poker game that is played according to normal rules, but time is the currency used instead of money. The story is set in 2169. The concept of the movie is that everybody comes into this world with 25 years of life. When that time is reached the person dies. However, time (as in life span) can be bought and sold. It can also be stolen and even gambled.
There is one crucial gambling scene set in a New Greenwich casino. While playing poker, Will (the protagonist) comes dangerously close to losing all his available time but eventually wins 1,100 years in a flawless gamble. Extending the concept, you can visualise a player going all in and losing and dying on the poker table.
Sci-Fi in Casino Games
Just as you have casino games in sci-fi movies and TV series, you also have sci-fi in casino slot machines. You can play online casino free spins on these slot games. Many of them are branded video slots based on sci-fi products like Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars. Some other recommended titles are:
- Star Trek
- Terminator 2
- Aliens
- Space Robbers
- Transformers
These are just some of the cool sci-fi themed games available. Don’t wonder too far off in space and be sure to return to try out some other titles.
