Introduction

Pazaak, a game dating back to Old Republic times, was a popular card game in which the goal was to come closest to 20 without going over. Follow Han Solo in an alternative adventure story playing cards against iconic Starwars characters.

How to play

Keyboard controls:

In-game Menu 
(Z) Accept,
(X) Cancel
(Arrows) move cursor

In game match

(Z) Play Card, Choose Pass or Stand
(X) above Plus+/Minus- Cards, Switch between +/-
(Arrows) move cursor

Features:

  • Play against iconic Star Wars characters in story mode.
  • Customize your deck with 21 different card types.
  • Follow Han Solo in a small alternative adventure in story mode.
  • Have fun playing in the quick, unrestricted mode.
  • Enjoy the fantastic original soundtrack in Gameboy format.
  • Play against a friend in local multiplayer mode.


Rules

Pazaak, a popular Star Wars card game, aims to reach the closest score to 20 without exceeding it. The player with the highest score, not exceeding 20, wins the round. Winning three rounds secures a match victory, with tied rounds not counted.

Players have a main deck with cards numbered 1–10 and a player-specific side deck of ten cards. At the game's start, each player forms a hand with four cards from their side deck. The first player is determined by drawing from the main deck.

Players take turns drawing a card from the main deck, playing it, and choosing to either place a hand card or end their turn. Only one hand card can be played per turn, and no extra cards are drawn from the side deck.

Ending a turn, the player has two options:

  •   Ending a turn requires the player to draw a new card at the next turn's start. This process continues until the player stands, goes bust, fills the table, or reaches a score of exactly 20.
  •   Choosing to stand means keeping the current sum until the set's end without playing additional cards. The opponent can still play unless they also choose to stand. A sum of 20 automatically prompts a player to stand.

In Pazaak, there are two decks:

  • Main Deck: Four sets of cards numbered 1 to 10.
  • Side Deck: Ten unique cards, chosen by the player before the match. At the game's outset, four cards are randomly selected for the player's hand, usable at their discretion.


Additional details about the Pazaak cards:

                                           
Plus Cards: Blue cards adding 1 to 6 points when played.
                                           
Minus Cards: Red cards subtracting 1 to 6 points.
                                          
Plus or Minus Cards (+/-): Combine adding or subtracting; valued and expensive.
                                                             
+/- 1 or 2 Card: Variant allowing a value change between 1 and 2.
Double Card: Rarely doubles the last played card's value, useful for reaching 20.
Tiebreaker Card: Scarce +/−1 card; grants victory in case of a tie.

CREDITS

Fonts used: Distant future by MxAshlynn. Tinny font by Jeremy Oduber.
Music: original music from John Williams, ported to .uge by Rubenretro
SFX: free gbstudio 3.1 default sfx by Yogi (Tronimal)
Graphics:  Rubenretro
Programming: Rubenretro

Proudly made with Gbstudio 3.1 by Chris Maltby

Do you want to follow my work?

Twitter: RubenRetro

'This game is a fan creation and is not officially associated with Star Wars or its creators. All rights to the materials used belong to their respective owners.'


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Introducción

Pazaak, en los tiempos de la Antigua República, era un popular juego de cartas en el que el objetivo era acercarse lo más posible a 20 sin pasarse. Sigue a Han Solo en una historia de aventuras alternativa jugando cartas contra icónicos personajes de Star Wars.

Cómo jugar

Controles de teclado:

Menú en el juego (Z) Aceptar, (X) Cancelar (Flechas) Mover el cursor

Partida en el juego

(Z) Jugar carta, elegir Pasar o Plantarse (X) Cartas Plus+/Minus- arriba, Cambiar entre +/- (Flechas) Mover el cursor

Características:

Juega contra icónicos personajes de Star Wars en el modo historia. Personaliza tu mazo con 21 tipos de cartas diferentes. Sigue a Han Solo en una pequeña aventura alternativa en el modo historia. Diviértete jugando en el modo rápido e ilimitado. Disfruta de la fantástica banda sonora original en formato Gameboy. Juega contra un amigo en el modo multijugador local.

Reglas

Pazaak, un popular juego de cartas de Star Wars, tiene como objetivo alcanzar la puntuación más cercana a 20 sin excederla. El jugador con la puntuación más alta, sin pasar de 20, gana la ronda. Ganar tres rondas asegura la victoria en la partida, sin contar las rondas empatadas.

Los jugadores tienen un mazo principal con cartas numeradas del 1 al 10 y un mazo lateral específico del jugador con diez cartas. Al inicio del juego, cada jugador forma una mano con cuatro cartas de su mazo lateral. El primer jugador se determina sacando una carta del mazo principal.

Los jugadores se turnan para sacar una carta del mazo principal, jugarla y elegir entre colocar una carta de la mano o terminar su turno. Solo se puede jugar una carta de la mano por turno y no se sacan cartas adicionales del mazo lateral.

Al terminar un turno, el jugador tiene dos opciones:

Terminar un turno requiere que el jugador saque una nueva carta al comienzo del próximo turno. Este proceso continúa hasta que el jugador se planta, se pasa, llena la mesa o alcanza una puntuación de exactamente 20.

Elegir plantarse significa mantener la suma actual hasta el final del set sin jugar cartas adicionales. El oponente aún puede jugar a menos que también elija plantarse. Una suma de 20 automáticamente hace que un jugador se plante.

En Pazaak, hay dos mazos:

Mazo Principal: Cuatro conjuntos de cartas numeradas del 1 al 10. Mazo Lateral: Diez cartas únicas, elegidas por el jugador antes de la partida. Al inicio del juego, se seleccionan cuatro cartas al azar para la mano del jugador, utilizables a su discreción.


StatusReleased
PlatformsHTML5
Rating
Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars
(7 total ratings)
AuthorRubenretro
GenreCard Game
Made withGB Studio
Tags8-Bit, Game Boy, Game Boy ROM, gb-studio, gbstudio, Pixel Art, Retro, starwars, tcg
Average sessionA few hours
InputsKeyboard

Download

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

Pazaak_Portada.png 8 MB
Pazaak_Lateral.png 1 MB
ADD Pazaak Wars (vintage).jpg 12 MB
PazaakBattles(multi)1.3.gbc 1 MB
pazaakbattles(multi)1.3.pocket 1 MB

Development log

Comments

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lovely GB version!

(+1)

Thanks for sharing the video!

Okay this is rad as hell.

Thank you!

Hey there! This looks really interesting, and I'll definitely be giving it a try soon. If you don't mind me asking, how did you handle displaying the cards? Were they background tiles or sprites/actors?

They are both! Some are Sprite and some are background swap

really addictive gameplay. I like it very much. Please make this wonderful poster add in english aswell :)

Thanks for your words, sure I'll work on it in some weeks

I just finished the game. A really great deck-building card game. Really funny that you can even compete against Vader^^

I'm glad you liked it. Vader is my favorite character; I couldn't leave him out 😁.

Would love a clear image of the fake gameboy boxart if you are able to?

It is already on the downloads. do you mean without title?

On an Analogue Pocket, using an Everdrive GB X5 flash cart, the game often freezes after the AI makes the first move in a round. Sometimes the game continues on its own if I wait long enough but more often than not it is just frozen (or at least it exceeds my patience to wait).

How strange, the performance should be the same as the Game Boy version. I'll look into what I can do. Thanks for the heads up. Btw are you palying on dmg mode or color?

CGB mode, using the .gbc file and not the .pocket file – I’m using a flash cart, not the GB Studio “.pocket” mode.

Note that shortly after I posted this I stopped reproducing the issue reliably. It’s like it only happens if the first level of story mode has never been beaten or something? I wish I had found a reliable repro…

Now that I've played it, I have two game update suggestions:

1. Indicate when a player has stayed on their hand.

2. Add the ability to sell duplicate cards.

Beyond that, the game is perfect.

My friend told me the same about the stand 😁. It just makes sound to indicate. But yes, a visual indication should be made

B^)

THIS LOOKS AWESOME! Will you be making a game for Sabbacc? What about Dejarik?

Thanks! It would be very interesting to make a Dejarik game; I've been a big fan of Battle Chess.