Fizzel

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

I like to create real gambling games for my players to play. It's fun! And, it leads to some cool roleplaying, two gamblers, eyeballing each other over a smoke covered table, cigarillos clenched between their teeth.

Plus, it gives some love to the often not-improved gambling skill.

Of course, there's the Sabacc game, but I find it too fiddly. I've never really used it.

I prefer a simple game that simulates a good gambling moment at the table, uses the character's Gambling skill, allows some random chance, and is not a complete lock for the character with the highest skill.

Here's a little something I cooked up called Fizzel (or Fiz'zel, depending in what part of the galaxy you happen to be playing the game....

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

Fizzel



I. THE ANTE. Each player pays an ante bet to the pot. This is a first bet, to get the players interested. Sometimes, this best can be substantial. In more friendly games, the bet is just enough to keep the players interested.







II. THE DEAL. Each player is dealt a single Fizzel card, which run in number from 1-6. This is dealt face up for all to see.

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

FIZZEL EXAMPLE



There are many variants and custom or house rules for Fizzel. It's a wide spread game played over the entire galaxy. Make up your own rules! But, if you do, post them so that I can enjoy them, too!

This is an example of how Fizzel can be played in your Star Wars game.

Imagine...



Two gamblers saunter up to a round table and sit down across from each other. The table can hold up to eight players, but only the two are present at this late hour in the casino.

As soon as two beings are registered in the seats, a cylindrical-column shaped droid raises from the center of the table. Lights begin to blink. Silently, servo-droids are summoned to the table to take drink orders. The dealer droid randomly selects the player to act as dealer (roll randomly between the two players), and from then on, the deal will pass to the left.

"The ante is 100 Imperial Credits." Says the droid. A light from the column in the center illuminates the Rodian, to indicate that he must ante up the 100 large to the center of the table.

Chezzna does so, and the table at the center, near the column droid, falls to a slant, allowing the square coins to slide down out of sight. The pot door closes, and a digital read-out on the droid, easily viewed by all players, changes from 0.00 to 100.00.

The light that was on Chezzna swings now to the only other player, to indicate it is his turn--the designated "dealer's" turn--to ante up.

The other player is a human, wearing a cape and smoking an Ithorian cigarro, raises a clear, rectangular piece of plastic--an Imperial Credit Chit. "Will this do?" Stone Beckersmith says, "I don't carry hard currency."

"Please insert the chit into the illuminated slot," replies the droid, and Stone looks to the edge of the table, just at his waist, where a slot has illuminated with a green light. Beckersmith inserts the chit, and the dealer droid's read-out changes to 200.00.

"Dealing!" Says the droid. A card shoots out of the cylindrical column towards Chezzna. Tiny holes in the table's surface--too small to see--blast air at the card so that it elegantly comes to a halt and falls to the table immediately in front of the Rodian.

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

FIZZEL NOTE


With the Rodian having a 6D Gambling skill, you would think that he will beat Stone every time (the human's skill being at his base Perception of 2D), but although the odds favor Chezzna, Stone can get lucky and win.

With a skill that high, the 2D difficulty will never be that much of a problem for the Rodian. I mean, Gambling 6D is a hell of a score, and Stone Beckerwith is out of his league playing this guy. There's less than a 1% chance that 6D will result in a number lower than 12. And, the chance that the Rodian's difficulty will be 12 is less than a 3% proposition. But, it's possible!

Still, it is not odds that any smart person would take to gamble.

Where Stone has a chance is if the Rodian fizzels. That is, the Rodian rolls doubles for his difficulty, and his 6D Gambling roll ends up with a lot of that number in the roll.

For example, Chezzna rolls double 5's for difficulty, making it a 10+ to roll a Royal. And, the Rodian's 6D roll is: 1, 5, 3, 2, 5, 3. This means that the 5's are not counted, and Chezzna's total is reduced to 9, which is not enough to beat the 10+ difficulty. The Rodian would have a Common hand. If Stone scores a higher Common Hand or rolls a Royal Hand (easily done if difficulty is, say, 1, 3), then Stone flat out beats the Rodian.

Fizzel is a game, fortunately for the human, where skill is evident early. Thus, you don't see too many Fizzel games where the skill is as wide spread as what I have put in the example above.

More than likely, Stone Beckersmith will realize quickly that he's over his head, get up from the table, and go lick his wounds elsewhere.

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

FIZZEL VARIATIONS!



Like poker, there are lots of variations of Fizzel. I'm sure you can take the basic idea and create your own version. Here are a couple of changes to the game that I could see implementing.



High Fizzel.

This meant for players with very high skill, like the Rodian Chezzna, above. The game is played the same except that the difficulty is increased by 10 or another number to make the difficulties quite high. This is to challenge the likes of a 6D gambling skill.

With gamblers of that calibur, try adding +15 to the difficulty (or an automatic -15 penalty to the Gambling throw), or try multilying the difficulty by 3. Thus, a difficulty of 7 would become 21, which a 6D skill has about a 55% chance of indicating a Royal Hand.

I designed the game with a 3D difficulty because I figured most gamblers in this game would have low scores. If you find yourself gambling with the likes of Lando Calrissian, then High Fizzel, or some version of it, is more likely to be the version played than not.

Note that this rule can also be used in a lopsided game where one player has more skill than the other, not unlike spotting balls in a pool game or allowing strokes in a competition golf game. If Stone and Chazzna ever play Fizzel again, Stone may has for a handicap--say something like Chazzna has to play with is difficulty at x3 where as Stone plays with the dice as they are shown.





Blind Fizzel.

Another version of the game is one that I think is more exciting. Instead of dealing two cards (2D for difficulty), instead only deal one card.

The player only sees 1D of his 2D difficulty. If the 1D shows a 5, then the player knows the difficulty will be 6-11, depending on what the second card reveals.

The second card is dealt right before the Gambling roll is made. This way, the player doesn't know his total difficulty, but can put it into a range within 6 points. But, the bigger issue is that the player does not know if he has a fizzel.

In the original game, a player can see if he has a fizzel before he bets. Some skill gamblers, like the Rodian, might play anyway, inspite of the fizzel, taking his chances. But many players will just fold upon seeing the fizzel.

To make the game more sophisticated, allow the players to bet on less information--hold back the second card, revealing no information about a fizzel and only half the information about the difficulty.

That will make for a more exciting game!

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

Fizzel Quickie Rule Summary



1. ANTE - Each player antes an amount of credits--basically placing a bet to play the hand. In some Fizzel games, the ante can be quite a sum.



2. DEAL - Each player is dealt two Fizzel cards. To simulate this, roll a D6 for each card and place the two dice, total showing, in front of the player.

The "dealer" is the player with the highest total (or the winner of the last hand as a new hand is started). The dealing player is always last to act, and the action passes to the dealer's left. The deal can shift in the hand, starting out with one player acting as the dealer then shifting to another player once the up cards are dealt.

If the two up cards match (doubles on the D6 dice), then the player has drawn a fizzel.



3. BET - Each player can check, bet, raise, call, or fold at this point. Normally, the minimum bet is equal to the amount in the pot--the total of the antes.



4. REVEAL - To win the hand, a player must roll his Gambling skill. The total of the up cards are his Difficulty, and each player has his own difficulty according to the two dice in front of him, added together.

If the Gambling check succeeds, then the player has a Royal Hand.

If the Gambling check fails, the player has a Common Hand.

The highest Gambling check wins the pot, but Royal Hands always trump Common Hands, and thus a lower Gambling check could win against a higher check.

If the player draws a fizzel--that is, his two dice show doubles--then that number shown on each die is removed from the Gambling throw. This could be a major impact or no impact at all in lowering the throw's total.

SEE the variations on Fizzel above.

[Straxus]

Thanks for this, it's really cool! It's good to have something semi-concrete to play instead of just rolling Gambling. Also, I think players will enjoy making some decisions while still the characters ability have a big impact.

I liked the Blind Fiz'zel best (the apostrophe makes it more Star Wars, IMO ), it makes it more exiting to watch the second dealing. I think perhaps I would like two rounds of betting, one after the first "card", and another after the skill roll. After last bet, and before the last card reveal, skill roll results are shown.

If any of my PCs are trying their luck at a casino it will be probably be a game of Fiz'zel!

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

DOUBLE BLIND FIZ'ZEL.



This is a popular variation of Fizzel as it adds a third betting round. Players bet before cards are dealt during the ante phase.

Then, a card is dealt (1D rolled for each player and displayed openly). A better round happens after this one card is dealt, and betting starts with the first highest card (which is different from basic Fizzel).

The second card is then dealt (a second 1D is rolled in the open for each player), and the third betting round occurs. The highest total of the two dice bets first.

Then the showdown happens where each player rolls Gambling skill vs. the difficulty.

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

OPEN FIZ'ZEL


This variant is played just like other versions of the game, except, during the ante round is played as a betting round where a player can check or bet whatever he wants, and other players can raise.

Open Fiz'zel is often played by highly skilled players who push the ante up thinking that the higher bets will push the lower skilled players out of the game early.

As with regular Fiz'zel, the minimum bets for future rounds are the total of the ante round bets.

[Bren]

I came across this thread the other day and I liked the idea of some sort of mini-game for gambling, especially for gambler characters. It inspired me to create a game that I call:

The Rules for Three Card Sabacc

Step 1: Each player antes a set number of credits into the pot.

Step 2: Each player rolls one hidden die and one open die.
(This represents one card face down, and one card face up.)

Step 3: Betting Round: play begins with the player to the dealer’s left. He must pass, bet, or fold. If he passes, play moves to his left. Play continues to the left until either all the players have passed, in which case the game ends with the highest total for the two die winning the pot, or some player has bet. Typically the minimum bet is at least equal to the amount of the ante. Players must then call by matching the amount bet or they can match the amount bet and raise the bet. The minimum raise must be at least equal to the previous bet.

Step 4: Each player rolls one more open die. Traditionally, if the two open dice match, the dealer announces “possible Sabacc.” (This represents dealing one more card face up.)

Step 5: Second Betting Round: another round of betting occurs.

Step 6: Showdown: the remaining players reveal their hidden die starting with the player at the dealer’s left. If all three dice match that player has a Sabacc of rank equal to the matching die. If no player has Sabacc, then each remaining player makes a gambling skill roll and compares that to their 3-dice total.

If the gambling skill roll is ≤ the 3-dice total, that is a Common hand with a rank equal to the dice total, e.g. Common-14.
If the gambling skill roll is > the dice total, the player has a Royal hand with a rank equal gambling skill roll, e.g. Royal-21. A Royal hand of any rank beats any Common hand.

There are several common variations for resolving a tie.

Friendly: the tied winners evenly divide the pot.
Sudden Death: the winners roll 3 dice, high roll wins.
Winner Take All: winners play a tie breaker hand.

Sabacc (3 of a kind) > Royal > Common; and among those, higher rank > lower rank