Andor Season 2 did what so many other shows fail to do, despite a mandate to truncate the story, and pulled off a second season that maintained a high tier of writing akin to that of its first season. It was a marvel to see unfold after Cassian’s sidetracking through the first arc, and it firmly cements the show as the best Star Wars output of the last 13 years under its current overlords.
A particular highlight scene within the high-stakes story came in Episode 11, with the brief respite of a night-in for the lads to play a little gambling game. Cassian, K-2S0, and Melshi are seen battling it out over a mysterious card or dominoes-style game, endlessly frustrating the reprogrammed Imperial droid.
It’s an easygoing scene of camaraderie, as AV explains in its episode recap, and one that does a lot of work to cement the relationship between the three characters before an urgent operation comes barging onto the table. In the show, the game’s name and how it’s played aren’t specified, all we know is they’ve played 863 games.
So, what is the game played in Andor Season 2, and how does it work?
The Cassian, K-2S0, and Melshi Game Scene
In the Episode 11 scene of Season 2, the focus is on the humans toying with the droid, being unpredictable and even, apparently, cheating at times. They’re having fun with the logic-driven play of K-2S0, with the droid being perplexed by Melshi’s bet sizing compared to the tiles in his hand.
We see Cassian roll a dice and then place a tile with a matching symbol to one of the community tiles in the community area. This is followed by Melshi betting and removing the tile before putting his own in, adding “plus ten.” It’s seen as a raising of the stakes, and a bold one.
K-2S0 accepts the challenge and reveals his hand of five fives. Melshi bets again, revealing ten tens – “an unusual risk.” The lads poke some fun at K-2S0, calling that he doesn’t have the required tens in his hand, but before the end of the round can be seen, they’re interrupted.
What is the Andor Gambling Game?
Rianza, which is what the SW trivia post for the episode called this game, was designed by the arts and graphics department for the episode. Elle McKee, who designed the tiles, also came up with a full set of rules. Little has been revealed about the rules, but it’s said to have been inspired by Mahjong and dominoes, with some extras thrown in by the looks of it.
These extra elements would likely be drawn from the classic game of poker due to its accessibility. Anyone can find poker when they play online casino in NJ for real money in the live casinos section. In the games, people will use the community cards and try to make the best hand at the table. In between phases, there’s also time to bet.
In this way, Rianza certainly mimics the motions of poker. During the sequence, Melshi’s wager and tile reveal triggers K-2S0 to say that he “has never risked this much with so little on the board,” implying that there’s another phase after the bet, challenge, and reveals that would ultimately decide the round. This may be drawing more tiles, placing more on the table, another phase in which the value needs to increase, or another dice roll.
It’s an intriguing new gambling game to enter the Star Wars universe, and one that hopefully gets its full set of rules released for us not in a galaxy far, far away to try.