Many times throughout the Star Wars franchise, gambling has come up. There’s the famous game of Sabacc where Han Solo won the Millennium Falcon, and the franchise’s version of the roulette wheel, called the Jubilee Wheel. There’s also Lugjack seen at the Canto Casino resort on the planet Cantonica.
Lugjack is as close as it gets to the versions of slot machines widely found across online gambling platforms. You can spot similar elements in games available at any Novomatic casino UK, where titles from this well-known developer appear alongside releases by Play’n’Go, Pragmatic Play and others. But how alike are the modern features of online slots and the futuristic vision of the game of Lugjack?
The Lugjack Story
Lugjack doesn’t play any significant role as a plot point, unlike the aforementioned Sabacc. It was most famously seen at Canto Bight, a weird and jarring location that popped up on the screens in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The lavish resort casino replicated the real-life gambling hall locations like Monte Carlo and Las Vegas, and also showed the dichotomy of society. It was a playground for the rich, where money could buy all the opulent luxuries and experiences, while outside, there was poverty.
What It Could Be
Because there is only limited information about what it exactly is, it is fun to extrapolate and compare its working to real-world online casino slots. The first and most obvious thing known about Lugjack is that it was housed in a casino and, therefore, a machine to gamble on and not some intergalactic ATM. But what features does Lugjack have?
Placing Bets
The goal of Lugjack is to get three identical sets of numbers from three separate rolls covering numbers 0-7. How much stake is used for each turn impacts the multiplier for payout boosts, as a player can bet 1, 2 or 3 units.
In real-life games at online casinos, the amount that is bet will also have an influence over the potential payout. Players can choose the number of paylines and level of stake, and for some machines like progressive jackpot slots, the main prize can only be won from a maximum bet.
Structured Payouts
There is a paytable in Lugjack which is based on particular numbers. Three ones, for example, would pay out a 150x return, while three fours would return 750x. At the top end of the scale, there is the 5,000x for all sevens.
Look at any online casino slot, and you will see a very similar paytable. Different game symbols have different values, and getting at least three matching symbols on a payline triggers a win. For instance, in Mega Moolah by Microgaming, landing three or more “Bonus” scatter symbols triggers free spins. Similarly, in Divine Fortune by NetEnt, three or more “Bonus” coin symbols activate the jackpot bonus game.
The Interactive Theming
The look of a Lugjack machine isn’t anywhere near as interesting as a casino slot because on the betting window, there are only three options. The player can spin or make bets. In comparison, online casino slots are highly visual, interactive machines that lean heavily on theming. Take Book of Dead by Play’n GO — it throws you straight into an Ancient Egyptian adventure, complete with sharp graphics and mysterious symbols. Everything is designed to pull you into that treasure-hunting vibe. Or look at Gonzo’s Quest from NetEnt. Instead of just spinning reels, you’ve got a 3D explorer jumping through the jungle in search of El Dorado, and the Avalanche feature makes the symbols fall like collapsing stones.
If a Lugjack machine were more like that, it would unrealistically tap into Star Wars theming for its game symbols, so probably wouldn’t be lit up with icons of the Millennium Falcon, TIE Fighters, Droids and X-wings. Maybe it would instead have the intergalactic equivalent of bells, bars, numbers and fruit, which are traditional slot symbols found at online casinos.
The machine would also have to have some music going on to keep the player interested. Wins are better where sounds are celebrating them, and while online slots don’t have flashing lights like physical slots, they have engrossing animations that depict wins and other special events like the triggering of a bonus game.
The Game of Chance
The biggest similarity between Lugjack and real online casino slots is chance. It is at the heart of all gambling, and there is no way to guarantee any kind of outcome. Players get tricked into thinking a machine is “hot” or “cold”, but the truth is that all spins are independent of each other.
The next spin has nothing to do with the previous one, and for gaming fairness, every spin has an equal chance of winning. At online casinos, the outcome of spins is determined by Random Number Generators. But would a Lugjack machine work off something different, like tapping into the unpredictable energy fluctuations of a kyber crystal?
While online casino slots are tested for game fairness and have a lot of security built into them to protect against fraud, Lugjack machines would have a different kind of security problem, as they would have to have some defence against the influence of the Force.