The Star Wars franchise is no stranger to making waves in the video game world. Since the earliest days of the Atari, video gamers have been making their own adventures in their favorite far-off galaxy, and now Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft are ready to help Star Wars make its mark on the open-world genre with Star Wars Outlaws.

Though Star Wars is no stranger to games with large worlds for players to explore—such as the classic Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic duology and the more recently released Star WarsJedi: Survivor—this will be the first traditionally open-world Star Wars game. Set in between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of The Jedi, this newest game is looking to chart new depths in a relatively unexplored period in the current Star Wars canon.

But like other open-world games, there’s likely to be a great deal of additional content for players to enjoy and make the setting of Star Wars Outlaws feel more alive. With a series as longstanding and filled with content to pull from as the Star Wars series, there’s no shortage of minigame potential for Ubisoft to make use of from the series’ history.

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Star Wars Outlaws Has a Ton of Card Games It Can Include

Sabacc

Already confirmed for Star Wars Outlaws, Sabacc is an iconic part of the Star Wars mythos, known by fans as the game Han Solo beat Lando Calrissian in to own the iconic Millennium Falcon. It is a game that takes a great many cues from real-life card games such as Poker and Blackjack, adding and subtracting numbers to be the closest to reaching a specific number. Not only is it set to be a minigame, Sabacc is set to have some degree of story impact, in scenes such as protagonist Kay Vess buying into a round of cards with Lando Calrissian. It’s unknown yet whether this section is going to be playable or just a cutscene showcasing the iconic scoundrel in his element, but the potential for this being an engaging playable showcase for the game—or even a tutorial—is evident.

Pazaak

Like its more popularly known cousin, Pazaak is a card game that takes elements from popular real-life card games and adds a sci-fi twist to its gameplay. Created for the original Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic game—often considered to be one of BioWare’s best—Pazaak takes heavy inspiration from Blackjack. Instead of players competing against the dealer like in Blackjack, Pazaak involves two players competing against each other, drawing numbered cards to try and reach as close to a number value of 20 as possible, with the winner of each round being the player who comes closest to this number without going over.

Pazaak has been an iconic part of one of the most popular Star Wars games in the franchise’s history and a staple of the old Expanded Universe of media before Disney acquired the franchise. It is most commonly associated with the scoundrel Atton Rand, one of Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic 2’s most useful companions who uses it as a method to counter the telepathy of Jedi characters. Were it to make a return to the gaming scene, including it in Star Wars Outlaws could be an interesting way to call back to the franchise’s extensive gaming history.

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Star Wars Outlaws Has a Strong History of Racing to Pull From

Podracing

The opportunity for minigames doesn’t stop at the casino scene. As Star Wars Outlaws is confirmed to include Tatooine, it could take cues from earlier games by including Podracing as a minigame. First appearing in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Podracing remains an iconic part of the franchise’s history since its introduction to the series back in 1999, capturing a sense of high-octane fun that remains challenged by few in the years since it first graced movie screens.

Podracing has not only made its mark on the gaming scene as a frequent minigame in titles such as LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game but there have even been entire games focused entirely around it, such as the fan-favorite Star Wars: Racer Revenge. There has even been a vocal amount of fans who want Podracing to make a return to video games. Though lore-wise, Podracing was outlawed in the now-defunct Legends continuity, this no longer is the case, with the sport even making an appearance in Marvel’s Star Wars comics centered during the Original Trilogy. Including Podracing as a feature in Star Wars Outlaws would not only be unimpeded by canon restrictions but could also be a way to look into seeing how the sport has changed over time.

Speeder Bike Racing

Gameplay reveals have shown that speeder bikes are heavily featured in Star Wars Outlaws. Chances are that a racing element may be included to make use of the wide-open spaces and take full advantage of the open-world landscape available to players. Another way for Ubisoft to get mileage out of speeders is to include speeder bike chases as side missions, or even just randomized events in the world, similar to the thief chases from the Assassin’s Creed series. There even is a specific sport tailor-made for the criminal elements of the Star Wars galaxy involving racing bikes: Swoop Bike Racing.

Swoop Bikes were introduced early in Star Wars’ lifespan, making appearances in many comics and video games over the years after their debut in Han Solo's Revenge. These types of speeder bikes were more the specialty of gangsters and gang members, built more for speed than sustainability. Swoop Bike racing plays an integral part in the story of Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic, being the way in which players rescue popular party member Bastila Shan from a biker gang, though it is one of many gameplay features that players consider to be dated about the otherwise timeless game.

With a series as longstanding and filled with content to pull from as the Star Wars series, there’s no shortage of minigame potential for Ubisoft to make use of from the series’ history.

From playing cards in the seedy booths of the Mos Eisley Cantina to racing through the neon-drenched streets of urban underworlds, there’s no shortage of potential for enjoyable side content in Star Wars Outlaws. With this upcoming venture into the Star Wars universe, there’s a vast amount of potential for minigames for Ubisoft to pull from many different aspects of the franchise's history.