memory beta
For other uses, see Fizzbin.
and playing Fizzbin.

Bonehead Malone and James T. Kirk playing Fizzbin.

Fizzbin was a card game with complex rules that originated on Beta Antares IV. (TOS episode: "A Piece of the Action", Giant Poster Book Issue 3: "How to Play Fizzbin")

Specifics

According to myth, the Dark One taught the game to Saint Fizzbin in ancient times. Antarians adopted the game's traditional rules for their judicial system as a means of courting good will from the gods and honoring their saint. One could be pardoned from private or public debts by beating a magistrate at the game. As a result, the highest-ranking Antarian government officials were excellent Fizzbin players. On Beta Antares IV, one also could earn the death penalty for marking Fizzbin cards.

Authentic Antarian cards were made from animal skins and painted by hand. Betting could involve favors, property, or money. Children played for jelly beans. (Giant Poster Book Issue 3: "How to Play Fizzbin")

Rules and gameplay

Players made all bets prior to dealing cards. Players selected a dealer, who dealt 7 cards to himself and the player to his right, and 6 cards to the other players. Each player had a discard pile. The final card was dealt face up as the first card in the discard pile, except for the dealer and the player to his right. They had their second card dealt face up, or their third card if the game was held on a Tuesday.

Each player drew a card from the face-down deck or the top card from any face-up discard pile. He would then discard one card, placing it face up on any player's discard pile. During the day, queens and fours were immediately discarded. If one drew a king or deuce, he optionally could draw a second card. At night, however, kings and deuces were discarded, and if one drew a queen or four, he optionally could draw a second card. If a player was able to draw two cards, and chose to do so, he was required to show the second card to all players. As a result, one might end up drawing several cards in one turn, but was only required to discard one card.

Play continued until the deck's last card had been drawn and no other cards could be taken. Anyone married with children could withdraw from the game at this point. The winning hand(s) were then shown. Unless the winner accepted "best two out of three", he was the winner of the game.

Winning hands

Winning hands, highest to lowest, were the Royal Fizzbin, Three-Quarter Fizzbin, Full Fizzbin, and One-half Fizzbin.

Any ties for the highest hand were resolved with a fight, the game's winner being the one who pinned the loser to the ground. (Giant Poster Book Issue 3: "How to Play Fizzbin")

Other hands

History

In 2268 on Sigma Iotia II, Captain James T. Kirk played Fizzbin, seeming to invent the game as he went along, to distract a group of Iotians who were holding his landing party captive. Employing its very complex set of rules against Kalo, Kirk was able to distract the guards long enough so that he, Spock and Doctor Leonard McCoy were able to escape. (TOS episode: "A Piece of the Action", TOS - Strange New Worlds V short story: "Legal Action")

Spock was familiar with Antarian culture, but did not recall the game, in the episode.

In 2269, Kirk once again played Fizzbin on Sigma Iotia II, this time with territorial boss Bonehead Malone. A communicator left behind from their last visit had been stolen from rival hood Sharky, whom in turn had stolen it from Bela Oxmyx. The crimelord sought to overthrow the Oxmyx Syndicate and Lieutenant Governor Jojo Krako, with transtator technology as his power balance. Malone lost his collateral (using a deck of marked cards) — his hand being a "black hole". Kirk's hand was a "supernova" — winning back the communicator. Thus, no further contamination from the accidental Prime Directive breach, and erasing an alternate timeline in which Iotia had been destroyed due to inter-dimensional experiments. (TOS video game: 25th Anniversary (NES))

In the 2280s, Starfleet Intelligence's Bodo Gruen and Valentina Ilianov enjoyed playing fizzbin. (FASA RPG module: Star Fleet Intelligence Manual)

In the early 2280s, Okmyx asked Kirk to transmit the official rules for fizzbin, as Kalo was hoping to make money off of it by selling it as a game. (TOS - Strange New Worlds VI short story: "A Piece of the Pie")

The game was still popular in the 2370s. Lieutenant Tepo played a game with friends on Iotia, remarking on its Beta Antares IV origins. (TNG - Unlimited comic: "A Piece of Reaction")

In 2373, Quark offered to teach Odo how to play. (DS9 episode: "The Ascent")

In 2385, Ambassador Alexander Rozhenko traveled on the USS Aventine to rendezvous with the IKS Bortas. He had played Fizzbin with the Aventines' first officer, Commander Sam Bowers, and asked Captain Kromm of the Bortas if he played, to which Kromm replied, "Fizzbin? No. A child's game is unworthy of a warrior." (PRM novel: Fire with Fire)

Quark and Ro Laren played Fizzbin in 2386. (DS9 novel: The Long Mirage)

In 2409, "Attempt to play a game of Fizzbin" is a duty officer assignment in the development category on Starfleet vessels. (ST video game: Star Trek Online)

Appendices

Background

An unlicensed Fizzbin computer game was released circa 1980 for the Apple II platform, written by Donald Brown. (Fizzbin computer game article at the Eamon Wiki.)

External links