Cubikahd

"Blade to cube face four? That's a showy move. You play with too much bravado."
"Strategy is an art, Rau. Maybe I'm lulling you into a false sense of security."
"[Chuckles] There's nothing false about it. Blade to cube face two. I win."

―Fenn Rau and Sabine Wren play cubikahd^[2]

Cubikahd—or cu'bikad, depending on the dialect—was a Mandalorian strategy hologame. A strategic and tactical board game, players would control blades and move them around a cube-shaped board and grid. In 2 BBY, the Mandalorian rebel Sabine Wren played cubikahd against the Mandalorian Protector Fenn Rau.

Description

"Dejarik requires half the tactical thinking of something like Cubikahd. The simplicity of getting those blades where they need to be? Makes me feel like a genius."

―A patron at Takodana Castle describes cubikahd^[3]

Cubikahd was a two-player hologame and board game. Also known as cu'bikad in some dialects, the game involved participants moving four knives, which could occupy various positions on a three-dimensional, cube-shaped board and gridlines, with the intention of capturing their opponent's pieces.^[1] The knives were also referred to as blades. Players stated their moves when making them. Legal moves included blade to cube face four and blade to cube face two. The game was played by Mandalorians of^[2] the planet^[4] Mandalore.^[2]

Some compared cubikahd to other strategy games such as dejarik.^[3] In 5 ABY,^[5] as the smuggler Han Solo searched for the Imperial defector Ralsius Paldora on^[3] the planet^[4] Takodana, he overheard a patron of Takodana Castle state that cubikahd was twice as tactical as dejarik and elaborate on how smart they felt when succeeding at the game.^[3]

History

"I'll bet your game has slipped since you left Mandalore."

―Fenn Rau, to Sabine Wren^[2]

Fenn Rau faced Sabine Wren in a game of cubikahd.

In 2 BBY,^[6] the Mandalorian rebel Sabine Wren played a game of cubikahd with Fenn Rau, a rebel prisoner and leader of the Mandalorian Protectors, aboard the CR90 corvette^[2] Liberator.^[7] The holographic board and pieces were displayed via the astromech droid Chopper's holoprojector. The two played with a yellow holographic board and blades that were colored blue for one player and orange for the other. As they played, Rau remarked that he imagined Wren's skill with the game had slipped since leaving Mandalore, criticizing her style as "showy" and her strategy of having too much bravado. Although Wren disagreed, Rau was the victor in their game. After the game, Chopper reset the holographic board, but the three were called away for a mission briefing.^[2]

Behind the scenes

Cubikahd appeared in Star Wars Rebels Season Three. — Cubikahd appeared in *Star Wars Rebels* Season Three.

In the current Star Wars canon, cubikahd first appeared in "Imperial Supercommandos,"^[2] the seventh episode in the third season of the animated television series Star Wars Rebels, which aired on November 5, 2016.^[8] Cubikahd was first identified in a tweet posted by the official Star Wars account on the same day,^[9] while the game's Databank entry on StarWars.com identified it with the alternate name cu'bikad on the following day.^[1]

Cu'bikad originally appeared in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where it was mentioned in the 2007 novel Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice, written by Karen Traviss,^[10] before appearing and being identified in Traviss' 2008 novel Legacy of the Force: Revelation, where some considered the game an activity non-Mandalorians were not meant to participate in.^[11]

During the course of production for "Imperial Supercommandos," original scripts called for Wren and Rau to play a game of dejarik. Ultimately, the production crew elected to adapt the pre-existing game of cu'bikad for the episode, in order to have the two Mandalorian characters engage in a game more unique to the Mandalorian culture. Members of the Star Wars Rebels production team jokingly referred to cubikahd as "stabble" behind the scenes.^[12]