18 BBY Imperial Games

The 18 BBY Imperial Games, officially known as the I Imperial Games or also called the New Order Games, were the first incarnation of the former sporting event held since the establishment of the  in 19 BBY. The Games were opened by  with the stated purpose of promoting galactic peace and unity through friendly competition in the aftermath of the, involving all subjects of the new. The first Imperial Games took place on the galactic capital, recently renamed to Imperial Center, with the participation of 33 teams representing different planets and regions competing in 8 sports.

Bid
Traditionally the Games Council was responsible for overseeing the process of determining the planet to host each of the Games, but given the major political changes in the galaxy, the Imperial Games Council unanimously determined that recently-renamed Imperial Center would be the site of the first such event since the beginning of the Emperor's reign. Other were briefly considered, but ultimately the   determined it would be best for propaganda purposes for the 1st Imperial Games to be on Imperial Center as a show of unity within the new Empire.

Venues
Several large sporting arenas already existed on the galactic capital, which in the past had played host to numerous sporting events in just about every galactic sport imaginable. Thus there was no shortage of venues to host each tournament of the Imperial Games and preparations could be minimal, a benefit to the COMPNOR Select Committee's decision to host the event there.

Marketing
Advertising by the Imperial Ministry of Information spread the knowledge of the event throughout the galaxy in the months leading up to the Games, under the slogan "Future of Unity." Hosting a large sporting event for the people's entertainment also helped improve the public image of the Emperor and his new government in the early years of Palpatine's reign.

Broadcasting
performed the main coverage of the sporting events, with countless local networks also getting broadcasting rights to show footage of the event in different parts of the Empire.

Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony occurred in front the, which was one of the largest structure on the capital and provided an impressive site to countless viewers of the Imperial Games from remote corners of the galaxy. A short military parade occurred as an honor guard (similar to the celebrations), followed by a procession of the athletes from each team. The music for the event consisted mostly of Imperial and former Republic patriotic songs.

Sports
Athletes at the 1st Imperial Games competed in XX events in a total of eight sports. With the countless different sports that existed throughout the galaxy, the Games Council chose the most popular ones that would have the most practitioners for practical reasons.
 * Grav-ball (2)
 * Limmie
 * Shockboxing
 * Teräs Käsi (1)
 * Lightsaber fencing
 * Low-g gymnastics
 * Shockball
 * Swoop racing

Participating teams
A total of 33 teams from numerous worlds and regions of the galaxy took part in the event, with the Imperial government making an effort to include former Separatist-aligned planets as part of the unity theme of the Games. COMPNOR put aside its various prejudices and sought to feature as many different teams from each corner of the galaxy as it could, including non-Human races, for propaganda purposes. Even so, not every world or system was able or willing to field a team for the event for different reasons.

According the new rules adopted by Imperial Games Council in 19 BBY, planets with an autonomous government under the Emperor's aegis would be represented by a single team, but systems and other regions that had a history of being independent (usually further away from the Core) would be represented together by one team. As a result, most Core Worlds and Colonies planets like Fondor, Alderaan, Corellia, Alsakan, Atrisia, and others each fielded a team. Regions like the Tion Hegemony, the Tapani sector, the Senex-Juvex sectors, Bothan Space, and Hutt Space were represented entirely by one team as well rather than individual planets within them. This brought up concerns that the regions would be able to field more athletes than planets, but the Core usually had more money to spend on sporting events and training, and regulations were also implemented to limit the number of athletes per team in each event.

Each team was also given a three-letter code designation in by the Games Council for simpler reference.

Several exceptions were made in special cases. The Tion Hegemony had been reorganized and broken up by Imperial decree in 19 BBY due to the region's support for the Separatists during the Clone Wars. The Hegemony lost territory to form two new sectors: the Cronese Mandate and the Allied Tion. The former had some historical basis for its existence and decided to field its own team, but latter did not have any unique historic identity. Thus the Tion Hegemony and Allied Tion were allowed to have a unified team, but the Cronese had a separate one. Neimoidia and all of its purse worlds were represented by a single team.

Imperial Center, recently renamed from Coruscant, had one single team, given the title of unified team due to other worlds of the Coruscant system and the also sending athletes. Another special case, the Deep Core, was represented by one team due to its smaller population and remoteness. This made it the only galactic region to have one team at the Games.