Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: When was the Star Trek Customizable Card Game first introduced?
The Star Trek Customizable Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game based on the Star Trek universe.[2] The name is commonly abbreviated as STCCG or ST:CCG. It was first introduced in 1994 by Decipher, Inc., under the name Star Trek: The Next Generation Customizable Card Game.[3] The game now has two distinct editions, though both forms of the game have many common elements.[4]
In a cross-promotion with the "Star Trek Customizable Card Game", an initial run of "Armada" boxes contained an exclusive playable card, the "USS Jupiter".
2. Energize (release: May 21, 2003) Energize consisted of 180 cards intended to jumpstart the game from the premier. It introduced the Federation faction of the Maquis and expanded the core play of the game. The cards were sold in 11-card expansion packs.
5. Fractured Time (release: October 13, 2004) Fractured Time was a 40-card boutique product that introduced events that had an effect over time by use of a new keyword (Decay) and concepts involving alternate timelines, which the Star Trek universe has often called upon, including the first cards from the "Mirror Universe" that would eventually be revisited in three years with In a "Mirror, Darkly". The cards were sold as a complete set in boxes, complete with the icons of six different affiliations, designed to carry decks. The boxes also included a starter deck and some expansion packs from previous releases with the expectation that the game could be played right out of the box in a sealed tournament format.
The Dominion (release: January, 1999) This set of 130 cards introduced the Dominion affiliation. It also included four special white-bordered preview cards that would all be reprinted in subsequent expansions. It was sold in 9-card expansion packs.
Rules of Acquisition (release: December, 1999) This 130-card set introduced the Ferengi and their rules. It was sold in 9-card expansion packs.
On December 5, 2007, Decipher announced that it would no longer be releasing new sets or officially supporting the game.[11] Decipher have also since removed all Star Trek-related content from their website. A group of players[26] came together and began work on The Continuing Committee (TCC). The name itself comes from the Romulan Continuing Committee, introduced in Deep Space 9, as the name was appropriate for the non-profit work being proposed. Since then, most of the game's faithful community has moved its activities to the new site and work has gone into producing "virtual sets" of cards to provide continuous new blood to the game. These activities are not unprecedented, as another Decipher game, the Star Wars Customizable Card Game had ended its run in January 2002 and had established its own players' committee to deal with the same type of issues. While the Star Wars Players' Committee was introduced by Decipher, the Continuing Committee was not, but the CEO of Decipher has endorsed of for the Star Trek game saying "We think it's great that enthusiastic players continue to play the game".[27]
Two more sets featuring Original Series cards came next (when that property was added to the license), followed by sets drawing heavily on Voyager which introduced the new, but smaller Kazon, Vidiian, and Hirogen affiliations. It was after this that the game began a serious decline in popularity and sales.
Mirror, Mirror (release: December, 2000) This 131-card set introduced the Mirror Universe. This expansion's ultra-rare was Mirror Universe First Officer Spock. It was sold in 11-card expansion packs.
In 1997, Decipher announced that a wider scope had now been licensed for the game: Deep Space 9, Voyager and The Next Generation movies would soon be depicted in new cards, thus the game's name was shortened to the existing title. The First Contact set arrived late that year, based on the film Star Trek: First Contact; that set introduced the Borg affiliation, among other new concepts.
Star Trek: The Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game by Fleer and Skybox based on the original series. It was first released in June 1996. The original set had 306 cards. One expansion was released in January 1997 called "Starfleet Maneuvers" and had 160 cards. A second expansion called "Alien Encounters" was slated for a summer 1997 release but never materialized. The game was not compatible with Decipher's iterations of the Star Trek Customizable Card Game.
11. Genesis (release: November 13, 2006) Genesis was a 27-card expansion that has the distinction of being the only completely First Edition compatible set in 2E. Each card was designed to work in both versions of the game, with varying degrees of success and introduced the first Original Series personnel and the ability to have an all-planet deck. The cards were sold exclusively from Decipher's website.
A variety of tribble replicas have been made over the years, with the most recent licensed product coming from QMx, released in 2013. A plate to commemorate the episode was the first to be launched as part of an eight plate "Star Trek: The Commemorative Collection" in 1986. It featured an image of Kirk with the tribbles in the grain compartment created by artist Susie Morton. The first "Original Series" expansion for the Star Trek Customizable Card Game was launched in 2000. It was entitled "The Trouble with Tribbles" and was based on this episode and the associated episode of "Deep Space Nine". It also introduced the "Tribbles" game which used only tribble-related cards.
Tribbles CCG (release: October, 2000) While not playable in the Star Trek CCG, this pre-constructed game could be expanded by collecting the new tribbles cards in The Troubles with Tribbles expansion.
Enterprise Collection (release: July 7, 2006) With the inclusion of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2E, it was felt that 1E players should be able to have the tools necessary to play as the Enterprise-era "Starfleet" affiliation as well. This set of 18 foiled cards (and a supply of First Edition compatible cards from 2E) was intended to make that possible. The cards were sold exclusively from Decipher's website.
At first, the game designers sought to introduce an entire new game based on Star Trek; it would be simpler and be targeted to beginners, while the original game still produced expansions, but on a slower schedule. This concept was abandoned when the sales figures showed that the original game could not continue on its own merits.
First Contact (release: December, 1997) This set of 130 cards focused entirely on the movie Star Trek: First Contact, greatly changed gameplay and added the first new affiliation in the Borg. It was available in 9-card expansion packs, greatly reducing the number of repeat common cards.[8]
Several 'ship' cards from Decipher, Inc.'s "Star Trek Customizable Card Game" depicted Danube class ships. A generic Runabout card (based on the appearance in "The Next Generation") was included in the original set, with named runabouts appearing in subsequent sets.
'Adversaries Anthology' (release: ??, 2005) The Adversaries Anthology was a collection of eighteen of the most popular Star Trek problems, enemies, and their ships in the game reprinted as foils. The archive foils in this set featured two movie villains: the Borg Queen and Shinzon. The cards were sold in a large card storage box.
Blaze of Glory (release: August, 1999) Blaze of Glory was a 130-card expansion that enhanced the battling mechanic that had remained unchanged since the beginning of the game. It also featured an 18-card foil subset - the first in any Star Trek CCG expansion. It was sold in 9-card expansion packs. Many players point to this expansion as the high point of the game.
Enhanced Premiere (release: November, 2000) Six different Enhanced Premiere packages were available. Each contained four packs of white bordered Premiere and five new premium cards. There were a total of twenty-one new premium cards: twelve were fixed and nine were randomized. Nine were the second versions of missions that had originally appeared in the Premiere set. The cards were upgraded with new gameplay and either images of space stations found in Activision's video game Star Trek: Armada (as another cross-promotional tie) or wormholes (to help make the "Wormhole" card easier to use in the sealed environment). This set also introduced the Warp Speed format for quicker games and drafting capabilities. As with Enhanced First Contact, the product boxes had a cutout on the back so buyers knew which set of fixed cards they had selected.
Data Laughing (release: 1995) A promotional card that had ties to the first three sets. It was originally available as a mail-in redemption included in the Official Player's Guide published by Brady Games. The card was later included in the Introductory 2-Player Game.
Q Continuum (release: October, 1996) The next expansion, Q Continuum was another standard set of 121 cards and introduced the Q Continuum and the "Q-Flash" side deck to the game. An important mechanic introduced in this expansion was the "Q's Tent" sideboard.[6]
Star Wars: Customizable Card Game (SW:CCG) is an out-of-print customizable card game based on the "Star Wars" fictional universe. It was created by Decipher, Inc., which also produced the "Star Trek Customizable Card Game" and "The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game". The game was produced from December 1995 until December 2001. Operation and oversight of the game was then taken over by a Decipher created volunteer group called the Star Wars Customizable Card Game Players Committee. To date, the Players Committee, or PC, still runs the game and creates new cards known as "virtual cards" that are released online in PDF format, and can then be printed and played with. "SW:CCG" can also be played online: Holotable.com is the official Player Committee platform.
"Star Wars CCG" was first released in December 1995 after game play rights were purchased from a game designer. Over the years, Decipher added 11 full expansions to the original card base, as well as numerous smaller expansions, special purpose sets, and promotional releases. The last set, Theed Palace, was offered in the fall of 2001. The game spanned all of the classic "Star Wars" trilogy ("A New Hope", "The Empire Strikes Back", and "Return of the Jedi") as well as "". During several years of the game's run, between 1995 and 1998, it was a top-selling CCG, second only to "" and occasionally surpassing "Magic", according to both "InQuest" and "Scrye" magazines.
While First Edition attempted to sometimes literally represent instances from the Star Trek universe in the game, Second Edition has focused more on a consistency of gameplay as a priority over design consideration with regard to remaining faithful to the source material. Effects on cards sometimes lack the "Trek sense" that First Edition cards contained and can be purely conceptual, but are generally much more equitable when compared with other similarly costed effects.