Editor’s Note: Apologies if this has been discussed to death, but I figured covering old territory may be necessary as we regenerate.
I was too cool in middle school for Magic the Gathering (or maybe my Mom wouldn’t let me player because of demons or something) so my trading card experience was fixated on Star Trek: The Next Generation Customizable Card Game, released originally by Decipher in 1994. At the time, I had no job and no allowance so I only had a few starter decks I got for birthdays or saving up whatever I made from mowing my neighbor’s yard. I remember making a very of-the-times custom box from a shoebox covered in duct tape to hold my precious collection–I still have that if anyone wants a photo, haha.
Fast forward to a few years ago when I discovered a new coworker was also a big Trek fan! He also played the game, and he was actually good enough to win some tournaments! That is when I discovered the resell market and websites like The Continuing Committee and the wonderful people that have kept the game alive all these years. I spent more money on eBay (and a few semi-sketchy websites I had never heard of before) than I am prepared to admit, but it was all worth it to fulfill a childhood dream: I now own the entire TNG bridge crew and Enterprise D cards, something I could only salivate over as a kid.
We played a ton of great games over lunch breaks and I learned that all of my favorite cards are weaklings compared to the later expansions, as appears to be true of all long running card games. Eventually he moved on and I had nobody left to play with, but I still occasionally pull out the collection and go through it to relive the nostalgia.
The only major downside is that the popularity had dropped off pretty hard by the time DS9 and Voyager expansions came out, so while the market is flooded with affordable copies of the original run and the few early expansions I remembered, trying to collect the equivalent primary-ship-and-main-crew cards from my other favorite franchises appears to be completely beyond my financial range.
So, that’s my story. Did anyone else play and/or collect? Anyone still involved in the modern incarnation?
Played the shit out of this in High School.
I still have them and completed my collection a while ago with the help of ebay. I love the design and the well done adaptation of Star Trek stories. But I rarely had someone to play it with me. I had to share my own cards.
Yes I played it and loved it, especially the First Contact expansion. I also bought a bunch of cards off eBay about 10 years ago that I still have kicking around somewhere. Haven’t really played it in a long time but have lots of good memories.
I loved building borg decks! I somehow always played them very poorly compared to the dominion, though. I remember doing extremely well with a dominion deck.
Oh yeah, I collected a lot of them, but only up until the Q Continuum deck. I really didn’t have anyone to play with, but I enjoyed the collecting part. Had some good ones, if I remember right, but never managed to get the full TNG bridge crew. Eventually gave it to one of my sisters…wonder if she still has them all?
Never played it, but a few people in the CCG crowd at my high school did for a bit. I remember it being a little too complicated for me at the time and just stuck to MTG or Netrunner.
Wish I could play it but that cost is nuts. Would be cool if they brought this back as an app. I’m thinking Star Trek: Hearthstone.
You can print your own cards! There are high quality PDFs of all the releases on trekcc.org. This is actually the preferred approach for the active player community since it lets more people play and lets everyone focus on deck building and play strategies instead of spending money to get better cards.
COOL! I love this thank you.
I played as a kid. Loved it but only one other friend played it with me. Wonder whatever happened to my collection…
I never played the actual card game, but I have played both versions in Tabletop Simulator. I think the 2E works better about the game, but the 1E, although very complex, feels like you’re exploring the galaxy and doing missions - being able to achieve that feel in a collectible card game is impressive.
Yeah it was pretty fun. Of the small group of friends I played with, one managed to get the Future Enterprise ultra rare card. He lorded that over us forever
I gave it a try with my other Star Trek fan friends when it first came out, never played much though. I still have my cards around here somewhere!
Back then downtown Chicago had a cards and comics shop called Lower Decks. They would put TNG CCG cards in one of those sort of candy-type vending machines where you get a few cards for a quarter. I got the “Lower Decks” card out of that machine at the Lower Decks shop.
A friend stole my Borg Cube card and I never forgave him.
I have a bunch of Borg Cube cards if you want to trust a stranger on the Internet with your mailing address.
My brother and I were all over this game when it first came out. I remember getting the free Warp Pack (I just had to look up what it was called) at a comic show held at the mall, and I thought free cards was the greatest thing ever.
I played it a ton with a few of my friends from school when it first came out. I think the last set I was really active was the First Contact expansion. Those Borg cards were so great.
I had a few of the cards, enough to make a really bad deck, but never had anyone to play with. Later in university I made a friend who’d played but had given up his cards, and we couldn’t really get cards at that point, so we mostly stuck to the Lord of the Rings TCG and Magic.
