Designer(s) | Tom Braunlich, Rollie Tesh, and Jerry Darcy |
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Publisher(s) | Decipher, Inc. |
Players | 2 |
Age range | 8 and up |
Setup time | under 1 minute |
Playing time | Approx. 1 hour |
Random chance | Low |
Skill(s) required | Deck manipulation, deck optimization, planning, critical decisions, strategy |
Star Wars: Customizable Card Game (SW:CCG) is a 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 The Phantom Menace. During several years of the game's run, between 1995 and 1998, it was a top-selling CCG, second only to Magic: The Gathering and occasionally surpassing Magic, according to both InQuest and Scrye magazines.
At the end of 2001, after much negotiation, Lucasfilm chose not to renew Decipher's license to use the Star Wars intellectual property. The license was granted to Wizards of the Coast, which used it to create their own game, the Star Wars Trading Card Game. Decipher can no longer legally create new expansions to SWCCG; many cards that were in development can never be released to the public.