Presents...

Chapter 1:  Humble Beginnings

            The spring of 1997 was starting off much like any other would in Fargo, North Dakota.  The weather was warm, the snow was finally gone, and the school children were looking forward to recess without having to wear four layers of clothing.  Brady Lewis remembers it well, for it was during that spring that he found something that would change a part of his life forever.

            "I remember finding a gift certificate to a local hobby store called Omni.  It was left over from the previous Christmas, and I had just forgotten about it while it just sat in my dresser drawer.  Well, first chance I got, I went out to Omni with my mom. 

            "Honestly, looking back on it, I don't know why I bought it.  I was not a fan of Star Trek.  I had seen maybe five episodes, and that's being generous.  Plus, I had bought many other games that didn't catch on with my friends, such as Battlelords, Gridiron, Red Zone, and God knows what else.  They never caught on, especially with the general public, and were out of print within months of being made.  So, really, I don't know why I bothered to pick it up.  It made no sense.  Some might call it destiny.  I would probably call it a 'minor brain malfunction.'"  -Brady Lewis

            'Minor brain malfunction' aside, Brady purchased the Star Trek CCG Introductory Two-Player Game.  After reading the rules and checking out the cards, he had his doubts about the game.  He saw all these cards with Star Trek characters, and he had no idea who they were.  There were cool ships, but he didn't know anything about them.  That's when he had an idea.

            "I figured out how to play the game fairly quickly, but I had two problems.  First was that I had no knowledge of the Star Trek universe apart from that the Enterprise was the top ship.  Secondly, I didn't know if anyone would play this game.  I really only knew of one person who had an interest in Star Trek, and so I asked him about it.

            "I remember that day rather well, actually.  We were in gym class, outside on the running track playing one of those gym games that are all the same.  I saw Blake Snortland and Tom (last name withheld to protect his identity) standing around talking.  I went up and asked Blake a little about Star Trek.  Then I told him about this card game I purchased based on Star Trek.  He seemed interested, so I asked if he would like to take a look at it after class.  So, that day, I had found the second player."  -Brady Lewis

            Brady and Blake played a few games and got the rules down much better.  However, they were still only two people.  More players were needed to make the games more interesting. 

            "Blake and I had bought some more cards and were starting to have some actual games, but we wanted more people to play.  I mean, we were playing each other with the same decks all the time.  More players were a must, or we would become bored real quick.  So, we introduced the game to Mike (last name withheld to protect his identity)."  -Brady Lewis

            To the surprise of everyone, Mike tried and liked this CCG based around Star Trek.  He seemed rather enthusiastic about the possibilities.  Almost immediately he showed his good friend Jason DeShaw the game.

            "Up until this point for me, Star Trek was a show that I always really wanted to watch, but for some reason never did.  I remember being very young, and after the first 5 minutes my mom would turn the channel, you know, right after the beginning cliffhanger.  It drove me nuts.  So when Mike first showed me some Star Trek cards, I got really interested.  We didn't even get to play a game because Mike didn't have enough, but I wanted to know more.

            "I went over to Blake's house a few days later, knowing he had the starter set, and we played a few games.  This was the first CCG I've ever played and I just fell in love with it."  -Jason DeShaw

            And so the core base of players was built.  Brady, Blake, Mike, and Jason now had to focus on acquiring cards to create their decks.  The only cards out were The Premiere set (which had The Two-Player Starter Kit, 60 card starter decks, and of course Booster Packs), The Alternate-Universe Expansion (only boosters), and The Q-Continuum Expansion (once again, just boosters).  And of course there was also, The Free Warp Pack.

            "Ah yes, the Free Warp Pack.  Being completely new to the game, I'd take any cards I could get.  When I heard about the Free Warp Pack, I took as many trips as I could down to Omni to pick up my free cards.  It seems I just couldn't get enough Countermandas or Montgomery Scotts (God rest his soul).  Sure, I pretty much had no reason to ever use any of them in actual game play, but hey, they were free!"  -Jason DeShaw

            So the group continued to buy more and more cards.  Everyone had The Introductory Two-Player Set and built onto their decks through purchasing starter decks and booster packs whenever possible.  Being 11-12 year olds, money wasn’t exactly an overflowing resource for them, so cards were harder to come by.  When you did get that special card you were looking for, it made for a memorable experience.

            "It all started out as another average trip down to Omni.  I had no money myself, but Mike had enough to by single pack of cards.  He went for a premiere pack, for his ultimate goal was to pull a Geordi La Forge, his all-time favorite character.  He purchased the pack and decided to open it right there in the store.  We both looked at the cards one by one as he went through them.  When we got to a Klingon Personnel that we haven't seen before, we both assumed that was the rare for the pack.  As we nearly finished looking through the cards at the pack, out popped Geordi La Forge!  I was shocked.  I could barely believe Mike just pulled the one card he wanted from the one pack he bought.  Mike couldn't contain his excitement and bursted out in happiness.  The few other people that were actually at Omni just kind of stared at the both of us like we were crazy.  Well ok, they mostly just stared at Mike."  -Jason DeShaw

            "Well, one time I tagged along with my mom to go out to Omni and get a pack for me and also to buy a pack for Blake with the money he had sent with me.  So I bought the packs and left them unopened until the next day.  I gave Blake his pack, and he opened it up.  He pulled the Enterprise.  I was a little annoyed, as I chose the wrong pack to keep.  But I opened mine anyway, and I pulled Data.  What a deal.  I was happier with my pull than Blake was with his."  -Brady Lewis

            In June of ’97, Decipher released The First Anthology.  In it was everything a player could want up to this point.  2 starter decks, and 2 packs each from the Premiere, Alternate Universe, and Q-Continuum expansions.  Not to mention a Free Warp Pack and 6 preview-cards.  Along with a massive amount of cards, it all came in a nice Star Trek CCG box that holds 800 cards.  It became a must have for all the Trek players.

            After months of slowly building up a good amount of cards, the four players finally had enough to build some actual decks that weren’t laughable.  The 4 got together in Brady’s basement and had a little tournament.  This was the first time everyone had been together at the same time.  Not many specifics are remembered about this tournament, but that doesn’t matter.  What does matter is that for the next few hours, they played Star Trek.  Over those few hours Star Trek grew more in their hearts then it did over the past 6 months.  It was competitive, it was fun, and most importantly, it was friendship.

Added 9-1-05: Better late than never, Blake Snortland adds some thoughts about his Star Trek CCG Beginnings...

Introductory 2 player game

            When I bought my first two-player set, I remember walking into Omni, and I couldn't find it.  I passed a whole lot of little figurines that I thought looked stupid, and then I finally saw it behind the glass.  Of course, the only one they had was Klingon.  Crap.  Oh, well.  I didn't come all that way just to go home, so I bought the Klingon version of the 2 player game.  The only difference between the Klingon version and the Federation version was that each one got three Premium cards that the other version didn't have.  However, it ended up being an ok deal, allowing me to make some cool Klingon decks in later years.  Also, each 2 player game came with one booster pack from the Core Set and from the Alternate Universe expansion.  I remember that I got the U.S.S. Enterprise-C from the AU pack.  I thought it sucked at the time since it came into play damaged, but it eventually found a nice spot in my Federation Ship collection.

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