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The Fajo Collection: Exclusivity, Availability, Fairness to Allby Rich Loftus, Web Writer November 7 1997 The Fajo Collection is hot! Since we started revealing the cards, your comments have been overwhelmingly positive. This is great news, but for all the anticipation and praise, there is an anxious undercurrent. In fact, there is one thing that we hear voiced over and over again. "What if I cannot get a set?" When we first conceptualized this set we were sure that 40,000 would be adequate to meet demand yet still maintain the 'exclusive' nature of this product. We still believe this is true, but we are worried that players coming into the game a year from now may be turned off by the fact that this set is not available. You are expressing the same concerns to us daily in a flood of email. We are all on the same team and we all want Star Trek Customizable Card Game to have a long and healthy life. As a result of your feedback, we feel that we need to act on this issue before we start taking orders. Decipher's answer is this: Just like fine books have a valuable First Edition printing, Decipher will have a First Edition printing of The Fajo Collection... and it will be the previously announced 40,000 sets. The 18 super-rare cards contained in each copy of The Fajo Collection's First Edition will be black border, and will bear a 1997 copyright date. Also, the certificate of authenticity will bear a mark as a First Edition Limited Collectible, and each set will be numbered as such. Players and collectors should know that Decipher will never sell the 18 cards in The Fajo Collection in any other product, though it reserves the right to produce The Fajo Collection in foreign-language editions. At present, there are no plans to do so, but it is a possibility, and we are sharing that potentiality with you now. However, if consumer demand makes it necessary, we will make a Second Edition printing of The Fajo Collection. Obviously such a printing will never carry the collector value of the First Edition, but it will make cards available under the following conditions. Any Second Edition printing will be identified in numerous ways... The certificate will be modified, the slip case will be marked as a second edition printing, and the cards (still black border) will be marked by a 1998 copyright date or possibly another marking in the copyright area of the card. We may also make other changes such as not numbering the sets, but we have not worked out all the details. One thing we do know is that any second printing, if it ever occurs, will be limited and will never be sold by Decipher or its subsidiaries for less than the $80 retail price (possibly more). We think, in this way, we can diminish the panic, address everyone's concerns about availability and still maintain the exclusive nature of the original collection. While latecomers, will not be on the cutting edge, they will have access to the cards. This will ensure product availability for new players entering Star Trek Customizable Card Game (and we think there are many positive developments in the game, including the upcoming First Contact and Deep Space Nine expansions that will bring a lot of new players into this wonderful CCG). Decipher has chosen to use The Eccentric Order web site (www.eccentric.com) as the exclusive method of distribution of this game directly to the end consumer. This way we can guarantee that you pay only $80.00 for the collection, (plus shipping and local taxes). We expect a healthy secondary market for singles such as Locutus, Guinan, Spot and others, so retailers are going to offer a great service to players in this manner. The Eccentric Order will soon be able to take orders by phone, internet, email, fax and ordinary mail. There will be a number of payment options, including, but not limited to, credit card. What makes Decipher think that the Star Trek Customizable Card Game will welcome great numbers of new players? Carol Wisely, Decipher's VP of Marketing, has this to say: "Having seen First Contact cards for the first time I can say with all confidence that this great game is about to be reborn. The combination of the unique individuality of the cards in The Fajo Collection with the powerful new gameplay about to be revealed in First Contact will change everything!" 
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