Editions/ Print Run Size / Availability
First Printing
- Limited Edition (black border) -- 45,900,000 cards
Released Nov. 10, 1994
Second Printing (alpha)
- Unlimited Edition (white border) -- 45,900,000 cards
Released Dec.12, 1994
Third Printing (beta)
- Unlimited Edition (white border) -- 162,000,000 cards
Released March 1995
Warp pack
- Released May 26, 1995
Collector's Tin
- Special Edition, one of each card
Released Oct.18, 1995
First Expansion Alternate Universe
- Limited Edition (black border) - 76,838,760 cards
Released Dec. 8 , 1995
Miscellaneous Card Stats and Data for Limited Edition
The first run was a limited edition released by Decipher in November 1994.
Starters:
5,000 cases x 6 displays x 12 starters = 21,600,000
Expansions:
7,500 cases x 6 displays x 36 expansions
= 24,300,000
Total Number of Cards = 45,900,000
60 card Starter sets have:
-
45 Common (75%)
13 Uncommon (21.67%)
2 Rare (3.33%)
15 card Expansions sets have:
-
11 Common (73.33%)
3 Uncommon (20%)
1 Rare (6.67%)
The cards are packaged in a pure random assorting method
(no secondary sorting).
Limited Edition Stats:
5,000 Cases of Starters:
-
Common cards 5,000 x 72 x 45 = 16,200,000
Uncommon cards 5,000 x 72 x 13 = 4,680,000
Rare cards 5,000 x 72 x 2 = 720,000
7,500 Cases of Expansion sets:
-
Common cards 7,500 x 216 x 11 = 17,820,000
Uncommon cards 7,500 x 216 x 3 = 4,860,000
Rare cards 7,500 x 216 x 1 = 1,620,000
Total Number of Cards = 45,900,000
Number of sheets and number of cards:
- Number of each common card
in limited edition run = 281,157
Number of each uncommon card
in limited edition run = 78,843
Number of each rare card
in limited edition run = 19,339
Total Sheets = 379,339
(74.12% = C, 20.78% = U, 5.10% = R)
Note: Decipher ran 1,000 uncut sheets of each card type.
Cards Attributes and Quality
The ST:CCG cards themselves are printed on a thick card stock called "superlux" -- the top quality available. The cards are coated to what is called "casino-quality slippage" for easy play and durability, and feature American-style rounded corners. The printing is done with 175-point line screens, again the highest quality possible.
Card Images
Each image on the card was selected from the Next Generation series and frame-pulled direct from Paramount's masters of the original Star Trek footage, then was digitally enhanced by the latest and best computer methods to create better-than-photographic quality.
Over 6,000 images were pulled in an exhaustive culling process to make the 363 images used in the first set.
For Personnel, a real effort was made to come up with images which had not been seen before for that character (especially main characters), and to find images which portray the essence of the personality of that character and his/her skills. (See, for example, the Reg Barclay card!)
Extensive computer enhancement of the images was also done, especially in cases in which the thing being portrayed was only partially seen on screen. (For example, many times only a "slice" of a planet was seen in the show as the Enterprise orbited it. Computer imaging was used to create the whole planet based upon the slice.)
Some planets were mentioned in the show, but not seen. In those cases, the image was created for that planet with the approval of Paramount, based upon known information supplied by Paramount.
Some "things" like a few Equipment cards also were created by using special photography of Paramount's props, and placing them on an appropriate background.
Card "Lore" and Sources
Each card contains some interesting background information about what it portrays, called its "lore". This information was researched from many sources, and was authorized and authenticated by Paramount.
Sources of "cannonical" information were The Star Trek Encyclopedia (by Michael Okuda, Denise Okuda, and Debbie Mirek; Pocket Books, 1994), -- plus extensive research of the television series itself, and official help from the experts at Paramount.
In some cases in which little about a specific character was known, Paramount provided and approved new information about the character from its own internal sources. Paramount also provided some names for characters who appeared but were unnamed in the episode.
Alternate Universe Expansion
The Cards:
-
122 New Cards in All
40 Common Cards
40 Uncommon Cards
41 Rare Cards
1 Ultra-rare Card (see below)
Printing Procedures:The cards were printed in Belgium by Carta Mundi, the same company which produced the original card set. The cards are printed on Superlux card stock with the same
premium quality paper and slippage used in the original Alpha set of ST:CCG.
Some people have said that the cards seem thinner than the first set. We have checked and confirmed with Carta Mundi that there is no physical difference between the cards from the first set. However, we speculate that all cards do change slightly with age and use: Exposure to light and air, shuffling, handling, and storage can all have subtle effects on any paper product, and the overall result seems to be that the cards stiffen a bit over time.
So while your older cards are not really thicker than the new ones, they are somewhat *stiffer* than the new ones, giving the impression of extra thickness. (In fact, we have been told that every time Wizards of the Coast released a new set of Magic cards, there were comments that they seemed thinner.)
Packaging: Packaging of the cards is in 15-card expansion packs and uses the same randomizing method used for the original set.
(No secondary sorting).
In each expansion pack you should find:
-
11 Common
3 Uncommon
1 Rare (or ultra-rate)
(See "Ultra-Rare" and "Ophidian Cane", below)
Printing Run:The overall print run for the Alternate Universe set was
76,838,760 cards (23,715.66 cases).
Broken down in terms of rarity, this includes:
Individual:
-
Ultra-rares - 42,335 of the ultra-rare card
Rares - 127,006 of each rare card
Uncommons - 381,019 of each uncommon card
Commons - 1,408,711 of each common card
Overall:
-
Ultra-rares - 42,335 total ultra-rares
Rares - 5,207,255 total rares
Uncommons - 15,240,746 total uncommons
Commons - 56,348,424 total commons
Ultra-Rare:
- The Future Enterprise (from the episode "All Good Things...") is an "ultra-rare" card, which in this case means that it is found in the packs just like a normal rare card, except that it is exactly three times as scarce.
This is because it appears only once on the rare printing
sheet, whereas the other 40 rare cards appear 3 times each.
(There are 121 "slots" on the rare sheet). Thus, the rare
cards each appear 3 times on that sheet, but the ultra-rare
only once.
Therefore you will, on the average, get one ultra-rare in every 121 packs you buy or trade for. If you get one, hang on to it because they are sure to be valuable!
Ophidian Cane - the 41st Rare Card:
-
The above paragraph accounts for 40 of the 41 rare cards. The
41st rare card is actually printed on the Uncommon card
sheet. The Ophidian Cane appears once on the uncommon sheet
in the 121st slot, and the other uncommons are there three
times (similar to the rare sheet).
Since the uncommon sheet
is printed in a ratio of 3 to 1 compared to the rare sheet,
this card has the same frequency of a rare card. When you get
the Ophidian Cane, it will appear among the uncommon cards,
but it is actually a rare, and you are essentially receiving
2 rares in that pack.
Collation:
- Unlike the rare and uncommon printing sheets discussed above,
the common sheet has only 120 "slots" on it, and utilizes a
special arrangement intended to minimize duplication of
common cards in the same pack. Each of the 40 common cards
appears on it 3 times.
This works fine in theory, but was not
done correctly by the printer, causing some collation
problems. For more on this issue, see the document called
A.U. Collation Problems available from the same source as
this document.
New Features:
-
The Alternate Universe set contains several new features,
including a new category of cards called "Doorway" cards,
some new terms, and some new wording conventions. Details of
this were printed on a sheet of Rule Notes which came with
cases of the display boxes.
