With Magic having such a dominance on the collectible card game(CCG)
market it is getting harder to make a new CCG viable in the market.
Many companies with great ideas have given up, such as X-Files and Overpower.
Both games have a large fan base but it's hard to survive in a market where
a game store orders 10 cases of the newest magic set and one box of any other
card game.
, the makers of the
Babylon 5 CCG (B5CCG), have really strived to survive in the industry.
The first thing they did was put randomly inserted autographed cards into
the boosters. In the first series you could get an autographed Delenn card
and in the second, an autographed Mr. Morden. They also started a player's
organization called the Zeta Squadron and advertised it in the first rule
books. Zeta Squadron members get a newsletter with advance information on
upcoming sets, tournaments, and special events. When mentioning the Zeta
Squadron, one must not forget the free exclusive cards that a member gets,
including a special version of Na'Toth that is autographed.
Wait, that's not all. Precedence also started the Ranger program. A
Ranger is a person, appointed by the company, to promote the game. The
Rangers are in charge of running all the sanctioned tournaments and also
promote the card game through demonstrations. Typically, a Ranger will
hold 2 demos and 1 tournament a month. At the official demonstrations, a
Ranger will give out an exclusive card to everyone who learns to play.
The tournaments, which are usually free, are sponsored by Precedence with
free prizes such as exclusive cards and boxes of boosters to the winners.
You can't forget the internet presence of the Babylon 5 fans. If you
read the rec.games.trading-cards.misc newsgroup at all, you will notice
the domination by the B5CCG group. Almost all rules problems are solved
in the newsgroups via the leadership of Kosh; well, at least the man
behind the costume, via online discussion. All the final rulings are
saved on various web sites. There is also an irc channel on efnet,
although I haven't seen many people in there, but you can find me in there
from time to time, located at #B5CCG.
Yet another way that the B5CCG has promoted itself, is lots of free
promo cards in various gaming magazines. These promo cards are exclusive
to the magazines and will not be reprinted elsewhere. This tactic of
exclusive promos is one of the best ideas to make the game work. Other
companies have used promo cards, but most of the time these cards were
common cards in the basic set, and were basically worthless if you already
played the game. Most of the promos for the B5CCG are very playable cards
and sell for $2 to $5 on various web sites.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention the game itself... When playing Babylon
5 you choose a race to play from one of 4 current choices, Centauri,
Human, Minbari, or Narn. In the next expansion, entitled "The Great War,"
two more options will be available. The game is designed for 2-4 players
but is best played with 4, playing with just 2 allows for some really nasty
decks to be made. The idea of the game is to gather enough influence to
gain a position of dominance over the other races and thus, win the game.
This can be achieved through winning conflicts. There are a few different
types of conflicts, diplomacy, intrigue and military. The race you choose
at the beginning of the game will help you select what type of conflicts
you will want to gain influence through. The game includes all of the
major characters and is very political in nature, which reflects the
show very well.
All in all, I think that the Babylon 5 CCG will be one of the few card
games to gain a small market share in a game world dominated by Magic.
With all the marketing and game design that they have done, it would be
a real shame if they didn't.