Star Trek: The Card Game CCG

Star Trek: The Card Game is the Fleer-produced rival to Decipher's Star Trek CCG, launched during the brief 1996 window when Paramount licensed Star Trek card rights to more than one publisher simultaneously.

The game

Released in 1996 by Fleer and designed by Tom Braunlich (who had also worked on early CCGs for Decipher), Star Trek: The Card Game is a two-player TNG-era duel where each player commands a starship (Federation or Klingon or Romulan) and completes Missions across a shared sector map. The mechanic uses a Quadrant of Space system where cards occupy specific table positions and modify adjacency.

The context

Decipher's Star Trek CCG had launched in 1994 and quickly become the definitive Star Trek card game, but Fleer briefly held rights to produce a competing product aimed at a different audience. Fleer's version was designed to be shorter and simpler than Decipher's dense mission-solving game, aiming at casual collectors rather than hardcore Trek players. The two games coexisted in retail for about two years before Fleer discontinued theirs.

The collector angle

Only the base set and a small Klingon expansion shipped under Fleer's license. Because Fleer's Trek CCG was commercially overshadowed by Decipher's product, most copies were sold through discount channels and sealed stock remains available in closeout inventory. The Captain Picard and Captain Sisko rare cards are the primary pulls. Fleer's Trek CCG is sometimes bought specifically as a historical curiosity by Star Trek completionist collectors who already have Decipher's full catalogue.