Keeping absolutely true to the letter of MPSIMS:
Presuming there are some people out there who play CCG’s (collectible card games), does anyone else remember a game called Galactic Empires? It was one of the first few CCG’s to come out (Magic was first of course, and I think then it went Spellfire, Wyvern, Jyhad, and then Galactic Empires). It first came out in 1994, and it lasted quite a long time; Companion Games didn’t go under until early 1997. That was aeons for a CCG. Anyhow, during that time, they managed to print no fewer than 3,400 different cards (including variations, and over 400 promo cards alone). They did some things very right. They put together an easy-to-learn (for the time), fun-to-play game; they were very innovative, being the first CCG to do foil-stamped cards, and “ultra-rare” Entity cards that were not just hard to find but nice to use (and you were only allowed one to a deck, so it was okay that they only came one to a box); they decided to focus their efforts on a niche market (gamers in New Jersey and upstate New York), which probably kept them alive longer than they would have done otherwise. They did some things very wrong, like choosing a printer that mis-cut all the cards for their initial print run, and then refused to give them back their money, leaving them half a million in the hole and six months late out of the gate, from which they never recovered; and for guys like me who don’t live in New Jersey, it’s living hell trying to find cards from the last three expansions.
Anyhow, because it’s so tough to collect, of course I’ve made it one of my missions in life to assemble a complete set. As of this morning, I am a grand total of 4 cards closer; only 1,284 to go. But one of the four was the toughest card: the C10 War Veteran.
I still don’t have the second-toughest card, the C4 War Veteran. (The “C” means it’s a crew card, the number is the strength.) C4 War Veterans were only given out to winners of sanctioned tourneys; there are maybe a couple hundred in existence. C10 War Veterans were only given out to national champions. I believe Companion Games had a few left when they went bankrupt, too, so I’m guessing the total population of the card may be as high as a dozen. And one of them is now mine, all mine!
Gods bless eBay for introducing Buy It Now, and man was I ever fortunate to be the first one to see that listing.
Oh, and they had the very best flavour text ever on a card, on one of the variations of O4 Mime Intrusion:
Primary Edition boxes are going on eBay at $10 for 3 boxes. Most of the earlier sets except New Empires are relatively easy to find. And if you play a different game, that’s cool too!