A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) or customizable card game, is a card game that uses specially designed sets of playing cards. The terms "collectible," "trading," are used interchangeably due to copyrights and patent holdings of game companies. The core definition requires the game to resemble trading cards in shape and function, be mass produced for trading or
collectability, and it must have rules for strategic game play. Another definition for CCGs is described by Scrye magazine as a card game in which the player uses his own deck using cards that are mostly sold in random assortments. Acquiring these cards may be obtained by trading with other players or buying them from retailers. If every card for the game can be obtained by making only a small number of purchases, or if the manufacturer does not market it as a CCG, than it is not a CCG. The first collectible card game ever created was Magic: The Gathering, designed by Richard Garfield, and patented by Wizards of the Coast in 1993. It is still considered the most successful CCG and many other CCGs have tried to emulate it. Magic: The Gathering borrowed elements from the board game Cosmic Encounter which also used cards for game play. Despite the dominance of Magic: The Gathering in the CCG market, a few have met with success and have built a niche for themselves including Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokémon, and Legend of the Five Rings. Other notable CCGs have come and gone: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, Middle-earth, World of Warcraft and Netrunner among others. Plenty of other CCGs were made and met with very little or no success. Typically, a CCG is initially played using a starter deck, or intro deck. It has the very basic number of cards that can be used to play the game. This deck is then added to or changed with the addition of new cards that are bought from booster packs. Booster packs are a random selection of cards of varying rarities, usually between 8 and 15 cards. One of these cards is a rare or unique card that is much harder to obtain then the remaining cards and often has a higher value than the rest, though these values change over time as distribution changes, cards are banned in formats, or the game is further changed by the introduction of more cards later on. Eventually, with enough cards, new decks can be created from scratch. CCGs of the past and present are divided into two kinds: "dead games" and "live games." Dead Games are those CCGs which are no longer supported by their manufacturers and cease to release expansions. Live Games are those CCGs which continue to be supported by their manufacturers. Usually this means that new expansions are being created for the game and player tournaments are occurring in some fashion.
