I want to give a shout out to my favorite game from junior high. The Star Wars: Customizable Card Game allowed players to formulate a deck of cards that included planets, ground locations, ships, characters, and other types of cards. As a CCG, players could create 60 card decks from hundreds of different options, allowing for endless strategies to defeat their opponents. Unfortunately, the company that made the game (Decipher) went out of business, but the game still exists 20 years later on the secondary market.
Short Explanation of How to Play
The game is a 2 player game. One player takes on the role of the Rebel Alliance, and the other takes on the role of the Empire. The players start with 60 cards in their deck, and those cards gradually deplete as the players draw cards, or are attacked by their opponent. When the 60 card deck is depleted, the player is defeated. There is deployment, movement, and battling in space and land. At the time the game was made, it was as epic a game as could be played in the Star Wars universe. Over time, with Star Wars Rebellion (PC Game), Rebellion (Board Game), Battlefront (Xbox/Playstation), and LEGO Star Wars, the novelty of playing out an epic war is not the same as it once was. But the card game was well designed, with lots of Star Wars Trivia built into every card, and exploring every corner of the original film trilogy and beyond, even delving into the books at times.
Why it Works/Doesn't Work For Our Family
I'll update this post when I get a chance to teach my kids how to play this game. It is a pretty complex game to play since every card has a unique purpose, and each card type (which there are many) plays differently. Since my kids love Star Wars, I'm looking forward to showing them the game sometime, but the update to this post may be a few years down the road.
Why it Works/Doesn't Work With Friends
Those of us who played this game loved it. I only had a few friends who played it, though.
Teacher's Corner
If you want to become a Star Wars Original Trilogy Trivia EXPERT, then this game will put more Star Wars knowledge into someone's game than almost anything that I have seen. Additionally, there are a lot of tactical and strategic decisions that need to be made as players decide what they want to pursue while determining how to counter their opponent's moves. Additionally, considering that a player loses when their deck runs out, but they also need cards from their deck to progress, players need to weigh the costs and benefits of drawing cards vs leaving them in their deck to keep it healthy.
Overall opinion, rating, and recommendation
Mine - I will rate this game Heavy Family. I played this as junior higher, and I think kids a little bit younger could handle it, especially with someone older well versed in the game can guide them in game play. I have a special affinity for the game, and Star Wars fans and CCG players would love this game, but the game isn't for everyone. The rules are complex, and every time the CCG added new selections of cards, new rules, card types, and complications were added so it has many, many nuances and exceptions that might make players decide to skip it for something simpler. I thought it was well worth the time and effort to play, but I wouldn't project that upon others if they did not have the same opinion of the game as me.
Games with similarities with this one at each rating level:
Casual Family: Star Wars: Monopoly
Heavy Family: Star Wars: Armada
Casual Adult: Star Wars: Villainous
Heavy Adult: Star Wars: Rebellion
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