Magic the Gathering is a popular collectible playing card game that was devised by a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, called Richard Garfield. Since it was first commercially released in 1993, it has gone on to be one of the most popular members of the collectible card game genre, with a reputed eleven million players of 2011. Unlike many fantasy games rooted in geek and retro counter-culture, a lot of players are women and many active groups exist throughout the US and Europe. The development of the game was in response to Garfield's involvement with a group of volunteer play testers whist he was studying for his PhD.
However, Magic the Gathering didn't see the light of day until Garfield had been hired as an adjunct professor at Whitman College, and had a chance meeting with the CEO of the famous game manufacturers, Wizards of the Coast, Peter Adkison. Garfield pitched his game RoboRally to Adkison, who immediately saw the potential of it, but thought that his company lacked the resources to produce it on a large enough scale. However, he was very keen on the concept, and mentioned to Garfield that he was looking for a portable game that could be used during the downtime that frequently occurred at gaming conventions. Soon after, Garfield returned and presented the general outline of the game that would go on to become Magic the Gathering. Adkison immediately saw the potential of the game and decided to produce it, with a general release taking place in the summer of 1993.
When the game was first being playtested, it was referred to simply as Magic, but when the company went into production, they were informed that the name was too generic for it to be trademarked and so the alternative title of Mana Clash was chosen instead. However, as the production team continued to refine the game, it was still referred to as Magic and after the first iteration was complete, the team decided to rename with the addendum of the gathering as a way of allowing the original name to be fully trademarked.
The game is played all over the world and millions of fans have devoted countless hours to its exciting mix of strategy, chance and imagination. Although collections are only of nominal value, many have built up large libraries of cards, with many seeking to collect every card from each series of the game.
However, Magic the Gathering didn't see the light of day until Garfield had been hired as an adjunct professor at Whitman College, and had a chance meeting with the CEO of the famous game manufacturers, Wizards of the Coast, Peter Adkison. Garfield pitched his game RoboRally to Adkison, who immediately saw the potential of it, but thought that his company lacked the resources to produce it on a large enough scale. However, he was very keen on the concept, and mentioned to Garfield that he was looking for a portable game that could be used during the downtime that frequently occurred at gaming conventions. Soon after, Garfield returned and presented the general outline of the game that would go on to become Magic the Gathering. Adkison immediately saw the potential of the game and decided to produce it, with a general release taking place in the summer of 1993.
When the game was first being playtested, it was referred to simply as Magic, but when the company went into production, they were informed that the name was too generic for it to be trademarked and so the alternative title of Mana Clash was chosen instead. However, as the production team continued to refine the game, it was still referred to as Magic and after the first iteration was complete, the team decided to rename with the addendum of the gathering as a way of allowing the original name to be fully trademarked.
The game is played all over the world and millions of fans have devoted countless hours to its exciting mix of strategy, chance and imagination. Although collections are only of nominal value, many have built up large libraries of cards, with many seeking to collect every card from each series of the game.
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