Middle-earth Collectible Card Game (MECCG) is a collectible card game released by Iron Crown Enterprises in late 1995. It is the first CCG based on J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, with added content from ICE's Middle-earth RPG.

In it's basic form, it is a game for two or more players, each choosing one of the five wizards to represent themselves. A turn in the game consists of one player wandering around Middle-earth with the help of other heroes, trying to gather influence and power to aid in the battle against The Dark Lord, while the other player tries to harass, and ultimately kill his characters with specific hazard cards.

Later expansions have added the possibility to take the role of a Ringwraith of Sauron (MELE), a corrupted wizard playing by his own rules (MEWH), the malevolent Balrog (MEBA), or even Sauron himself. The game is somewhat distinguished from most other CCG's with the use of two six-sided dice for a random factor and also by the actual map of Middle-earth, including regions your companies travel through, and site cards they visit.

MECCG won two Origins Awards: Best Card Game of 1995 for MECCG: The Wizards and Best Graphic Presentation of a Card Game or Expansion of 1996 for MECCG: The Dragons. The game's production ended in 1999, when ICE lost the license that allowed them to use the content of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. This license was later bought by Decipher, who used it to bring out another CCG. The game still has a relatively loyal and active fanbase of players though.

Card sets

• The Wizards (METW) (1995)
  • The Dragons (METD) (1996)
  • Dark Minions (MEDM) (1996)
• The Lidless Eye (MELE) (1997)
  • Against the Shadow (MEAS) (1997)
• The White Hand (MEWH) (1997)
• The Balrog (MEBA) (1998)

External links

http://meccg.net/