Star Trek games

The enduring popularity of the Star Trek science fiction franchise has led to numerous games in many different formats, beginning in 1967 with a board game based on .

Board games

* Star Trek game, ages 4-10, produced by Hasbro (early 1970's)
* Star Trek game, ages 8-adult, produced in UK by Palitoy (1970's)
* Star Trek game, produced by Milton Bradley, based on Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
* Star Trek: The Adventure Game, produced by West End Games (1985)
* Golden Trivia Game: Star Trek Edition (1985)
* Golden Trivia Cards: Star Trek Edition (1985)
* published by FASA in the 1980s, based on the combat system from the
* Star Trek: The Final Frontier, produced by Toys & Games Limited (1992)
* How to Host a Mystery, produced by Decipher in a Star Trek: The Next Generation version (1992)
* (1993)
* Star Trek: The Next Generation: Romulan Challenge, produced by MMG LTD (1994)
* Monopoly, produced by Hasbro licensee USAopoly in two versions representing the original Star Trek series and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Tabletop wargames

* Star Fleet Battles, the tactical tabletop wargame created by Steven V. Cole and produced by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc. (1979)
* Federation Commander, the newest tactical tabletop wargame in the Star Fleet Universe produced by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc.
* Federation and Empire, the strategic companion to Star Fleet Battles also produced by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc. (1986)

Card games

* Star Trek Customizable Card Game, produced by Decipher.
* , produced by Fleer.

Role-playing games

Official game titles include the following:
* , produced by Heritage Models (1978).
* , the original Star Trek RPG produced by FASA. (1982)
* Prime Directive, designed by Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc. and published by Task Force Games. (1993) Later editions were produced for the GURPS 3rd edition (2002) and 4th edtion (2005), and d20 (2005).
* , online text based game endorsed by Paramount Pictures and advertised on the Star Trek website from 1997 until sponsorship was lost 2000. [http://startrek.acalltoduty.com/history/index.html] . (1997)
* Star Trek RPG, produced by Last Unicorn Games. (1998)
* Star Trek Roleplaying Game, produced by Decipher, Inc.. (2002)
* Star Trek Simulation Forum, has served as the chat based role-playing game of the official Star Trek website since October 2002. [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/community/chat/index.html] . Remains the only simming organization currently recognized by the site. (2002)
* Star Trek Online, a MMORPG produced by Cryptic Studios. "(Pending Release)"

Starship simulator games

Starship simulator games create the experience of commanding and operating a starship, and usually allow the player to handle a variety of functions, and to allocate resources such as ship power and systems. Some early Star Trek games in this category have had a huge effect on subsequent games in their genre, often leading to new level of depth and complexity in programming and/or gameplay. This includes both computer games and non-computer board games, since the Star Fleet Battles game series provides an impressive starship simulation, and is wholly a tabletop board wargame.

Star Fleet Battles is different from most other wargames, which usually indicate unit strengths with simple numerical ratings. SFB players are able to deploy and manage power for a variety of ship weapons and resources. This is enabled through the use of an innovative tick sheet system, which manages power use for each ship, and also tracks which weapons and systems are in use.

Some of the earliest and more influential space simulator games were Star Trek games. One of the earliest games in this was Super Star Trek, an early text-based, DOS-based game. This game created an impressive starship experience using only text-based commands and graphics. Another is the Star Trek (text game), which originated in 1971 and was ported to many different systems. The game Begin is considered notable for having a convincing model of game dynamics, as it has very few random elements, and is highly mathematical.

In later years, fewer games were produced within this genre, and more games were produced in the adventure games genre. The first new recent game was , which incorporated many Star Trek elements, but was criticized for depicting starship operation as more akin to fighter planes than capital ships. A sequel, Klingon Academy, was actually quite different, and was one of the first games to depict starship operation with an appropriate amount of complexity.

The Starfleet Command game series released by Interplay was based largely on the tabletop game Starfleet Battles, and comprised , , and . It constitutes one of the most definitive current games, depicting a wide array of ship systems and Star Trek storylines. This series had a more naval flavor, and depicted a number of ship systems. This series spawned a very large multiplayer ladder competition first with the "Starlance" system, and later on the "GamerZone" ladder.

Bridge Commander was another addition to this genre, reflecting the more deliberative, command aspects of this experience.

In late 2006, Bethesda Softworks released several console games which carry on the tradition of classic Star Trek ship simulator/combat games, Star Trek Legacy for the PC and Xbox 360, for the PlayStation 2, for the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable and for the Wii and PlayStation 2.

Several online games have appeared on the Internet. Vega Trek is a game mod which is planned to eventually become active as a multiplayer game. [ [http://wcuniverse.sourceforge.net/vegatrek/features.html Posting on official website] . ] Flashtrek 2 is one of the first games in this category which is online and wholly browser-based. It also appears that Star Trek Online, which is an MMORPG and is currently under development, will fit into this category, since starship operation will reportedly be one of the key aspects of this game. [ [http://play.tm/story/20184 Mr Spock to lift lid on Star Trek Online] , play.tm, Aug 6, 2008. ]

Pinball games

Three pinball games have been based on the Star Trek series:
*Star Trek, released by Bally in 1979.
*, released by Data East Pinball (now Stern Pinball) in 1991.
*, created by legendary pinball designer Steve Ritchie and released by Williams Electronics in November 1993 as part of Williams' "SuperPin" series.

Video games

Arcade

Electronic Games

* Star Trek Super Phaser 2 Target Game appears similar to Laser Tag. (1976)
* Star Trek Phaser Battle Game is like a tabletop arcade game. (1976)

Handheld electronic games

Numerous stand-alone electronic handheld and tabletop games have been produced by manufacturers like Bandai, Coleco, Konami, and others. Pair Match, manufactured by Bandai in 1984, appeared in several episodes.

ee also

*List of games in Star Trek

References

* [http://www.all-top-games.com/gamecategories/Star_Trek_games.html Online Star Trek Games] - A large collection of free online star trek games
* [http://startrek-games.com/startrekgames/ Star Trek Games Database] - A large database of Star Trek game information provided by [http://startrek-games.com StarTrek-Games.com]
* [http://gaming.trekcore.com/ TrekCore Gaming Museum] Information on all Star Trek games, [http://gaming.trekcore.com/plat_list.html by platform] , and includes [http://gaming.trekcore.com/onlinegames/ Current online games] .
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* [http://www.startrek-gamers.com/history2.htm Star Trek Games History] by Victor1st of [http://www.startrek-gamers.com Star Trek Gamers] , 2006
* [http://www.gameolosophy.com/Games/Adventure/Star-Trek/Star-Trek-the-Top-10-Free-Fan-Made-Games.122247 Star Trek: the Top 10 freeware games]
* [http://www.20q.net/startrek 20Q Star Trek] - An online artificial intelligence game that covers all classic Star Trek TV shows and movies, plus characters, gadgets and locations
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