Ultimate Combat! - History

History

Ultimate Combat! began its existence as a board game created by Dave Long in 1987 for play by members of the US Judo International Traveling team - judo players who were at the 'top of the heap' in US Judo and odds-on favorites to make the 1988 Olympic Team. The board game, which is unnamed, included about 20 different playable characters, each with different levels of physical strength, speed, stamina, and a variety of techniques. Attacks could be enhanced with the addition of strength and speed points, and were more effective when moving in each technique's favorite direction.

That little game languished in obscurity until 1994 when Dave was introduced to Magic: the Gathering, a brand new collectible card game (CCG). He was impressed by the M:tG gaming system and felt that it would fit very well with his six year old judo board game and after 6 months of working with fledgling game designers, rules "lawyers", and a lot of playtesters, Ultimate Combat! was ready to go into production. At that point, Dave raised a quarter of a million dollars from 22 investors in less than 24 hours, traveled to a number of card manufacturers looking at production and card mixing systems, and ended up signing a deal with Upper Deck of San Diego, who put Ultimate Combat! on the shelves of card stores in the spring of 1995.

Scrye magazine ended up naming Ultimate Combat! as the best new CCG of 1995, but unfortunately for UC! fans, it was introduced alongside 58 other new CCGs in 1995. This resulted in difficulties achieving a sustainable income producing fan base. After the single Ancient Fighting Arts of China expansion, Ultimate Games, makers of Ultimate Combat! closed its doors.

Today Dave Long says that the 18 months he spent with Ultimate Combat! were some of the most exhilarating, most exciting, and most rewarding months of his business life.

For those who have said that the UC! play system, with its use of Foundation cards replacing Magic's Land cards, and the Draining of Foundation Cards replacing the Tapping of Magic's Land Cards was essentially a "knockoff" of Magic: The Gathering, Dave responds, "Yep, it sure was. But it was fun and a lot of folks enjoyed playing it."

In regards to the "citation required" notes in this section, I am unsure as to the proper protocol to document the comments for which a citation is requested. I am Dave Long, the designer and creator of the game, formerly CEO and President of Ultimate Games, the publisher of Ultimate Combat!. I can personally testify that my statements about the 'roots' of the game are accurate, and that the time spent with UC! was as stated, exhilarating, exciting and rewarding. In the 12 years since the announcement by SCRYE Editor and Owner I not only don't remember her name, but don't have a copy of the article listing UC! as the best new game of 1995, so if that section should be deleted, please feel free to do so. I'm not looking for either fame or fortune here; just adding to the bits of background on the game for anyone who might be interested.