There's another new anime-based collectible card game hitting the streets in the fourth quarter of 2003.  Decipher has announced the late 2003 release of a new trading card game based on the Beyblade high tech spinning tops.  More than 15,000 fans attended the recent Beyblade World Championships in Tokyo, and the Beyblade anime series is the top cartoon offering on the ABC Family Channel, where it appears nine times every week.  Fifty-one new episodes of the anime series will appear on the ABC Family Channel during the coming TV season, and the Beyblade tops and accessories remain one of the leading toy lines in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and the U.K.

Decipher's Beyblade CCG will have two levels of play.  In its simplest form, players as young as seven can play a color-matching version of the game, while older players can employ complex deck building strategies and play the game at a higher level.  The more complex form of the game mirrors the actual battling tops combat that has made the Beyblade toys so popular.  Combatants in the conventional Beyblade contests can buy accessories for their tops, which can make their whirling toys more formidable.  Decipher's game, in its advanced form, allows players to customize their tops in a similar fashion and adopt different strategies to conquer their opponents.  The first series of Decipher's Beyblade cards contains over 130 cards, some of which are based on screenshots from the popular anime series, and some of which were created by Decipher's talented art staff.  The format of the new CCG is standard with starter decks and booster packs.   The booster packs include powerful foil extra-rare cards -- and Decipher has planned a number of special retail and mass market cross promotions, which will introduce more unique foil cards.  The first Beyblade CCG starter decks and booster packs are scheduled for release in time for holiday sales.  Decipher plans to keep the game fresh by introducing new expansions every four months.