Steve Jackson Games is reviving its Car Wars game in two new formats: Car Wars: The Card Game, which launches in August; and a revival of the classic game with three-inch counters that starts in October with the release of three 'Starter Sets,' each with two different hot rods.   The original Car Wars game debuted in 1981, winning the Origins Award for the Best Science Fiction Boardgame of 1981, and spawning dozens of expansions and supplements as well as its own magazine, Autoduel Quarterly.  The newly revived version of Car Wars is bigger, with customizable 3-inch counters, faster, with streamlined rules, and easier to play, thanks to a 'back to basics' approach that eliminated the complications introduced in myriad expansions and supplements to the original game.

The first product in the Car Wars relaunch is Car Wars: The Card Game, which will be out in August and provide a first look at the new graphic style for the entire Car Wars line.  Sanford Green provides all the art for both new versions of Car Wars, which he illustrates in a dynamic style that owes a profound debt to anime/manga.

The revised version of the Car Wars boardgame demonstrates a strong influence as well -- its format of 'Starter Sets' is clearly borrowed from collectible card games. In October Steve Jackson Games is releasing the first three 'Starter Set' booklets for the new Car Wars.  Each booklet includes the basic movement and combat rules, two pre-designed car counters, and counter sheets with all the counters you need to play the game. Each Starter Set will retail for $5.95 and each features a different duo of hot rods with monickers like 'Stinger,' 'Napalm,' 'Dagger,' and 'Killer Kart.'