In The Game Announces Be A Player First Edition - A New Brand For A New Season!

First Edition is a new brand for In the Game and a product that is most appropriate for leading off the company's 2002-03 hockey card lineup. Consisting of a whopping 425-card base set, First Edition will cover a high percentage of players from each NHL® team ­ a characteristic that appeals strongly to ardent fans and collectors.

The base set consists of 300 player cards featuring impressive photography, an attractive design, and a unique and intriguing format on the card backs that will surely grab collectors' attention. There are also a number of short-printed subsets including: Up Close and Personal (40 cards); Franchise Players (30 cards); NHL Stats Leaders (18 cards); and All-Star Starting Lineup (12 cards).

The final 25 cards in the base set consist of the short-printed First-Round Draft Pick subset which depicts a prominent NHL star (and first-round draft pick) from early in his career on the card front. The back of the card will be even more fun for collectors because it utilizes the player's draft-day "podium photo." There is also an extra twist to this subset. Hobby packs will include one group of 25 First-Round Draft Picks. Retail packs, on the other hand, will offer a different group of 25 First-Round Draft Picks.

"It was not enough to simply call a new product 'First Edition' just because it was our first set of the year," explains In the Game President Dr. Brian H. Price. "I believe it is important to give each of our products an identity, something for collectors to remember it by. With the thorough player selection and subsets like the First-Round Draft Picks, I believe we've accomplished this and that's before we even look at all the great inserts."

Speaking of those inserts, First Edition includes a huge selection of Game-Used Jersey cards. In the retail packaging, the first 130 players in the base set will also be available in Game-Used Jersey versions (1:48 packs). Top players in the set include Mario Lemieux, Dany Heatley, Pavel Bure and Sergei Fedorov.

In hobby packaging, collectors will be treated to Game-Used Jersey cards of the first 160 players in the base set (1:36 packs). Additional players found in this set include Patrick Roy, Steve Yzerman, and Ilya Kovalchuk.

Other game-worn memorabilia cards found in hobby packs include NHL Debut (20 cards) depicting NHL® stars with a piece of jersey from their original teams, and Team Scoring Leaders (20 cards) which honor those who set the offensive pace for their respective clubs in 2001-02.

Saving the best for last, First Edition also includes a 10-card game-used memorabilia insert set entitled Magnificent Inserts. This set is devoted to the incomparable Mario Lemieux and includes cards sporting one to four different pieces of Lemieux's game-used memorabilia. Quantities of these cards will be very limited. The Magnificent Insert program will be implemented in a number of Be A Player and Parkhurst products throughout 2002-03.

"Our goal with First Edition was to create a quality product with an impressive array of game-used memorabilia cards, all at a more moderate price point," says Price. "Being able to include all the Magnificent Insert cards in First Edition is the icing on the cake. Not many players are as widely regarded in the hobby as Mario Lemieux."

Hobby packs of First Edition will also include the He Shoots, He Scores Decoy/Redemption card program. Every hobby pack (except for those containing memorabilia cards) will hold one He Shoots-He Scores card. These extra-thick cards are intended to prevent pack searching. Each also comes with a point value. Once a collector has accumulated enough points, he can redeem them in exchange for one of 30 different memorabilia cards featuring an NHL® superstar. These cards will be hand-numbered to 20 and are not available anywhere else.

Retail packs of First Edition will hold eight cards. Packs with a memorabilia card will contain six additional cards. Each retail box will hold 36 packs. Hobby packs will hold five cards plus one decoy or memorabilia card. Every hobby box will hold 24 packs per box. The scheduled release date is August 21.

In the Game has produced NHL hockey cards since 1998-99. The firm issued six different products in 2001-02 including the Memorabilia Series, Parkhurst, Between the Pipes, Signature Series, the Ultimate Memorabilia 2nd Edition, and the Update Series. Another strong lineup is nearly finalized for 2002-03 including First Edition as well as the Memorabilia Series which is scheduled for release in November.

For more information, contact:
Baron Bedesky
Vice-President Marketing and Communications
In the Game, Inc.
(416) 962-1991