DECIPHER ANNOUNCES NEXT STEP IN BOOSTER DRAFT FOR THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRADING CARD GAME

TOWER DRAFT PACKS TO HIT STORES WORLDWIDE IN FEBRUARY

(Norfolk, VA, February 12, 2003) – Booster draft for players of The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game is about to catch up with The Two Towers set with the all-new Tower Draft Pack. Following on the success of the Fellowship Draft Pack last October, Decipher will release the Tower Draft Pack in mid February.

The popular booster draft format, where players pick cards from a common pool of cards, brings deck diversity and a level playing field to players of the award-winning TCG. While sharing similarities with sealed deck play, booster draft relies on a participant¹s deck-building skill and play style in order to choose‹and counter-choose‹cards wisely. In this balanced play environment, players will have to utilize different strategies every time they play, creating a new experience with each game.

With booster draft for The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game, players select cards from a regular booster pack one card at a time, making a deck from the cards they collect and adding the following: a ³Frodo² companion card; a One Ring card; and an adventure deck of nine site cards, all from the Tower Block. During the draft, each player will receive one Tower draft pack containing 29 cards in addition to three 11-card booster packs in one of the following configurations: three from the Two Towers set; or two Two Towers and one Battle of Helm¹s Deep. When Ents of Fangorn, the next expansion set for The Two Towers, is released in July, the following configurations may also be used: two Two Towers and one Ents of Fangorn; or one Two Towers, one Battle of Helm’s Deep, and one Ents of Fangorn.

The Tower Draft Pack, which will be available in February for a MSRP of US $4.50, contains 29 cards: 1 random Two Towers rare and 28 cards from The Two Towers block. The King Draft Pack will follow in late 2003.