Warren Holland

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Warren Holland, Decipher Chairman and CEO.

Warren Holland is the founder and CEO of Decipher, Inc. Decipher published Star Wars CCG from December 1995 through 2001.[1][2]

The credits page of the Premiere Two-Player Introductory Game rules booklet (1995) thanks Warren Holland "for an unreasonably high standard of excellence".[3]

Service

Dates Service
14 March 1997 Star Wars CCG Palace Grand Opening host[4] 1983–present Founder and CEO, Decipher[1][5]
25 January 2002 Announced the Players Committee and the first Player Advocates[6][7]

Decipher founder

Holland founded Decipher in 1983 in the Norfolk, Virginia area.[1] Cindy Thornburg is a key executive.[1] The company grew from a Virginia Tech master's project inspired by a Smithsonian magazine article on the Beale ciphers. The first product was a puzzle with a $100,000 prize, sold at 50 cents each, with prize insurance through Lloyd's of London.[5]

Decipher's path into licensed games ran through Pente Games to Parker Brothers, where Holland met Tom Braunlich and Rollie Tesh. The company took a Star Wars license and a side license with Parker Brothers for a two-player game. The first guarantee was $1 million.[5]

Star Wars license and production

For card images, Decipher had access to Lucas archives and a duplicate 70mm print of the original trilogy. Holland hired a German film editor for $80,000 for frame-by-frame high-resolution scans. A later Lucas encyclopedia used about one-third of Decipher's images. Work at Skywalker Ranch included being one of two licenses allowed to take the Episode I script off the ranch. For Special Edition characters who were not in the original film, Decipher hired a local theater company and actors.[5][7]

Holland's interest in Joseph Campbell's hero's journey led to the game's split into Light Side and Dark Side.[8] Through 1995 he reviewed every proposed card in the design team's evening sessions and passed none he did not love.[9] Former staffer Jason Winter recalled that Holland sat in on design meetings and preferred balancing cards through design rather than banned lists or copy limits. Holland also bought a house near the office for product development.[10]

Players Committee

On 28 December 2001 Holland announced that Lucasfilm would not renew Decipher's Star Wars CCG license. Sell-off ran through 30 April 2002.[11] He said the relationship with Lucasfilm had been good until Hasbro bought Wizards of the Coast. He had recently settled legal issues with Lucasfilm over its handling of the license.[12] Decipher's offer to keep the license was the largest it had made for any license. Hasbro, he said, had convinced Lucasfilm it could double sales with a younger, Pokémon-style audience.[13] Star Wars Second Edition and digital cards would have launched in 2001 had Lucasfilm approved them.[14] The cancellation of DecipherCon 2001 had nothing to do with the license.[15] Decipher's first Lord of the Rings expansion had already outsold every SWCCG expansion of the previous four years.[16]

On that broadcast he announced the Players Committee.[17][18] On 25 January 2002 he named the first six Player Advocates.[6][2] Decipher donated $1 million of SWCCG inventory, with royalties to Lucasfilm prepaid, for the committee to use as prizes.[7]

Later games

Bill Martinson said on Radio Free Decipher in April 1999 that Young Jedi was Holland's conception. Holland was closely involved in its gameplay and card design.[19]

Holland is credited on Decipher's Jedi Knights Trading Card Game team. Designer Chuck Kallenbach said Holland asked him and Tom Lischke to "do something different" with the planned classic-trilogy version of Young Jedi, which became Jedi Knights.[20][21]

In 2004 the Star Wars CCG mechanics returned in WARS TCG, an original science-fiction property. Holland said a sci-fi setting with movement in space was "almost dictated" by the mechanics, and that building the universe around the game made for stronger science fiction.[22]

Interviews

Radio Free Decipher, 5 October 2001

After cancelling DecipherCon 2001, Holland went on Radio Free Decipher Broadcast 99 to answer players' questions. He said safety was the only reason for the decision. He compared the convention to a party on a barge offshore after shark sightings. Most swimmers would be safe, but the company should not ask everyone to swim out.[23] He said he had personally answered about 50 emails at ceo@decipher.com and that the qualified players would choose charities for the prize money.[24]

Radio Free Decipher special broadcast, 28 December 2001

Holland announced the license end and the Players Committee on a Radio Free Decipher special broadcast.[11][17]

WARS Radio, July 2004

Holland explained why the SWCCG mechanics returned in WARS TCG on two July 2004 episodes of Decipher WARS Radio.[22][25]

NanashiStudios, 14 June 2026

Holland recounted Decipher's founding and the Star Wars license in the 2025 SWCCG Worlds Special, speaking from about 3:05.[5]

Anagrams

Sandcrawler lore is a Warren-like anagram of Holland.[26][27]

Card Unscrambled Relation
Sandcrawler lore (Warren-like) Warren Holland Decipher CEO

Appearances

Date Publication Title
April 2000 Star Wars Insider #48 All Decked Out[28]

Photographs

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Decipher, Inc., Wikipedia. Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Star Wars Customizable Card Game, Wikipedia. Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
  3. ↑ Introductory Two-Player Game Rules Booklet, Decipher / Parker Brothers (1995), credits page. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  4. ↑ Special Events, Decipher (March 1997). Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 2025 SWCCG Worlds Special, NanashiStudios (14 June 2026). Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Star Wars Players' Committee, 25 January 2002 (Wayback / ruddog)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 The Force Is Strong With This Star Wars Subculture, The Ringer, 21 May 2018. Preserved copy: Internet Archive.
  8. ↑ The Booster Pack #28 — The making of the Star Wars CCG with Tom Braunlich, The Booster Pack Network (24 August 2022), 8:55–10:00. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: The Booster Pack/Episode 28 transcript.
  9. ↑ The Booster Pack #28 — The making of the Star Wars CCG with Tom Braunlich, The Booster Pack Network (24 August 2022), 21:23–23:57. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: The Booster Pack/Episode 28 transcript.
  10. ↑ Inside the Star Wars CCG: Secrets from Decipher, Imperial Remnant (23 November 2025), at 18:11. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: Inside the Star Wars CCG: Secrets from Decipher (transcript).
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Radio Free Decipher Special Broadcast (28 December, 2001): Warren Holland and the Players Committee, Player's Council, YouTube (uploaded 18 February 2022), at 00:03. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: Radio Free Decipher/Special Broadcast (28 December 2001) transcript.
  12. ↑ Radio Free Decipher Special Broadcast (28 December, 2001): Warren Holland and the Players Committee, Player's Council, YouTube (uploaded 18 February 2022), at 03:03. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: Radio Free Decipher/Special Broadcast (28 December 2001) transcript.
  13. ↑ Radio Free Decipher Special Broadcast (28 December, 2001): Warren Holland and the Players Committee, Player's Council, YouTube (uploaded 18 February 2022), at 04:42. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: Radio Free Decipher/Special Broadcast (28 December 2001) transcript.
  14. ↑ Radio Free Decipher Special Broadcast (28 December, 2001): Warren Holland and the Players Committee, Player's Council, YouTube (uploaded 18 February 2022), at 12:36. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: Radio Free Decipher/Special Broadcast (28 December 2001) transcript.
  15. ↑ Radio Free Decipher Special Broadcast (28 December, 2001): Warren Holland and the Players Committee, Player's Council, YouTube (uploaded 18 February 2022), at 15:10. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: Radio Free Decipher/Special Broadcast (28 December 2001) transcript.
  16. ↑ Radio Free Decipher Special Broadcast (28 December, 2001): Warren Holland and the Players Committee, Player's Council, YouTube (uploaded 18 February 2022), at 16:55. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: Radio Free Decipher/Special Broadcast (28 December 2001) transcript.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Radio Free Decipher Special Broadcast (28 December, 2001): Warren Holland and the Players Committee, Player's Council, YouTube (uploaded 18 February 2022), at 22:12. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: Radio Free Decipher/Special Broadcast (28 December 2001) transcript.
  18. ↑ History of the Players Committee
  19. ↑ Broadcast 13 - Radio Free Decipher (09 April, 1999): Bill Martinson, Jerry Darcy on PD (Part 2), Player's Council, YouTube (uploaded 20 February 2022), at 00:51. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: Radio Free Decipher/Episode 13 transcript.
  20. ↑ Jedi Knights Trading Card Game rulebook (credits), Decipher (2001). Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  21. ↑ Josh Radke, Flashback: Chuck Kallenbach interview, TheForce.Net. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Ep. 3 - Decipher WARS Radio (09 July, 2004): Warren Holland Interview; What's Happening in Art, Player's Council, YouTube (uploaded 15 May 2022), at 03:05. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: WARS Radio/Episode 3 transcript.
  23. ↑ Broadcast 99 - Radio Free Decipher (05 October, 2001): Warren Holland on DecipherCon and 9/11, Player's Council, YouTube (uploaded 13 May 2022), at 04:02. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: Radio Free Decipher/Episode 99 transcript.
  24. ↑ Broadcast 99 - Radio Free Decipher (05 October, 2001): Warren Holland on DecipherCon and 9/11, Player's Council, YouTube (uploaded 13 May 2022), at 00:49. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: Radio Free Decipher/Episode 99 transcript.
  25. ↑ Ep. 4 - Decipher WARS Radio (16 July, 2004): Holland Interview Part 2 and a Gongen Big Reveal!, Player's Council, YouTube (uploaded 15 May 2022), at 09:29. Preserved copy: Internet Archive. Transcript: WARS Radio/Episode 4 transcript.
  26. ↑ Anagramed Decipherians; Anagramed Decipherians. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  27. ↑ SWCCG Collecting Encyclopedia 3.2 (p.200). Preserved copy: Internet Archive
  28. ↑ Rich Handley, "All Decked Out", Star Wars Insider #48 (April 2000), pp. 78–79. Scan: Star Wars Insider 48, Internet Archive.
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