Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game is a collectible card game developed and published by Konami. Initially introduced in Kazuki Takahashi's iconic manga as a pastiche of Magic the Gathering during the manga's "variety tabletop horror" era as Magic & Wizards, the fictional game eventually evolved into Duel Monsters, which appears in portions of the manga franchise and is the central plot device throughout its various anime adaptations and spinoff series after its introduction. From there, after streamlining Takahashi's otherwise hyper-dramatized fictional ruleset, Duel Monsters was treated as a basis for the real life Yu-Gi-Oh! card game.
The trading card game was launched by Konami in 1999 in Japan and March 2002 in North America. It was named the top selling trading card game in the world by Guinness World Records on July 7, 2009, having sold over 22 billion cards worldwide. As of March 31, 2011, Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. Japan sold 25.2 billion cards globally since 1999. As of January 2021, the game is estimated to have sold about 35 billion cards worldwide. Yu-Gi-Oh! Speed Duel, a faster and simplified version of the game, was launched worldwide in January 2019. Another faster-paced variation, Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel, launched in Japan in April 2020.
As one of the most popular CCGs, the most valuable Yu-Gi-Oh! cards are among the most expensive CCG cards.
In the trading card game, players draw cards from their respective decks and take turns playing cards onto "the field". Each player uses a deck containing forty to sixty cards, and an optional "extra deck" of up to fifteen cards. There is also an optional fifteen-card side deck, which allows players to swap cards from their main deck and/or extra deck between games. Players are restricted to three of each card per deck and must follow the Forbidden/Limited card list, which restricts selected cards by Konami to be limited to two, one, or zero. Each player starts with 8,000 "life points" (LP) (Though the players can decide to start with more or less in casual games), with the main aim of the game to use monster attacks (and sometimes card effects) to reduce the opponent's life points. The game ends upon reaching one of the following conditions:
If both players trigger a win/lose condition at the same time (e.g. both players' life points reach zero), the game ends in a draw.
Cards are laid out in the following manner:
Each player's turn contains six phases that take place in the following order:
At the start of a game, the starting player cannot enter the draw or battle phases during their first turn.
Gameplay revolves around three types of cards: monster, spell, and trap cards. Monster cards are monsters used to attack and defend against the opposing player, mainly for the purpose of damaging an opponent's life points. Spells, which can either be played from the hand or set for later use, provide various effects such as altering a monster's strength, drawing additional cards, or removing an opponent's cards from the field. Traps are cards that are set on the field in advance and activated in later turns when certain conditions are met, such as when an opponent targets a player's monster.
With some exceptions, a typical monster card possesses ATK and DEF points that determine its attack and defense power in battles, a level represented by stars, with more powerful monsters typically being of higher levels, an attribute that certain effects may react to, and a description listing the monster's types and any effects or summoning conditions they may have. Monsters are summoned to the field through three main categories of summoning: Normal, Tribute, and Special. Once during a player's main phase, they can choose to normal summon a level 4 or lower normal or effect monster from their hand, in face-up attack position or face-down defense position, or tribute summon a level 5 or higher monster by tributing one or more monsters already on the field. Special summons are performed by utilising card effects or fulfilling the conditions of other summoning methods, such as those used to summon cards from the extra deck, and may be performed as many times as desired if the conditions are met.
The game currently features the following types of monster.
Also there are subtype monsters with special effects being;
Spell cards, green, are magical spells with a variety of effects, such as reviving destroyed monsters. They can be played from the hand during a player's turn or placed faced down for activation on a later turn. There are six types of Spell Card:
Trap cards, dark pink, have to be set on a player's field face-down and can only be activated after the turn they were set has passed, including the opponent's turn. (Quick play spells, when set, have the same rule.) They are generally used to stop or counter the opponent's moves, and come in three varieties.
A chain is a stack of card effects activated one after the other. It exists for the management of multiple card effects.
A chain is created when the effects of One or more card are activated at the same time, or when a player activates an effect after a card is played, but before the card impacts the game.
If the effect of a card is activated, the opponent always has the possibility to reply with an effect of their own cards.
Each player can then continue to add effects to the chain. The chain ends when the players wish to not (or are unable to) play any more cards. Should this happen, the chain is resolved: the resolution is performed in reverse order of play, starting with the effect of the most recently played card.
It is advised to not resolve card effects before ensuring that a chain had not been created.(ask for a Response)
The player plays Raigeki (a normal spell destroying all of the opponent's monsters) (Starting Chain link 1). As a response to the player’s Raigeki, their opponent plays Destruction Jammer (a counter trap that negates the destruction of a monster by discarding a card) to negate the effects of Raigeki (thus placing Destruction Jammer in chain link 2). The player then plays Solemn Judgement (a counter trap that negates a monster summon and/or the activation of a spell or trap, but at the cost of half of the player's LP) (as chain link 3 to negate Destruction Jammer's effect). Their opponent decides not to reply to Solemn Judgement, thus the chain is resolved starting with the highest chain link, which achieves this result:
A chain can only be created when a card or effect is activated. Summoning or tributing a monster, changing position or paying a cost do not represent valid effects. Thus, it is not possible to reply to a chain with these effects.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Cards are available in Starter decks, Structure decks, booster packs, collectible tins, and occasionally as promotional cards.
As in all other trading card games, booster packs are the primary avenue of card distribution. In Konami's distribution areas, five or nine random cards are found in each booster pack depending on the set and each set contains around one hundred different cards. However, in Upper Deck's areas, early booster packs contained a random assortment of nine cards (rarity and value varies), with the whole set ranging around one hundred and thirty cards. To catch up with the Japanese meta game, two or more original sets were combined into one. Now, more recent Upper Deck sets have simply duplicated the original set. Some booster sets are reprinted/reissued (e.g. Dark Beginnings Volume 1 and 2). This type of set usually contains a larger number of cards (around 200 to 250), and they contain twelve cards along with one tip card rather than the normal five or nine. Since the release of Tactical Evolution in 2007, all booster packs that have a Holographic/Ghost Rare card, will also contain a rare. Current sets have 100 different cards per set. There are also special booster packs that are given to those who attend a tournament. These sets change each time there is a different tournament and have fewer cards than a typical booster pack. There are eight Tournament Packs, eight Champion Packs, and 10 Turbo Packs.
Duelist packs are similar to booster packs, albeit are focused around the types of cards used by characters in the various anime series. Cards in each pack are reduced from nine to five.
Some cards in the TCG have been released by other means, such as inclusion in video games, movies, and Shonen Jump Magazine issues. These cards often are exclusive and have a special type of rarity or are never-before-seen to the public. Occasionally, cards like Elemental Hero Stratos and Chimeratech Fortress Dragon have been re-released as revisions. The rarest promo Yu-Gi-Oh! cards are among the most expensive CCG cards.
Tournaments are often hosted either by players or by card shops. In addition, Konami, Upper Deck (now no longer part of Yu-Gi-Oh!'s organized play), and Shonen Jump have all organized numerous tournament systems in their respective areas. These tournaments attract hundreds of players to compete for prizes such as rare promotional cards.
There are two styles of tournament play called "formats"; each format has its own rules and some restrictions on what cards are allowed to be used during events.
The advanced format is used in all sanctioned tournaments (with the exception of certain Pegasus League formats). This format follows all the normal rules of the game, but also places a complete ban on certain cards that are deemed too powerful or are unsuitable for tournament play. These cards are on a special list called the forbidden, or banned list. There are also certain cards that are limited or semi-limited to only being allowed 1 or 2 of those cards in a deck and side deck combined, respectively. This list is updated several times annually and is followed in all tournaments that use this format.
Traditional format, created in October 2004, is a format where all cards in the advanced format's forbidden list are instead allowed at 1 copy per deck, while all other rules are identical. This format is rarely used in competitive play.
The game formerly incorporated worldwide rankings, including a rating system called "COSSY" (Konami card game official tournament support system). COSSY was retired on March 23, 2017.
With the introduction of the Battle Pack: Epic Dawn, Konami has announced the introduction of drafting tournaments. This continued with a second set for sealed play: Battle Pack: War Of The Giants in 2013. The third and final Battle Pack, Battle Pack 3: monster League, was released on July 25, 2014.
There is also Time Wizard, a format that relies on the ruleset, card pool and limitations of a specific past date in the trading card game's history.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Speed Duel is a specialized format of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game which launched worldwide in January 2019. Inspired by the videogame Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, it features a smaller field and simplified rules, along with a new type of card called Skill card. Skill cards are themed around a particular character of the Yu-Gi-Oh! series. To use a card in Speed Duel it must have the "Speed Duel" symbol on the card. Cards without the symbol are not legal in Speed Duel format, but Speed Duel cards can be used in all other formats of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. Skill Cards may only be used in Speed Duel.
Speed Duel games are known for its rapid duels, averaging on 10 minutes.
The Speed Duel format follows the same rules as advanced format, with the following differences:
Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel (遊戯王ラッシュデュエル, Yū-Gi-Ō Rasshu Dueru) is a variation of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game which launched in Japan in April 2020 alongside the release of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens anime series. This variation of the game uses a different set of cards from the main OCG/TCG entirely, though certain cards appear in Rush Duel. Rush Duel features reworked rules similar to those introduced in Speed Duels and expanded upon with a more streamlined version of the original to make the game faster.
In its original incarnation in Kazuki Takahashi's Yu-Gi-Oh! manga series, Duel Monsters, originally known as Magic & Wizards, had a rather basic structure, not featuring many of the restricting rules introduced later on and often featuring peculiar exceptions to the rulings in the interest of providing a more engrossing story. Beginning with the Battle City arc of the manga and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime series, more structured rules such as tribute requirements were introduced to the story, with the series falling more in line with the rules of the real life card-game by the time its spin-off series began. From the Duel Monsters anime onwards, characters use cards which resemble their real life counterparts, though some monsters or effects differ between that of the real life trading card game and the manga and anime's Duel Monsters, with some cards created exclusively for those mediums. Some of those anime original cards have been printed since, usually through various side sets, with their effects being adjusted for the real card came. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's featured an anime-original card type known as Dark Synchro, which involved using "Dark Tuners" to summon Dark Synchro monsters with negative levels. Dark Synchro cards were featured in the PlayStation Portable video game, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 4, while Dark Synchro monsters featured in the anime were released as standard Synchro monsters in the real-life game. Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V features Action Cards, spell and trap cards that are picked up in the series' unique Action Duels, which are not possible to perform in the real life game. In the film Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions, an exclusive form of summoning known as Dimension Summoning is featured. This method allows players to freely summon a monster by deciding how many ATK or DEF points it has, but they receive damage equal to that amount when the monster is destroyed. The Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime series features Speed Duels which use a smaller number of monster and Spell & Trap zones and remove main phase 2 for faster duels. In the anime, characters can activate unique Skills depending on the situation (for example, the protagonist Yusaku can draw a random monster when his life points are below 1000) once per duel. A similar ruleset is featured in the Duel Terminal arcade machine series and the Duel Links mobile game.
With the exception of the films Pyramid of Light and The Dark Side of Dimensions, which base the card's appearance on the English version of the real-life card game, all Western releases of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime and its subsequent spin-off series, produced by 4Kids Entertainment and later Konami Cross Media NY, edit the appearance of cards to differentiate them from their real-life counterparts in accordance with U.S. Federal Communications Commission regulations in concerning program-length commercials, as well as to make the show more marketable across non-English speaking countries. These cards are edited to only display their background, illustration, level/rank, Attribute, and ATK/DEF points.
On August 1999 Konami held an invite only tournament in Tokyo Dome, where participants could buy packs containing limited edition cards. Despite being invite only, the venue quickly become overcrowded with over 55,000 kids and their parents. Fearing the danger of overcrowding, Konami decided to cancel the event midway. Unfortunately this incited the crowds, as some participant were waiting for four hours only to find out that they will be unable to get said cards. Police were called to defuse the situation.
After this no Yu-Gi-Oh! events were held in Tokyo Dome until 2024, almost 25 years since the accident.
From March 2002 to December 2008, Konami's trading cards were distributed in territories outside of Asia by The Upper Deck Company. In December 2008, Konami filed a lawsuit against Upper Deck alleging that it had distributed inauthentic Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards made without Konami's authorization. Upper Deck also sued Konami alleging breach of contract and slander. A few months later, a federal court in Los Angeles issued an injunction preventing Upper Deck from acting as the authorized distributor and requiring it to remove the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG from Upper Deck's website. In December 2009, the court decided that Upper Deck was liable for counterfeiting Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards, and it dismissed Upper Deck's countersuit against Konami. Konami is now the manufacturer and distributor of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. It runs regional and national tournaments and continues to release new Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG products.