![]() Back of an English-language Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game card | |
Publishers | Japan: Konami (1999−present) US: Upper Deck (2002−08) Konami (2008−present) |
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Publication | 4 February 1999 |
Genres | Collectible card game |
Players | 2 (1 vs. 1) [1] |
Age range | 12 and up (OCG) 6 and up (TCG) |
The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game [lower-alpha 1] is a collectible card game developed and published by Konami. It is based on the fictional game of Duel Monsters (also known as Magic & Wizards in the manga) created by manga artist Kazuki Takahashi, which appears in portions of the manga franchise Yu-Gi-Oh! and is the central plot device throughout its various anime adaptations and spinoff series. [2]
The trading card game was launched by Konami in 1999 in Japan and March 2002 in North America. [3] 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. [4] As of March 31, 2011, Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. Japan sold 25.2 billion cards globally since 1999. [5] As of January 2021 [update] , the game is estimated to have sold about 35 billion cards worldwide. [6] [7] 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.
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: [8]
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. [9]
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.
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. [9]
A chain is created when the effects of more than one 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, thus creating a chain.
Each player can then continue to add effects to the chain. The chain ends when the players wish to not 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. [9]
It is advised to not resolve card effects before ensuring that a chain had not been created.
The player plays Raigeki (a normal spell destroying all of the opponent's monsters). As a reply 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 block 1. 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 block 2 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 block, which achieves this result:
A chain can only be created by replying with the activation of a card effect. 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. [9]
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. [10]
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. [11]
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. [12]
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.
Other formats include Speed Duel, which is supported by its own line of products and has a dedicated card pool; and 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! 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.
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. [13]
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: [14]
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. [15] 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. [16]
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. [19] 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.[ citation needed ]
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. [20] These cards are edited to only display their background, illustration, level/rank, and ATK/DEF points.
From March 2002 [21] 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. [22] 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. [23] 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. [24] [25] [26] 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 card products.[ citation needed ]
Yu-Gi-Oh! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. It was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine between September 1996 and March 2004. The manga follows Yugi Mutou, a young boy with an affinity for games, who solves the ancient Millennium Puzzle. Yugi becomes host to a gambling alter-ego or spirit who solves his conflicts with various games. As the manga progresses, the focus largely shifts to the card game Duel Monsters, where opposing players "duel" one another in mock battles of fantasy monsters.
Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004, known in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters Expert 3, is a card battle video game based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. This game has been released on the Game Boy Advance system.
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses is a video game developed by Konami based on the manga series Yu-Gi-Oh!. The game was released on September 6, 2001 in Japan, and worldwide throughout 2003. The story is a sequel to Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories and is loosely based on the War of the Roses. The series' main characters, Yugi Mutou and Seto Kaiba, play opposing teams known as the Lancastrians and the Yorkists. Each team is playable, battling various characters throughout the plot to prevent a ritual summoning by using sorcerous rose cards.
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light, later released in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Pyramid of Light, or simply Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie, is a 2004 animated adventure fantasy film produced by 4Kids Entertainment based on the Japanese manga and anime Yu-Gi-Oh! It stars the cast of the Yu-Gi-Oh! television series in a new adventure that takes place between the third and fourth seasons of the show.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories, known in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Shin Duel Monsters (遊戯王真デュエルモンスターズ封印されし記憶), is a video game loosely based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and anime series. The game was released exclusively for the PlayStation console in December 1999 in Japan and in 2002 in other regions.
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom is the only GameCube game in the Yu-Gi-Oh! series.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories is a 2000 digital collectible card game of the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe for the Game Boy Color developed and published by Konami. The game was Konami's first attempt at a Yu-Gi-Oh! game released in English and the third game in the Japanese Duel Monsters series. This game uses the rules of the previous Duel Monsters games, as opposed to the rules for the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. Players of the game can trade and battle with other players using a link cable.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel, later released in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters International, is a Game Boy Advance game based on the popular Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game and TV series that has the player set during the Battle City arc, dueling popular characters from the anime and manga. The main objective of the game is to build a strong deck from cards won after duels from the main cast from the English second season anime.
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards is a Game Boy Advance game based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime developed and published by Konami. It was first released in Japan on July 4, 2002. It was released in North America the following year and in Europe the year after that.
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 2 is a 2007 digital collectible card game based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! series, developed by Konami and released on PlayStation Portable format in September 2007. This is the second work in the Yu-Gi-Oh Tag Force series.
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is the second main spin-off of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, succeeding Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Weekly Shōnen Jump and the 15th anniversary of V Jump. The series aired from April 2008 to March 2011.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, stylized as Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, is a Japanese manga and anime series and the third spin-off of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, after the preceding Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. The manga began serialization in Shueisha's V Jump magazine from December 2010 to June 2015 and is licensed in North America by Viz Media. The anime series was produced by Nihon Ad Systems and TV Tokyo, and its animation was done by Gallop. It aired on TV Tokyo from April 2011 to September 2012, with an English-language version airing in North America between October 2011 and August 2013. A sequel series, titled Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal II, aired in Japan from October 2012 to March 2014 and in North America from June 2013 to January 2016.
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dawn of Destiny is a strategy video game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami. It was released exclusively for Xbox on March 23, 2004, in North America, November 19, 2004, in Europe, and December 3, 2004, in Australia. It was the first of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise on the Xbox. The game has over 1,000 Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and integrates the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card gameplay and rules with 3D monster battles. The Dawn of Destiny also includes new duel modes such as Link Duel mode and Triple Duel mode, where players can test their skills against three duelists.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V, stylized as Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, is a Japanese anime series animated by Gallop. It is the fourth spin-off anime series in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise following Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal. The series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from April 6, 2014 to March 26, 2017. The series is licensed outside Japan by Konami Cross Media NY and launched internationally in 2015.
A sideboard, side deck, or side is a set of cards in a collectible card game that are separate from a player's primary deck. It is used to customize a match strategy against an opponent by enabling a player to change the composition of the playing deck.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links is a free-to-play, digital collectible card game developed by Konami for the iOS, Android and Microsoft Windows platforms, based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. After an initial beta period, the game was first released in Hokkaido, Japan on November 17, 2016, and then released to the rest of the world on January 11, 2017. The Windows version was released worldwide via Steam and in Japan via Yahoo! Japan Games on November 17, 2017.
Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS is a Japanese anime series animated by Gallop. It is the fifth anime spin-off in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. The series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from May 10, 2017 to September 25, 2019. It was simulcast outside of Asia by Crunchyroll courtesy of Konami Cross Media NY. It premiered in the United States on November 3, 2020 on Pluto TV. The term 'VRAINS' derives from 'Virtual Reality' (VR), 'Artificial Intelligence' (AI), 'Network System' (NS). The series revolves around the exploits of the protagonist Yusaku within the virtual world named VRAINS. In addition to featuring previous summoning mechanics, VRAINS introduces the new "Link Summon" mechanic.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens, stylized as Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENƧ, is a Japanese anime series animated by Bridge that aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from April 4, 2020, to March 27, 2022. It is the sixth spin-off anime series in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, following Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS and commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime series.